True Crime: Streets of LA

"True Crime : Truly unfinished?"

I orginally heard about this game when It was called ''good cop, bad cop'' The idea and features at the time sounded exciting. Fast forward a few years and it slipped off the radar , GTA 3 and Vice were released and pretty much created a new genre. So naturally when this game resurfaced as True Crime with some new tricks (alot borrowed from GTA 3 and Vice) I was very excited. The thought of playing as a cop in a GTA world was enough to make this boy giggle like a school girl. Needless to say I bought this game on release without hesitation, 4 years of production wasnt enough.....

Graphics 7/10.
The City is GIGANTIC, Vice city and GTA 3 citys have very little on this version of LA. So many real places are counted for and placed into the game, If you know how to drive there you can. The rest looks average, you see the same few houses on every block. I think designing the city after LA might have been a weakness, lack of activity in alot of places (docks, airport are deserted) and they infamous L.A. traffic is gone. There are a few nice touches here and there , planes and helicopters flying overhead. The car damage models are good (I prefer GTA damage models by far) How come I get bullet holes in my windshield from hitting a tree? More varation on player models would have been nice, You see 4 or so people who look the same on every corner or street.

Sound 5/10
If you love Rap, your gonna Love True crime. If you dont... well your gonna be putting in some custom soundtrack time. Oh speaking of this game shipped with a nice little glitch, (one of many!!!) if you have over 5 cds you wont be able to select them all. The soundtrack kicks in when you get in and out of your car, there is no constant airtime (no radio stations, its a new song each time you get in and out) Sometimes the same song will repeat over and over if your doing a mission. I heard Megadeath's Peace sells atleast 20 times on a particular mission (hint: big trouble in little china). Soundeffects -We have a mixed bag here, Punches and kicks all sound generally good. The wrecks, and crashes are pretty generic, Kick up a katanna, stungun, sword, meat cleaver and you get this same ''gun cocking'' sound everytime (glitch?) Nick kang Says alot over the course of the game, 95% of his lines are ''borrowed'' from popular movies and such. Nick's char is ruined in my eyes because he is supposed to be the loose cannon but he comes off a wisecracking jackass.

Gameplay 4/10
Driving is fun for the most part. Pulling up on a random crime and turning on your siren is great. Never knowing if a perp is gonna whip out a gun or start running makes it unpredictable. The back of the box says never see the same ''random crime twice'' Ive seen the same few over the course of playing atleast 30+ times. How many times can you arrest the same star? How many times will the canibal escape? This game needed a check off system so you would get more variety (see truly unfinished). Driving to different parts of the city does offer different random crimes but you still see the few generic ones repeated over and over. You can be a good cop or bad cop which sounds fun but it never really gets in detail, being a good cop or bad cop is just simple as pressing a different button sometimes. You can be as evil as you want but you can never pull your guns out during a fight? Speaking of fighting, I was really hoping for a great fighting engine here. Im sad to say that this needed some work too. THe instruction manual notes that Nick is a martial arts expert, but yet old women and common pedestrians block his kicks left and right ? The throw system and unlockables are pretty weak, you can only use them if your oppenent is stunned. Only way to stun someone is to hit them so many times, No catching them off guard or suprising them from behind here. Gunfighting - Nick kang is a dual wielding madman, He can dual wield anything, machine guns, shotguns, heck if they had rocket launchers im sure he could do that too. Lack of depth here. Do I want more stopping power or do I want higher rate of fire? Oh wait ill just carry 2 shotguns or a machine gun too..(unfinished ?)
Stealth missions might be the worse thing in this game! This game was not made for these kinds of missions, You are stuck in this hunchback pose sneaking around. Now if someone sees you , you can move up on them and knock them out (different button depending if your good cop or bad). Now when your spotted and the timer begins to count down Nick doesnt rush his enemy. Nope he just keeps hunched over and waddles over to them. tranquilzer darts, This game has taught me are only effective from behind? Lack of polish, horrible hit detection and trial and error make these missions more annoyance than fun.

Some fences can be broken through and you can manage to get through them, he is the winner...You cant get back out!
You either have to hope to someone roll through (which took me over an hour once trying random spots) or just reset. Also in the training missions for gun upgrades you can roll and get stock in the pigpens. If you jump over something that your not made to roll across with your car it will get stuck and sometimes its hard to get out. LOL if you flip your car you can still powerbreak and boost UPSIDE DOWN!
(unfinished??)

Story 1/10
Horrible story, Nothing original brought to the table here. Your out to avenge your father blah blah blah.
If you seen Lethal weapon or any crazy cop movie in the 80's -90's you possibly seen a bit of True crime. You have branching storylines and to know everything you need to play them all, this doesnt really make sense since each one has a different ending. Nick's char is anything but dynamic he is very predictable and borders annoying. I laughed when he was so mad he could kill at something then game loaded to next scene for him to say ''WOoOo hooo here I come LA''
Not to post spoilers but there is something in this game that just comes totally out of left field, Most people will hate it but if you dont watch it you wont understand the story. (not like you will remember it in a week)

Length/replay value 4/10
Ive completed this game 100% in less than 3 nights of play. This is ALL missions, all sub missions and unlocked the secret char. The secret char is funny and if had his own chapter or story would have been worth the price of admission. Replay might only be found in the random crimes which I tired of in a few days.

Pros:
Change of pace from being the badguy
3 different custom soundtrack options
Secret Char
Real good version of LA
Some great humor to be found here.
Makes you feel like a action star.
inovative shooting from the car mode.

Cons:
GLITCHES!!!!
over way to quickly
Maybe 20 types of cars in the game?
Stealth missions!
Why cant a bad cop use his guns in a fight?
Bugs (loosing karma because someone ran over the person your fighting!? come on)
Weak story and cheesy dialouge

Overall:
True crime is a great rental for a weekend, I wouldnt recommend buying it unless you can get it for 25 bucks or less. Does it dethrone GTA 3 and VICE? Not hardly. But with some more time put in and better features True crime 2 just might.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 11/14/03