State of Emergency

"Not amused. Maybe some people enjoy this game, but I didn't."

State of Emergency is proudly tagged as the “First Ever Riot Sim”. Very Nice. Although why people would want to recreate riots is a mystery, this game seemed like it had the right ingredients for a wonderful game. And from those kind chaps at Rockstar who so far have not let down (Remember GTA3? Max Payne perhaps?), this really did seem like something worthy to be added to my PS2 collection. So I hopped down and rented it. Man, Am I glad I made that decision. In fact, if you are reading this review, don’t even think about buying SOE, at least rent it first.

SOE can be best described as an updated cross between Streets of Rage and Die Hard Arcade, modern classics. The story is this: Americorp (Formerly World Trade Organisation, Wonder why that was changed.) are monopolising the economy in your nameless city (New York Maybe). These Tyrants are much like the OCP from the movie Robocop. This corporation uses it’s mob of heavies with nightsticks to enforce their fascist rule, but the people will not stand for it any more and have forced an insurrection. Basically, the story sucks, but for an arcade game such as this, does it really matter? No, not really. Lets move on.

You have a few modes to choose from. Chaos Is the arcade style mode that I neglected to play (Only 1 controller :( ) and Revolution is the story mode. This takes you from 4 districts, The mall, the East Side and China town. At least these 3 are detailed and different from each other. Now yes, this is a riot simulator, and people run around toting guns, tables, TV’s and Knifes, but they never attack YOU. I rented this game with the impression that I would get to incite mass brawls and engage in my own little revolutions. No luck, the other characters refrain from attacking and never fight back which is a real shame.

Looking at the game, I have to say it looks the poorest I’ve seen on the PS2 thus far. Characters are grainy, although Fun to look at, and Sparsely detailed. Even worse than GTA3. They look cartoonish as well, so it’s obvious they’re not taking this game seriously. The whole aim is to unlock more characters aside from the original 2. You’ve got your B-grade standard stereotypes: Chick, Ex-Cop, African American, and Nerd. And yes these characters look different but there isn’t much to be said about them. Yet another problem is the sound. No Voices from missions and few speech altogether. The missions are given to you by different people, but the SAME Character model. This all sums up how awful and rushed this game is. One thing that may save this game is the Chaos mode and the lastability, as there are a few hundred missions to complete. You may have fallen asleep soon, though.

What we have here is a terrible game, an obvious rushed attempt to cash in on the success of GTA3, but sadly it doesn’t work. If you really want to find out more, then rent it to make sure.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/02, Updated 04/15/02