True Crime: Streets of LA

"If you hate LA"

If you hate LA, like me you might just enjoy this game more. That being said I'll get into the review and elaborate on that.

Originality 4/10

Why is the score so low. Let me be frank, just about everything in the game has been done before, its almost disturbing how much of the game isn't original, its like the frankenstein of video games. You'll get alot of those deja vu moments where you could have sworn you've seen something done a million times befor, Dead to Rights, Max Payne and Grand Theft Auto will quickly come to mind. Ok so that must mean the game sucks ? No, not really, most of what they copied they copied because it works and they appear to at least have done research. Was this game meant to milk the success that Grand Theft Auto has seen ? Yes, most certainly, no matter how much people tell you it isn't Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar could of easily made this game, except it might of been more original and a tad more fun.

Graphics 9/10

I was actually impressed by the graphics, which is saying alot coming from me since next to nothing impresses me anymore. Smash a meter maid and coins go flying into the air, run into a fence and folds up and even hangs up on your car in a decently realistic manner. The amount of eye candy in the game is quite impressive, you'll see alot of things that you wonder why they haven't been any games till now. Some of the fighting scenes when shown in slow motion are very sweet to watch.

Music 5/10

I'm going to give the sound track at least a 5 because it is highly based on your preference to music since the PS2 version only lets you pick what you don't what you don't want to hear. So I was left with about 12 tracks out of 50~. Out of all Snoop Dogs songs it appears they picked the worst I've ever heard, they're attrocious, I mean he really needs to stop singing about himself and write some real lyrics eventually. If you love rap/hiphop you'll only be mildly disappointed, everyone else is probably going to just outright turn the music off eventually.

Sounds 8/10

I found the sound to be good and diverse enough to keep me from outright being annoyed. Some of it will bug you after a while, but I'm still laughing at the same things I was when I first played the game. The main character's voice acting is B movie quality. The voice of your partner is especially bad, its like she is a zombie the way she talks there is no emphasis shown in her voice at all, if her mouth wasn't moving it could of just as easily comed from a pull string doll. You're definately going to benefit from a nice sound system. Last but not least and why if nothing else this game gets an 8, it has Christopher Walken voice acting in it, and while its not his best performance it was still a big factor in buying the game for me.

Overall Gameplay 7/10

There are alot of areas which certainly could of used more polish, so this game isn't exactly what I'd call a classic, but it has some real potential to be one. Maybe in the sequel which I'm sure is already planned and in works they'll address some of the annoying quirks that can wear down the fun of the game and make it more of a trial than actual fun. Controls are precise and well laid out. This is pretty general so I'll get more specific in the following break downs.

Cars/Driving 8/10

The driving isn't perfect, but it is alot more realistic, which is why no doubt alot of people will not like it as much as what is in GTA, which btw is not anywhere close to realistic driving physics. Drive 10 different cars and you'll see some definate differences in their driving ability, which couldn't be said for even Vice where alot of cars were simply shells with the same stats of 5 other cars. I think shooting from a car is kewl and its done while driving so I'm including it here, but there were times where it was near impossible to shoot from certain vehicles, most notably anything high profile was hard to shoot from. The amount of damage a car can show is fair. The maneuvers you can learn and do especially make it worth it to visit those 24/7 locations. You can shoot someone's gastank causing the car to flip alot of times in slow motion if you're precision aiming and turn into a fireball. What is more impressive is that the gastanks aren't always in the same place, but a few well placed shots to the license plate usually does it.

Gunplay 9/10

They no doubt could of done it better, but not much better. While some will be annoyed with certain things, they nearly all were to preserve realism. The shooting in the game is certainly one of the high points. It would of been nice to carry the guns you collect longer or possibly get clips/magazines for them when you got more than two of the same weapon, though you would never bother upgrading your default guns if they did and they are supposed to be your 'trademark' weapons, so its like telling Dirty Harry he should use a ak47 instead of that Magnum he has grown to love, not likely. I actually could of been happy to have a less indepth fighting system if the gun system was a bit more polished.

Martial Arts 7/10

While it is definately quite impressive just how much variety you can use when you're creative, most of it is virtually useless, just try doing down moves on anyone but the slowest, stupidest person and it will nearly always fail, try to do a running attack and the game likes to take you out of fighting mode and put you into normal mode, which frankly annoyed the living hell out of me, especially because you can't block that way and it got me pummeled good on more than one occassion. Despite my quarels there is more to enjoy than to loathe. Just do a finishing move that sends someone flying into a cardoor which causes the glass to shatter and the door to cave in all in slow time and all the annoyances seem null. I've only done this on one occassion but I finished off someone I was fighting with by sticking my dagger in his head, I was pretty shocked to say the least, so I'm sure if I found out all I could do with the fighting system it of gotten at least an 8, it just currently doesn't have enough 'useful' techniques.

Karma/Bad Cop vs Good Cop 8/10

Ok so you may not like the concept, but it is one of the few things the game brings to the table that is actually remotely original. Having Good Karma while overall more difficult to achieve will mean you're treated alot better. When your Karma is Bad, expect alot more violence directed at you, sometimes for no other reason than you're breathing, I had everything from Swat to hookers and pimps trying to kill me when I went on a killing spree. So unlike Vice its not just the cops that will gun for you, just about everyone will and dying makes it very hard to get badges which you use to upgrade your abilities in various areas.

Artificial Intelligence 8/10

I never really see this addressed in reviews in any real depth, even though it definately effects the gameplay. The people have some of the best AI I've seen in a game of this type before, they learn how you fight, they don't always do the same things, heck when I do Street Crimes the main reason I enjoy them is that a good deal of the time things don't go as I could of planned for, making things more fun for me as I don't like being able to predict the robotic thoughts of the people I'm supposed to be interacting with. When all hell breaks lose you can't just spray across the screen you have to at least semi-plan what you want to do, a fair amount of that is due to the AI, so I have to give them a hand for making some pretty good AI. It could be better, smarter, but than you'd just die constantly.

Replay 6.5/10

I'm a little unsure about how much notable replay value there is to this game, though most people aren't going to play it much once they beat the game unless they want to see the different endings. This is the type of game you might be better off renting, even though I bought it and I don't regret it. There is alot more than one would think to try in this game though, so if you're the imaginative type you'll more than likely get more out of the game than someone who only ever plays a game once through than lets it collect dust.

To Rent or Buy

I lean more towards buying it, perhaps because I believe supporting them so a sequel comes out is a worth while cause and its the only real competition Vice City has. You'll notice alot of my review addresses several view points, I tried to give as open a review as possible, so if you disagree with me wholly at least give it a rent and you'll at least get a good rental.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/16/03