True
Crime: New York City is a big apple just waiting to
be shot into a million tiny pieces. by
Cole Smith
January
19, 2006 - True
Crime: New York City is a marked improvement over
Streets of L.A. Overall it's more refined and the
storyline is more relevant to the gameplay. The missions
are varied to offer you a taste of multiple genres
such as shooting, racing and combat but the crime-solving
aspect is downplayed in favor of completing action-based
missions to unlock information to guide you to your
next mission.
Marcus
Reed is a former criminal turned cop. He's out to
avenge the murder of his mentor, the guy that turned
his life around after Marcus and his crime boss father
exacted revenge on a rival gang for a failed attempt
on their lives. With his father in jail, Marcus has
been exonerated and is now a cop working to clean
up the mean streets of the Big Apple. He's street-wise
and well versed in the use of weapons and hand-to-hand
combat. Only you can determine if he's really changed
for the better - or worse.

Thanks
to the storyline the gameplay follows a linear path
but does so in such a way as to make it appear natural
and logical. Freedom comes in the form of side-quests
which can be ignored or chosen for any number of reasons.
You can complete various missions differently. Playing
as the good cop or the bad cop results in very little
consequences for your actions unless you go totally
overboard like gunning down innocent civilians. You
can pull off some pretty nasty stunts for money such
as selling evidence at the pawn shop but of course
you can always justify that you had to do these things
in order to complete a much larger objective.
Throughout
the game you will encounter lots of random incidents
like muggings, fights, disturbances and so on. These
will earn you various points which can be used to
upgrade your skills, weapons and ranking but it's
the big missions that throw the game into overdrive.
Under the guise of infiltrating high-profile illegal
activities such as illegal racing and fight clubs
you will experience racing and combat elements. You
can move in and out of buildings with incredible ease,
catching the bad guys red-handed. There are lethal
and non-lethal takedowns. The more bad guys you arrest
the more you will progress in the ranks as a law enforcement
officer. You can also acquire some of the weapons
and other goodies that the bad guys leave behind.
Aside
from racing, you can drive vehicles to get around
the city. The island of Manhattan had been digitally
re-created to include all of the main streets and
landmarks. This is one huge city and will take a long
time to get from one end to the other, even without
bumper-to-bumper traffic. You can choose from a variety
of vehicles including cars, trucks and motorcycles
but you can also opt to just take a cab or the subway
if you want to get there in one piece. The vehicles
are just not very responsive and you'll experience
lots of sliding even at low speeds. They are capable
of lots of damage.

Having
been to Manhattan recently I can tell you that most
of the buildings are just generic filler; something
to take up space between major intersections. Still,
it's impressive by its sheer scale and when filled
with pedestrians and other ambient animations it manages
to deliver the essence that can only be New York City.
Once
certainly can't complain about the range of options.
The targeting system, for instance, lets you choose
from an automatic lock-on to a more manual locking
system that targets the enemy that you are aiming
at. Switching to the auto lock-on you can move around
more freely to avoid taking hits or moving to a safer
location while continuing to fire with confidence.
The combat system utilizes a simpler lock-on targeting
system that automatically engages the characters that
you are facing. Punches, kicks and throws find their
mark a lot more accurately than in Streets of L.A.
There are also tons of interactive items that you
can hit people with or throw at them.
There
is no shortage of bloody gunfire battles but at the
end of each mission you will arrest a suspect and
take him in for interrogation. There is an interrogation
meter that calculates how cooperative the suspect
is to your line of questioning. You have to show him
you mean business by stressing him out with threats
and/or violence but at the same time you have to offer
a safe haven for him to confide in you. Get the meter
to hit the center three times and you'll win a confession
that will send you off on another mission. Fail to
get a confession and you'll have to perform a side-mission
for another undesirable to obtain the same information.

