True Crime: Streets of LA

"It's okay. It seems mediocre to me."

I first played this game at my cousin's house. I was surprised that one of these big city games that involves shooting and hijacking random cars placed you in the shoes of a "good guy." I enjoyed it for the short time that I played and I wanted to buy it. After a few weeks, I took home my own copy, expecting much of the same stuff I experienced earlier. However, I came to the realization that it wasn't as good as I originally thought.

Story: 3/10

You are a suspended police officer, Nick Kang, in the big City of LA. Your travels and missions will carry you throughout all of LA, which is completely covered in great detail. I found nothing special with the story, and much of it seemed utterly ridiculous. Many of the plot twists come out of nowhere and they try too hard to make sense, even though any explanation doesn't really make it fit. There are many outcomes and endings to the story, each depending on your "alignment" as a Good Cop or Bad Cop. None of the endings, but the last, have any closure, so it urges you to keep playing, and urges you to be the "Good Cop," for this is the only way to get to the final ending.

Game Play: 6/10

Anyone who plays this will feel it is strangely familiar to another game series... I wonder which it could be... Anyway, Nick is a police officer and you are allowed to shoot and arrest people. You may use your own car or hijack an innocent civilian's car, take your pick. Yes, you guessed right, Grand Theft Auto, minus the mob stuff.

All of that aside, this game doesn't create anything new here. You drive around LA to your next objective where the storyline advances. What they did add was the live police report system. This ensures that you don't get bored with just a story. Random crimes will pop up in your local vicinity and they vary from someone called The Vampire stealing a truck full of blood to two newlyweds duking it out in a domestic disturbance case. You can also frisk people randomly on the sidewalks. They may contain drugs or a weapon, or nothing at all. Sometimes, frisking the same person over and over will give different results. I once frisked a man and he was clean. I followed him for three seconds and frisked him again, finding a 357 Magnum Revolver.

The fighting system is very buggy, either you will keep hitting the person, or you will miss entirely and get your butt kicked in the process. To stop the commotion, you can either flash your badge or shoot into the air. This is where some crazy stuff may happen. One of the fighters may put their hands up and let you arrest them. One may put their hands up and when you go to arrest them, try to fight you, the other may run if this happens. And finally, one may pull a gun, catch you completely by surprise and kill you. This is very realistic, however, the programming might be a little off. There might be a hobo and an old lady fighting. When you shoot into the air, the hobo will put his hands up and the granny will shoot at you with a sub-machine gun. Also, the sheer amount of people who own guns and just walk on the sidewalk is disturbingly high in this game, which makes me wonder why they think so lowly of LA.

Some of the fights are even more ridiculous. The game will put you into a kind of "Royal Rumble" where you must fight against several enemies, no gun allowed. Some are completely stupid like, "Fight the Strippers!" Or, "Fight the Crack House Hobos!" Even Chinese Food Chefs are thrown into effect, including a guy getting stabbed in the ear by a chopstick. This is blatantly offensive, and it makes me ashamed that I had to see something so awful and pay fifty dollars for it.

The gun is extremely unresponsive. It takes a few seconds for the game to understand if you want to just shoot, or bring up the cross-hairs. If you do manage to bring them up, time slows down, this includes your ability to move the sights, which can be very frustrating. Driving while using the gun's sights is practically impossible. If you are in a high speed chase and have to shoot at the enemy, aiming the cross-hairs also moves the car, so you will be completely off target and go crashing into a building or another car.

A form of currency is badge points. You gain badge points by arresting people peacefully and rescuing hostages. You lose badge points for head shots, killing hostages and civilians, and dying(which you will do often). You can spend badge points on refilling your health, fixing your car, and buying upgrades for your driving, guns, and fighting skills. Some of the upgrades are worthless and most of the fighting moves that you buy, you will never use. The best ones are for the guns. Other than that, don't bother.

Now for the Good Cop, Bad Cop points. Good Cop points are gotten through neutralizing shots, or nonlethal take downs, and arresting law breakers. Bad Cop points are gained for head shots and killing innocents. This has an impact on the story. Bad Cop earns you the worst ending, whereas the Good Cop earns you the better ones. There is also a Civil Unrest Meter. This rises as you kill more people in a short amount of time. If this gets high enough, the police will start coming after you. The way to quickly raise the meter is to accidentally kill a cop, so be careful, or you will surely die at the hands of the police who chase you.

Music: 7/10

I don't really like rap music but with the large soundtrack this game has, it's hard to go wrong. I am sure you can find a music you like. Music changes with each car and area of LA. A warning though, the music does contain suggestive language and themes.

Graphics: 6/10

These can either be very good or very bad. Sometimes, places won't load completely and things will completely disappear. You may even find yourself being pushed through a boundary wall, and not being able to get back out. Characters look real but strange, like you can somewhat see the polygons that make them up. Not impressive at all.

Overall: 6/10

This game definitely depends on the buyer. If someone likes these kinds of games, they should get it, for they could find it fun and amusing. I found myself not even doing missions and just fighting crime in my local area. When it comes to that, I think this game should have been held back and revamped. They definitely could have done better.

Game is rated M for Mature Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence and Blood and Gore. Parental Discretion Advised.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/23/07