True Crime: Streets of LA is what the title says. An amazingly interactive crime fighter styled after the great GTA series, but which is also unique enough to stand as a very cool and addictive game on its own.
Okay, let's get something straight. I am a HUGE fan of the GTA series brought to us by the now legendary Rockstar North. And I really didnt want to see a lot of clones made to copy it to cash in on GTA's unique brand of gameplay. But that never stops me from trying a new game.
When Getaway came out, I gave it the old try before you buy and rented it from Blockbuster. After TRYING to play it for twenty minutes (Yes the control and gameplay were that awful) I put it on my 'goes back to blockbuster table' and sat back down to play some other game I'd been engrossed in at the time. (Probably Grand Theft Auto: Vice City!) Time went on, and I basically thought that the 'Clone War' had ended.
Well, one day after logging in my 80th hour of Vice City, I saw some stuff on True Crime: Streets of LA in a game magazine. 'Not another one' I moaned. But even though I could never get tired of piloting my Sea Sparrow all over Vice City island, I decided to give it a try.
I went to Game Rankings first just to see what the average ratio was for this game that looked pretty cool. It had gotten an 85% overall ratio. This is a good score for GR. The user score was about the same and really anything over 80% I'm willing to give a try. So I went to get the game, came home and played it.
Now some games I like right away, and some games I end up hating. There are also some games that I'm not thrilled with right away, but I give every game twenty minutes and a lot of games have made complete 180s and have become favorites. I didnt like the control. I was so used to Vice City that it was hard to adapt. True Crime also has about twice as many button moves as Vice City. Then before I started hating the game for this reason, I went into options and discovered I could customize my control. With careful precision, I made the game control EXACTLY like GTA, with all the True Crime extra moves added in as well. Okay, now let's start over.
Boy was I glad that I gave this game a chance. Because the more I played, the more I felt like I wasnt playing just another GTA clone, but a really fun stand-alone crime fighting game with an excellent storyline. Whew!
True Crime: Streets of LA stars Nicholas Kang, an officer who'd been suspended indefinitly from LAPD for excessive violence and property damage. The story begins as Nick's old police chief offers him a job in the Elite Ops Division, or EOD, an agency created to fight the toughest of crime and most controversial cases in LA. This new force would have higher jurisdiction over regular cops, while letting him remain undercover.
Nick uses his new undercover status to infiltrate the Triad gang of LA in an attempt to take down it's leader. Without giving away too much of the story, I'm just going to say it's a good one, and it greatly supports True Crime's awesome gameplay. Now, on to the gameplay.
True Crime, when properly tweaked in the Controller Customization Menu, controls exactly like GTA in all of it's basic actions. You can jack(or commandeer) any car, and run around and shoot people and things. You have a mini radar in the lower left corner to help you navigate the city. You start out in Story Mode, but you can put off the story mode and cruise around looking for other stuff to do, just like GTA. However, that's where the similarity ends.
True Crime also contains a huge arsenal of fighting moves and shooting techniques for a more realistic interaction. Example: Say you come up to a perp mugging a victim. You have a lot of options on what to do next. You can flash your badge and a lot of times, small timers will give up and raise their hands. However some perps will fight you or try to run away. You can chase after them and fight to try to bring them down. This is one area where the game really shines because they give you so many moves to do this with. While chasing a criminal, you have three different ways to tackle him. When fighing him, you have block, kick, punch, and grapple buttons which can be linked together to form combo attacks. Whoah, is this a fighting game too?
If the perp is really psychotic and draws a weapon, you can draw yours two for a gunfight. True Crime also gives us more options for this too. You can just blast away at the criminal, or hold down on the shoot button to zoom in and concentrate on a head or arm shot. You can also do a Max Payne style slow motion dive and shoot. The shooting techniques are learned at various shooting galleries around the city, and the fighting techniques are learned at various dojos around the city, owned by Nick's brother who is LA's baddest martial artist!
Uh oh, the perp jacked a car and is getting away. No problem! You can jump in a car yourself, and shoot out the driver's window and forward (YES forward) at the maniac driving in front of you. While shooting, you can do the same hold button technique to zoom in and shoot more accurately at the car. This is sure to get the guy to stop, and then it's off to fight him again to bring him down. Once the criminal finally gives up or is knocked unconcious, you can then, with the quick press of a button, turn him over on his belly and handcuff him. Sweet!
The way you find crime to fight in the city is based on dispatching. While driving, you'll hear a call about a crime in progress. This is really cool because they use real police codes and jargon so it sounds super-real. They'll announce the crime to all units in the area, and it's up to you if you want to stop or not. Like Vice City, True Crime keeps note of all your stats, so if you dont respond to many calls it will log that and keep it as an initiative stat. If you're really Facist, or if you see some shady activity, you can even randomly frisk people walking down the street. Some will be carrying illegal drugs or contraband. Others Nick will just tell them that 'They look clean and to make sure they keep it that way'. Keep in mind, your stats will be recorded and this will go under a stat called 'cop instinct'. If you accidently hit someone in your car, or shoot a hostage this will be recorded and these stats that more reflect your reputation as a good or bad cop. You can go around killing everything in sight as in Vice City, but being a good cop will reward you with more options in the game, so it's good to keep your nose clean. This all contributes to realisitc interaction and very fun gameplay and pushes True Crime's fun factor onto a level all it's own.
The story is wonderful, character driven and resembles a Hollywood cop movie. There's a nice lookin love interest for Nick, named Rosie Valasquez, who was an ex-gang member turned straight. And all this drama takes place in a city that is at least 3 times the size of Vice City.
Yes, Activision claims to have taken LA and re-created it block for block for 250 square miles. Let me tell you, it is MASSIVE. First of all, it takes ten minutes just to drive from East LA to the Westside. It's got all your major towns like Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Korea Town. Every street is a real street from LA. While all this is hard to take in, they've also included LA's Highway system. You can cruise up the coast of LA on Pacific Coast Highway, or cross town on Interstate 10. The highways have real on and off ramps, exit signs, and guide posts and make for some ultra-realistic exploring.
While doing all this exploring, your car will sustain the usual GTA type damage. Scattered throughout the map are gas stations where you can get repairs. They'll show up on your mini radar, and will also be sited on the highway guideposts just like in real life. If Nick's health is shot from all the killer crime fighting, he can hit the local pharmacy, and he's good as new. There are also racing and different types of training missions located in LA that will give you access to new cars, weapons, combo attacks, and grapples.
While the soundtrack may not be enjoyable to everyone, it perfectly suits the game's theme. It's all top 40's Rap, PFunk, R&B from the past 3 decades, and it features a lot of songs you'd expect to hear as an eastside gangster, or a crazy cop from LA. It too is used to fuel True Crime's thick street attitude.
Wait, this is a great review, but am I saying that this game is BETTER than GTA: Vice City? No. There are a few drawbacks. The game will control slightly less crisp than GTA, however it doesnt take away from the gameplay too drastically. Also the game does not cycle through day and night the way GTA does, so it's always perma-dusk. The graphics are noticably better than Vice City in a lot of respects, and the detail of the backgrounds way more rendered. However, there are visual glitches, that come a little more frequently than Vice City. These are also subtle and do not kill the game.
More control, higher levels of interaction, and a higher level of realism are just a few of the strong points that really push this genre's limits and show Rockstar that they're not the only dogs in town. This combined with a really solid storyline make it a great game.
As similar as this game is to VC, it really is a different beast. As wreckless as you can be, it also pays to be a good, honest cop. And the story is completely driven that way too. Dont get me wrong, you definitely do a ton of butt-kicking along the way!
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