The
only way the storyline could be better is if most
of it could be revealed in-game, as a direct result
of you obtaining clues and solving them. Instead,
cutscenes reveal developments in the story and you
certainly can't complain when these mini-moves are
voiced by the outrageously talented acting of Christopher
Walken and Mickey Rourke. The dialog is good but the
way these guys deliver their lines makes it sound
a hundred times better.
There
are lots of background animations and New York is
one huge map, however the character models are a little
rough and there are some glitches such as clipping
and some problems with scene changes that transport
you to some very strange places.
The
replay value depends on your willingness to go back
and explore the big city. No doubt you will find new
side missions that you missed the first time around.
I'm not convinced a multi-player mode would even be
required for a game such as this without resorting
to some kind of hackneyed frag fest. I would recommend
this game only as a rental. Although superior to the
original, New York could have benefited from a few
more months of polish excluding the cutscenes which
are excellent. It's just disappointing that the rest
of the game doesn't live up to the quality of the
cutscenes. Perhaps the third in the series will be
a little closer to perfection than the first two.

Features:
- Street
Cop Life: Bust criminals, take down foreign and
local gangs, search and seize, extort, interrogate,
and dispense justice your way - by the book or indulge
in the temptations of the job.
- Rule
New York City: Free-roaming authentic neighborhoods,
GPS-accurate streets and subways, landmark buildings,
and countless interiors.
- Dynamic
Environments: Unprecedented environmental gameplay
- use ovens, stoves, machines, coolers, pots, pans,
chairs or anything else you can grab to pound enemies.
Virtually every aspect of each city block - including
people, streets, and buildings - reacts and changes
based on your "law enforcement" decisions
and ability to combat crime.
- High-Speed
Shootouts: Race through the streets of New York
in shootouts! Pull off stunts with motorcyles, sports
cars, trucks, buses, and more.
- Brutal
Combat Styles: Switch fighting styles on the fly,
from street fighting to a variety of marial arts
modes, opening up an array of moves and strategies
to take down enemies.
- Heavy
Weapons: Use high-powered police issue weaponry,
bats, swords, and other melee weapons, or obtain
black market arms like flamethrowers, grenade launchers,
and more.
By
Cole Smith
CCC
Senior Editor
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Knock
Knock. Who's There? Nick Kang. Nick Kang
who? Exactly.
I
liked Nick Kang and I liked the first True Crime:
Streets of LA. More than anything, I thought it reeked
of potential. Some people didn't like the fantasy
aspect that threw a monkeywrench into the middle of
what was supposed to be a gritty crime thriller, but
I was okay with it. I thought Russel Wong owned Nick
Kang. I quite enjoyed his tongue in cheek delivery
as the rogue cop and I'm sure I won't be the only
one who is going to miss Mr. Kang in the next installment
of True Crime. Yeah, Nick isn't in the next True Crime.
In fact, neither is LA. But don't panic just yet.
We're sure there will be some streets and some crime.
Those definitely made the cut.
Marcus
Reed, one time gang member now turned cop is True
Crime's new anti-hero. He doesn't take no **** and
he busts heads, breaks necks and sucker punches all
in the name of justice. Activision is being very coy
in regards to the city this time around because you
can win Marcus' ride in a Name The City contest over
at www.truecrime2005.com.
As usual it's only open to residents of the US. I'm
going to say Fargo. It's got to be Fargo. Or wait,
downtown Wisconsin Dells. That's a pretty shady city.
What are the chances the city isn't New York? I mean
come on. Maybe Detroit. Maybe Chicago. But I'm sticking
with Fargo.
At
E3, Activision trodded out aging porn starlet turned
legitimate E3 booth babe, who knows a little something
about "real" True Crime. She was making
adult movies when she shouldn't have been (aka too
young). A few people went to jail over that little
boo boo, except her for some bizarre reason as she
was presumably the only person involved who actually
knew her true age. But it's not against the law for
a 15 year old to have relations with an adult, but
it is the other way around. She's the blond booth
babe below in the single shot. If you ever meet her
don't mention that incident as I'm sure it's a bit
of a sore spot, although I can't see why, after all
she didn't go to jail....
We
didn't see any shots of the vehicles in True Crime
2 and we were sure wondering how those motorcycle
physics were coming along... Let's hope Luxoflux worked
on that aspect and we get to ride a hog in the sequel.
Stay tuned for more info.
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