TRUE CRIME: STREETS OF L.A.

By: James Stevenson
Review Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2003

GRAND THEFT AUTO has quickly become the biggest blockbuster of the videogame industry. As with any blockbuster, the videogame industry immediately has games that try to copy the concept. TRUE CRIME: STREETS OF L.A. is one of those games, but instead of being a cheap imitation, the game goes in its own direction and comes off being very successful.

The biggest difference between GRAND THEFT AUTO and TRUE CRIME is the way that the two games play. TRUE CRIME revolves around a cop and has a storyline that allows you to fail missions, yet proceed through the game (instead of playing through the same level over and over again). The gameplay mechanics are also quite a bit tighter than from GTA.

From that paragraph right there, you'd think that TRUE CRIME would blow GTA right out of the water. But that's not entirely true as the two games are both very different. For instance, there are lots of random missions to do (think of constantly being in a cop car in GTA but having better thought out missions to accomplish). The game is also based much more on a storyline that has you attempting different missions based on your results. It reminds me of one of the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books that I was so fond of.

The

gameplay mechanics are pretty cool. There is a fighting system in the game that rivals some fighting games, and the gun system fighting is well done. It's not quite as intuitive, but it's better than GTA's. The driving system allows you to fire at cars nearby and attempt to disable the vehicle.

Some of the really cool elements of the game are the training areas that allow you to improve your character. The later missions are quite a bit more difficult and almost require you to have upped your skills. The way to get into these training centers is to accumulate "Shields" which you accumulate by cleaning up random crimes, and lose by screwing up as a cop. There's also a ying/yang system that keeps track of your "Good Cop/Bad Cop" rating. If you go far enough down the dark side, you can even get the police to come after you!

My only complaint is how fast it seems to go by. You can blaze through the game (albeit not getting the best ending) fairly quickly. While the story and pace are a bit refreshing (from having to spend half-an-hour getting past a GTA mission), it just seems to be not nearly as epic as GRAND THEFT AUTO. However playing for the different paths extends the lifetime of the game considerably.

The

graphics look pretty good in general, and L.A. is recreated well. I had some issues with a few of the glitches in the game like the camera getting stuck in the wall. The graphics are generally good though, and probably even make L.A. look a bit nicer than it actually is.

The soundtrack in the game is West Coast hip-hop, which isn't a favorite of mine, but fits in with the game pretty well. Actors like Christopher Walken and Gary Oldman provide the game;s voice talent, and that goes way beyond that of most videogames.

TRUE CRIME: STREETS OF L.A. is one of the most surprising Holiday titles of the year. Fans of GRAND THEFT AUTO should check it out.

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