Reviewed: Fegbruary 18, 2006
Reviewed by: Jeff Gedgaud
Publisher
Eidos Interactive
Developer
Avalanche Software
Released: January 17, 2006
Genre: Action
Players: 1 / 16
ESRB: Mature
5
5
5
4
4.8
System Requirements
Recommended System
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
In the same style as the popular Grand Theft Auto series Eidos tries to fit the bill with 25 To Life. This first person shooter has the rap songs but just does not deliver the game in this very linear shooting fest. 25 To Life has a good assortment of weapons but the game plays too much in a strict path with a very cheesy story. With its strict path and mostly mow ‘em down objectives this game is an average FPS.
Starting out as a gansta named Freeze you want out of your gang life style due to your family commitments but your gang will not allow it. Plus the cops are hot on your tail and want you for your various past crimes. The story could be a good one but it is played exactly like you would expect with the one last job and all the plot twists that make such a poor excuse of a story line.
25 To Life puts you in either first or third person view with a good assortment of weapons but you just follow the path expected of you and mow down the opposition. The difficulty settings merely put more guys in front of you with more things like bazookas and Molotov cocktails, not better AI. You usually start out with a hand weapon and a gun or two but you rarely have to use the hand weapons such as bats and batons.
During the story driven levels you jump back and forth between the gangster Freeze, a detective chasing Freeze named Lester Williams and gang leader Shaun Calderon. Calderon doesn't want Freeze out of the gang and Williams wants to bust him so jumping back and forth between the three doesn't make much sense other than to add some kind of variety.
All over the 12 levels of the single player section are an assortment of weapons, throw able explosives and health packs so boosting ammo or health is rarely a problem. The mission objectives are not the best either. Most of the time you just have to mow down thirty or forty-five opponents or get to a final spot like your car. There are side objectives like covering other gangs’ tags with yours that gets you additional items for use in the multiplayer portion of the game.
There is an additional thirteenth level that is merely a death match with the computer. It is nothing spectacular but does play a bit better than the actual games other levels. I liked this better as there was no cheesy story or all of a sudden ten or twelve guys coming at you at once with a couple of them sporting bazookas.
The entire game can be difficult but not in a fun way. Mostly you hide behind objects and watch the enemy indicator for the bad guys marked by red dots. You pop out and mow them down and hide behind the next wall or pile of rubbish. Several times in the game there will be more than one enemy with bazookas or similar weapons that need to be dealt with before they blow you up.
The multiplayer could be a better part of 25 To Life but with the cheaters and other problems that Eidos has not dealt with yet it is just a disappointment. Aside from the fact that there is not very many people playing online I had to try several times to join a game. I would get errors and server problems that are not uncommon with many others trying to play online.
Eidos has not released a patch or fixed this problem but many are complaining about it on the forum for the game. Many are also complaining about the cheating that is going on but with that and the frustration of not being able to join a game much it is no wonder there are not many playing the multiplayer portion of the game.
I did play several games and found it played just fine once I could join. The variety of weapons you can start with is great and the multiplayer levels are fun to play against others. There seems to be a number of glitches on many of the levels but I did not exploit them, just peeked at some that are being discussed on the forums.
The graphics for 25 To Life are pretty standard for a first person shooter. Although things like fences and objects were rendered well other things like people dying slowly like falling dolls looked rather out of place. In the scenes when you die you fall slowly in a Max Payne fashion, which just takes time from starting the scene over again. The blood from bullet wounds does not look realistic at all, more like a can of paint splashed on a wall.
The cutscenes play well even though they have a pretty bad storyline. In several of the cut scenes cell phones play a part in the story but to see the character hold his empty hand to his face and talk to his friend on the other end of the line is just silly.
The graphics engine does pretty poorly when your character or others are dealing with other things or stationary parts of the levels. When you hold a person hostage while in first-person perspective at times while moving with them you see into their head and through parts of them. Also when people get shot and would fall back they would often clip through parts of the level before their body would disappear. Many of these things are small separately but taken together add up to a lot of problems. I've seen better on older games.
25 To Life boasts rap songs from popular rap stars and groups such as 2Pac, Public Enemy and DMX, 27 rap songs in all. They play some of them on boom boxes strategically located throughout the game just sitting around in the scenes. For a house or the apartment scenes this is fine but it looks odd going through an alley and here's this boom box sitting on the ground pumping out rap. Or why would they have one sitting right out the back exit door of a bank. The Rap songs are okay, I could take or leave them but it should be noted that this game is definitely for mature audiences.
The gun sounds and other noises are all pretty generic for a first person shooter. The voice acting in the game was fine but the actors did not have much of a story to go on. Many video games have music and sound effects that add so much to the game and the theme but this one had so many small things that were either just adequate or with it's small problems that the bad stood out more than the good.
Value for 25 To Life is very low. With skipping between the characters in between missions and the cheesy story line going through the game more than once would be a chore. The online multiplayer would be better if more people played but with the joining issues and cheating I don't think this game will ever be much of a multiplayer hit if Eidos doesn't fix the issues. This game is a very generic FPS with a very structured path so there is no kind of side snooping like in the Grand Theft Auto series. Just play the mission through the path and your done.
25 To Life is a very generic game from many standpoints. The single player missions are very single minded with no plot other than mowing down the other guys. The game doesn't even penalize you for hitting people on your side. You can literally mow down everything to finish the level.
The games graphics and sound are also generic and with the errors of joining multiplayer games this is one game that could be avoided. The rap songs might add something to the gameplay if you’re into rap but is on boom boxes and doesn't play evenly throughout the levels.
This game probably had promise but turned out to be your standard first person shooter with the addition of some popular rap music thrown in.