Reviewed: December 24, 2005
Reviewed by: Megan Dyer

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Luxoflux Corp.

Released: November 16, 2005
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Mature

5
6
8
6
6.1

Supported Features:

When True Crime: Streets of L.A. came out, it did pretty well, keeping many gamers and reviewers, for the most part, happy. So how does the much-anticipated True Crime: New York City fare in this genre? Well, let’s just say I’ll be beating up pixilated pedestrians elsewhere when I feel the urge.

Of course, he’s a cop that doesn’t play by the rules (do they ever in these stories?), and ends up doing a bit of his own investigating on the murder case, all while attempting to do his duty as a cop, and clean up the streets of New York. Players can choose to be the “good” cop (and by “good,” I mean not a ruthless killer), or the bad cop, depending upon the actions you take.

Despite all of its other faults, TCNYC does have a decent, although clichéd story. There aren’t any big surprises if you’re familiar with these types of tales, but it does a decent job of telling it anyway. If you’re into crime stories, then perhaps you’ll enjoy TCNYC, bad controls and all.

I chose to be the good cop. Usually, I’m a sucker for anti-heroes, even villains, but how often do we get to be the good guy in games like these? By being the good cop, you must turn evidence and contraband you encounter through your investigations into the police station, instead of going to pawn shops and extorting cash, or writing false traffic tickets. Also, while you’re at it, it helps to try to not mow people down on the sidewalk when driving, or shoot unarmed people and other cops. Sounds easy, right?

Well, it’s not. Through no fault of my own, I soon became a bad cop. I was turned to the dark side by shoddy, unresponsive controls with a confusing layout, and a car that refused to not drive like it was going 90 MPH on black ice. When you are out responding to the usual crime on the streets in TCNYC, you may either drive a selected car from the precinct’s garage, or abuse your authority by commandeering car after car. Supposedly, each car handles a bit differently, although it didn’t really matter if I was in an armored truck or sports car, for I still had little control over my driving, and careened wildly down the street, smashing into other vehicles and human beings. You may take a taxi or other means of public transportation, but where’s the fun in that?

The rest of the controls in TCNYC aren’t much better, I’m afraid. Most commands take a two button combo, and it’s easy to forget what command does what, considering that they are not repeated after the first training mission and are even left out of the instruction booklet in some cases, like the all important handcuffing command. Tackling people hardly ever works either. Time after time, no matter how close I was to my target, I would watch helplessly as Marcus would dive forward gracefully, only to tumble gently into a somersault, and slide away from the assailant empty handed. He also had a considerable amount of trouble figuring out how doors work, and how to stand up from a crouched position.

With poor controls, it’s hard to have fun with a game. It’s even harder when the game is a clone of a better game. The point of view, the mini-map, the scenery, and just about everything in TCNYC, is so reminiscent of GTA that it left me wondering why anyone would want to play True Crime in place of it. It does basically everything GTA does, only not as well.

While some people might enjoy the aspect of being a good guy and not just a criminal, it really ought to be easier to not have to resort to criminal activity. When you are out in your civilian clothes, you must first flash your badge, or shoot your gun up in the air and yell, “New York police!” or else other cops will shoot at you. This happened a lot, considering I too often pushed the wrong button combo and ended up lurking around crouched with my gun in my hand as the boys in blue used me for target practice until one of my legs was blown clean off of my body.

After this happens several times, it’s hard not to pistol whip any cops you see while you are out on the streets. And thus, I became a bad cop rather quickly. When a game won’t even let you do what it says it will let you do, there’s definitely a problem.

The weather and light effects aren’t helpful to the problem with the graphics either. When snow falls, it looks very unnatural. Rain isn’t much better. And I was kind of confused as to why I could see right through Marcus’ head and see his teeth when looking at him up close. Why not just make his brain visible too, while you’re at it, eh Activision?

The music is also pretty good, since, like in GTA, you can switch between radio stations in the car and listen to real music. The Wu-Tang Clan, Danzig, A Tribe Called Quest, White Zombie, and The Ramones are just some of the artists you can listen to while cruising the streets of New York. Oddly enough, these songs are edited. In a game that loves to use four letter words as much as possible, I find this confusing.

Still, the sound isn’t perfect. For example, while it’s cool that pedestrians respond to you as you pass by them or run into them, they don’t really respond in the most realistic fashion. For example, when you run around with your gun out, people obviously freak out a bit, but even when you don’t, they more or less act the same way. It just doesn’t make sense to constantly hear people yelling, “Holy Shit!” or, “What the hell?!” in screechy, panicky voices whether I’m shooting an armed crack head, or buying a hot dog from a vendor. It’s annoying too.