Reviewed: October 25, 2004
Reviewed by: Roger Cox

Publisher
Crave Entertainment
Empire Interactive

Developer
Blitz Games

Released: September 21, 2004
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Mature

4
3
2
2
3.5

Supported Features:

  • Analog Control
  • Vibration
  • Memory Card (125 KB)

    		•
    Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett of the Tactical Narcotics Team are back and oh so bad. Featuring all the fast pace and all-out action of the movie, it’s your job to ensure that these TNT cops are not DOA! Somewhere on the streets of Miami, something is going down which must be stopped. What are YOU gonna do when you step into Bad Boys: Miami Takedown?

    Bad Boys: Miami Takedown Features:

    • The officially licensed game of the movie Bad Boys™ II.
    • 15 stages of fast paced, all-action gameplay, with gameplay featuring multiple mission objectives.
    • Play as either Mike or Marcus in 1st or 3rd person viewpoints. Each character has their own personalities and characteristics.
    • Includes Bad Boy rating system, where you are rewarded for your actions and achievements. Play the perfect cop or be a Bad Boy!
    • Includes a large variety of weapons, and fully destructible environments to enhance immersion.
    • Changing play styles add variety and gameplay. Use the quick aiming and shooting Action mode, and search for clues and evidence using Explore mode.
    After struggling to keep myself going for the initial 30mins of gameplay, I never wanted to return. But since I wanted to write a thorough review, I continued playing so you wouldn’t have to. Continue reading to see why this game really is a Bad Boy.

    You play as Mike Lowrey (for the most part) with Marcus Burnett as your sidekick in a 3rd person action-shooter. Marcus follows you around shooting enemies and getting in the way at times. Bad Boys' gameplay is pretty basic and we’ve all played games like this before. Every level you get a piece of the story, then you run through it killing enemies and eventually coming to the boss stage. I have to hand it to Empire Interactive for coming up with some very creative boss names such as “BossU.”

    Bad Boys doesn’t offer the gamers anything really new or innovating in terms of gameplay. Sure Bad Boys has a “Bad Boy” rating system that rewards your actions and achievements, but it is not enough of an incentive to keep playing by any means. In fact I never once paid attention to my Bad Boy rating.

    One major problem in Bad Boys is camera issues. There are many times in Bad Boys that you think to yourself “Oh, how’d I get into first person mode?” then you realize that you were actually just behind the camera and couldn’t see yourself. Interestingly enough the crosshairs are permanently placed on the center of the screen, which is why you get the first person effect.

    There is a cover mode in which for example you get up next to a wall for protection and then peek around the corner to shoot (in first person mode) at the enemies. The cover mode is difficult to use and if used often the pace of the game becomes unbearably slow. Slow unfortunately doesn’t work for an action game like Bad Boys.

    You know how frustrated you get when you should be able to do something (like aim), but can’t because of something outside of your control? Well, the controls are just like that. It’s so hard to aim at the enemies that you’ll die trying. However you have some options when it comes to customizing the control scheme, but changing the sensitivity level doesn’t help. Control frustration reigns supreme the further you torture yourself through the game.

    The X button opens doors, but it’s also your crouch and barrel roll button. The problem here is that you can’t be running or walking to open a door. You have to stop completely in order to literally kick open each door. Many times you will roll into a door or crouch. I really would prefer to open a door with my hand instead of pounding every door with the heal of my foot. For some reason doors in this game randomly close whenever they want. Maybe it’s just me, but they don’t do that in normal life do they? Finally, there aren’t enough health packs here to correct for the poor controls and camera making this game more difficult than it should be.

    As level design is concerned Empire did a decent job. Bad Boys features fully destructible levels. Shooting toilets, TVs, fans, and various other things was the most fun I had while playing this game. While playing you will notice that you have to shoot people twice in the stomach/head with a shotgun in order to kill them. On top of that you have to be pretty much right on the mark when shooting any weapon. Where is the auto aim or enemy lock on? I really think having an enemy targeting system would have made shooting in this game more enjoyable and allow me to over look the bad controls.

    Miami Takedown also suffers from some rather long load times (22 seconds is the longest I counted), and if you are unfortunate enough to die at the boss you get to replay the entire level again. But that just means you get to enjoy all of the terrible voice acting; voice acting so bad you’ll laugh or cry (either way it’s funny), and you can expect the most insincere use of the F-word I ever heard (lots of cussing).

    Welcome back to PlayStation One graphics, only this time around they are a slightly smoother. I remember thinking to myself “It’s like there’s a jagged line party and every line is invited.” The textures in this game are so bland that at times it can be hard to recognize a simple doorway. That proves to be a problem when navigating through the levels. This is a game that could easily port backwards to the PlayStation One.

    Anyone expecting Will Smith and Martin Lawrence to do the voice acting for this game will be sorely disappointed. Most wouldn’t expect to hear them in a budget title, but what you would expect is decent voice acting. Unfortunately you don’t even get that, instead you get “D” rated voice acting from the same people that made the game. I’m not really sure that they did the voice acting, but if they had to pay anyone then they would’ve been better off doing it themselves.

    Simply put, the voice acting is so terrible that my friend was yelling at me to stop the intro movie the second time I played it. As far as sound effects are concerned they are decent. There is nothing new here, just your everyday shooting/crashing/burning/screaming sound effects.

    Miami Takedown features very annoying in game one-liners that are repeated over and over much like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (all platforms) did last year (slice and dice...slice and dice). What I recommend in the audio set up is this. Turn the voice volume all the way down, then turn on the subtitles. That way you don’t get annoyed with the bad voice acting and you might be able to follow the story. Overall this game has poor voice acting, marginally average sound effects and elevator like background music during gameplay.

    There’s no value as far I could see. I own this game and I wish I didn’t. This title shouldn’t be in the budget bin, it should be in the trash bin. Enough said

    How much of a bad boy are you? Bad enough to try this game? If you buy it or rent it don’t say I didn’t warn you. Bad Boys has bad graphics, horrible voice acting, and a hackneyed story hidden inside. When it comes to replayability there is none. When it’s painful to play through the first 30 minutes you know something is bad and that bad is Bad Boys: Miami Takedown.

    “Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when come for you”? You know how those idiots on COPS always run when they get caught and you think “I wouldn’t run.” Well, there’s been a change in plans. If you see this game anywhere run as hard and fast as you can. It’s painful to be caught owning this game.