I thought those games were highly overrated and I didn't understand why everyone overlooked their obvious gameplay flaws just because of the fact that you can smack a random hooker around on some street or whatever. The reason I mention that is because 'True Crime' is very similar in gameplay to GTA. I will give it credit for adding some very nice ideas and taking some risks. I found the game enjoyable, but it definately has some flaws.
You play the role of Nick Kang. You grew up as a cop's kid and one day your father disappears. You then grow up to become a cop yourself. But, you are a loose cannon. You get suspended by the L.A.P.D. for basically being a crazy out-of-control officer. Then one day you are assigned to a new division of the L.A.P.D. called the EOD. It's basically a division that is given whatever means necessary to stop bigtime criminals in the city. You are the perfect cop for this new division and you are assigned to a case. Along the way you find out more about your father's disappearance, other plot lines I won't mention, and can use any means necessary to do the job.
This is basically like playing a Steven Seagal film. You are very good at kung fu, have various firearms, and get in many car chases. Like GTA, you can bascially do anything you want between missions. And just like in GTA, there might be reprocutions for those actions. Unlike GTA, this game is definately more story driven (which I like) and way more linear. There are tons of cutscenes & the story starts off very good. In every mission, you have the ability to complete it 100% or if you fail it, you can still move on in the game. You then take a different path in the storyline. I like this little twist in the game, as you can go back and redo old missions differently and see a different plot happening.
The problem is that if you play the good storyline, you will get to a point in the game where you run into zombies and fire-dragons. Yes, you read that right. At that point I almost tossed the game down and said forget it. I don't know who came up with that idea, but they had to have been intoxicated. This isn't 'Big Trouble In Little China', although it tries to be sometimes.
You also have a cop-meter of sorts. If you run around killing innocent people or just be a bad cop the whole game, the police will crack down on you. You can be a badcop to an extent, just don't go balistic. The gamplay itself is very similar to GTA. You can drive around town in any vehicle. Even ones you carjack. You can solve random crimes that happen on the streets once you hear about them on your police radio. I do like the fact that they have a nice fighting engine in the game. Your character is very good at kungfu, so some of the missions involve you doing some hand-to-hand combat. And then there is the gunplay.....
Thank god they have a better aiming system than GTA. The have a rectile on screen that shows you where you are auto-aiming and it's pretty accurate. Unless you just start blasting, you will usually hit what you are aiming at without much of a problem.
The big addition to the gameplay is the fact that you can upgrade your skills in a semi RPG way. If you complete a main mission 100%, you get to choose an upgrade. These range from a new vehicle, a new kung fu move, or some new pistols. And completing crimes, give you badge points. After you earn one hundred of these, you can go to the upgrade centers around town and spend the points to try to earn better skills. It's a fun little side game that I thought was ingenous.
While the game is very fun and entertaining, it has it's issues. The camera is a big problem in the outside missions. While trying to chase a criminal down the street, you can easily lose track of him when the camera ends up going whacko on you. If the auto-aim feature wasn't so good, you probably wouldn't hit much in the game. Some of the missions are rather short and easy. Many have you just driving from one place to another without even a time limit. How is that a mission? There isn't much mission variety, so the game can get repetative very quickly. The 'stealth' missions are nice, but after the 5th one, you just are sick of it.
The graphics are really nothing to complain about, but they won't blow you away either. I didn't care for the character models much. The city of L.A. looks very nice and it's represented very well here. The cutscenes are decent, but could have been better. It looks like this game was made for the PS2 and they just smoothed it out for the Xbox.
While the graphics are a mixed bag, the sound is very good. I am not into rap music much, but it just fits the feel of this game. There is a good variety of songs, and you don't hear the same one over and over. The voice acting, however, is shaky. Christopher Walken is great as a narrator, of sorts. The main character, while having some funny lines, has some forced 'tough-guy' diologue that makes you cringe sometimes. The first time he mentions his "boomstick", I wanted to smack my TV. It's not very original.
I liked this game and would recommend buying it. I don't usually care for the GTA-style of gameplay, but the story (until the zombies show up) and the mission based gameplay had me hooked for a little while. The game definately is oozing with style and presentation. If you liked GTA, I would go run and pick this game up. I think it improves on it in many ways, providing you like this kind of game in the first place.
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