 t’s been a busy day. The kind of day that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. From the moment that I placed my hands around my police cruiser’s wheel, pandemonium has swept over the Big Apple. Some desperate soul thought that he could get his life back on track by robbing a bank. Big mistake. From there, my day just spiraled out of control. I ran over a flamethrower-wielding arsonist with a delivery truck, chased a suspect up a fitness club’s climbing wall, beat a maniac to death with a dead chicken in an underground fighting tournament, diffused a bomb in an office building, and even managed to squeeze in a sword fight with a samurai atop one of the city’s tallest towers. All of this, and I still don’t have a lead for my case. Like I said, it’s been a bad day.
For True Crime’s new protagonist Marcus Reed, life is hell. For the gamers that are controlling him, however, his cataclysmic endeavors will likely bring about a joyous fist pump and the desire to play this game well into the small hours of the morning.
Right out of the box, this sequel pulls you in more than the original game ever did. Reed’s bravado and emotional instability make him a strong leading character, something that the first True Crime desperately needed. I mean no ill will to the residents of Los Angeles, but your city isn’t an ideal setting for a video game. Driving down Santa Monica Boulevard is not an engaging venture. Moving the action to the architectural wonder that is New York City creates an environment that you wouldn’t mind getting lost in.
Although this game pokes fun at GTA’s quirky missions, developer Luxoflux has definitely learned a few tricks of the trade from its closest competitor. The story in the first True Crime absolutely suffocated gamers. Random missions were available, but there really was only one destination that you needed to travel to. In this installment, Luxoflux has given the player breathing room by offering a handful of possible missions at any time. Given the immense size of this city, moving from one way point to the next can be a time-consuming and yawn-inducing exercise. This entire genre, in fact, is built on purposeless driving. The GTA games allowed gamers to expedite their travels with planes and boats. Luxoflux has taken a different approach. If you see a cab, you can hop into it as a passenger. When this happens, a map will flash onto screen. Simply point to where you want to go, and after a few seconds of loading, you’ll be dropped off there.
The plot is once again gritty and serious, but it’s no longer so tightly wound. I really got the impression that Luxoflux approached each mission with the thought of “let’s make this as crazy as possible.” Whether you are a good cop (making arrests, turning in evidence, keeping the peace) or a bad cop (killing everyone, selling evidence to pawnshops, extorting store owners), most of the objectives that are thrown your way feel like they are taken out of a high-octane action movie. Thanks to completely destructible environments, most of the levels that you enter end up looking like the lobby in The Matrix by the time you leave. Reed’s movements are a bit slow, but between the great targeting system and weapons, you could take down an army with ease. You’ll now have the chance to interrogate people, but the mechanics that are used for this action are too simple in scope.
When you are not on a mission, there’s plenty to do. Almost every shop can be entered, allowing players to purchase new music and clothing, among other things. The random objectives offer greater variety and actually tap into every gameplay dynamic, such as frisking someone to find evidence, going toe-to-toe with them, then tailing them in a high-speed chase that ends with you shooting out their tires.
It still has a ways to go to catch GTA, but with this finely crafted sequel Luxoflux has raised this series up from another me-too title to a necessity for fans of this genre.
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I liked the solid gameplay of the first True Crime, but never once found myself wanting to return to either the title’s dull digital Los Angeles or the canned saga of its unbearably dorky main character Nick Kang. Thankfully, Luxoflux made this sequel with an eye towards what was wrong with the first, and delivers what might be the best non-Rockstar GTA-style game ever. For starters, the new plotline is actually a gripping tale, filled with engaging twists and outrageous boss battles that makes this feel more like a streetwise James Bond film than a GTA clone. Its simulation of Manhattan is gorgeous and brimming with life and places to explore. Also, the side-missions are varied and streamed into the environment more intelligently; you’ll never have to go too far off course to find some action, and as a result, you’ll actually experience more of what the game has to offer. However, while we’ve come to accept some hiccups in an open-world game, parts of the adventure are very unpolished, plagued by disappearing characters and collision issues. Honestly, though, once the plot kicks in and you’ve engaged in some blazing firefights and chases, you won’t be able to stop ‘till you reach the conclusion. |
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8.75 |
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| CONCEPT: |
| Take a second-rate GTA clone and turn it into a serious contender |
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| GRAPHICS: |
| The level of destructibility is unbelievable. The variety in architecture and texturing is also something that you’ll constantly marvel at |
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| SOUND: |
| One of the best soundtracks of the year and excellent voice work by the entire cast |
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| PLAYABILITY: |
| Marcus moves a little slow and the cars feel sluggish. Most facets of the combat are excellent, however |
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| ENTERTAINMENT: |
| Explosive in every regard, this is one of those games that you just can’t stop thinking about |
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