Similar to GTA and Driver, but definitely unique enough on its own.
In True Crime, you play the role of Nick Kang, rogue police officer who's out to solve the mystery of his father's murder. Yes, the plot is pretty cliche, and so is a lot of the dialog and situations. But the game's great fun nonetheless.
For starters, The game is broken up into individual missions that cover driving, shooting, fighting, and sneaking. Each part is well done on its own, and as an entire package True Crime
comes together nicely. One of the first things you'll notice is that you may fail any mission and continue to the next, unlike GTA where you're forced to stay at it until each mission is passed.
However unlike GTA, missions in this game are pre-programmed and there is no wandering around accepting odd jobs. Still, it's a great system, so if you just can't seem to beat a mission just go ahead and continue on with the slightly altered storyline, and go back to finish it later and see what would have happened. Finishing every mission, by success or failure, saves your progress and you can revisit them at any time, and do each one as many times as you like.
Another great thing about the game is its freedom. Without even the slightest exagerration, TC is maybe half a dozen times larger than GTA. It takes almost ten minutes of solid driving to get from one end of town to the other, and you'll encounter just about every type of neighborhood along the way.
At any time you can commandeer a car with the touch of a button. You can also freely walk the streets and frisk people, looking for evidence of crime.
Sometimes it works and you earn points, which can then be used to regain health at hospital stations. You can also visit one of the training destinations to get one of about 30 upgrades to your driving, shooting, and combat skills.
Probably the funnest part of True Crime is solving random street crimes. At any time (except when on a timed mission), you can walk wherever you want and solve crimes like street fights, prostitution, gang warfare, and so on. Or, you can cruise around and wait for radio calls that alert you to catch other more serious criminals such as carjackers, rapists, and serial killers.
These random street crimes never end, and there's at least a few dozen different types so the action takes a while before it gets tiring. And again, whenever you tire of it, just get on with the story line, or go back and revisit your favorite missions all over again.
The driving is almost just like GTA, except with more techniques such as peel-outs and instant reversing. The shooting is very similar as well, with an automatic targeting system that guides your gunshots towards the suspect
in question. And at any time you can fire your gun in slow motion for more precise shooting.
Finally, the combat system is leagues above GTA and is very fun. Your character starts with punches, kicks, and throws, and can improve those skills to the point to where he can learn more than a dozen new martial art
moves such as spinning butterfly kicks and wrestling grapples (and once you learn the "ground attack" moves, you can even pull off what looks suspiciously like the Rock's "People's Elbow"). It's great stuff.
The voice acting is well done, and sounds like the voice actors had fun doing it. Hell, Snoop Dogg's even in it and he sounds like he's having a good ol' time too (of course you have to unlock him though, search this site and others to see how). Once again the story is pretty basic, but it's a fun game nonetheless and maintains a sort of campy feel throughout. Be forewarned that 2/3rds of the way through, the story does get into less realistic territory involving chinese mystycism.
All told, True Crime is definitely fun. I've sometimes just whittled away several hours at a time solving random street crimes and building up my score and techniques, without even worrying about the storyline. And the fact that the story branches off into at least 4 different directions gives you plenty to do. Plus, the great feature of being able to go back and replay failed missions ensures that everyone has the chance of seeing it all and getting the best ending whenever they spend the time or get good enough for all the missions. The game contains many of the best elements of Grand Theft Auto, plus introduces enough of its own and makes itself different enough that it's definitely worth a play. I found it to be a great game, with a long story and plenty to do.
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