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Whenever
a new and original genre emerges in music, film or videogaming,
there are always a wealth of copies, cash-ins and me-too titles
hoping to ride the hype and sell what they can on the back of the
success of their inspiration. You just have to take a look at the
huge amount of Teen Horror films to surface after the release of the
film Scream, or the amount of Platformers that graced the NES after
the release of Super Mario Bros. The videogaming industry has
always played host to the same marketing phenomenon. Despite the
controversy, or perhaps because of it, the original Grand Theft
Auto was very popular with casual gamers, but it was the series
fifth instalment; Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, that really
made the series a household name. The title’s 3D Sandbox
Environment - in which the player could rampage about in at their
leisure - was an instant hit with gamers and as is to be expected,
others hoped to create a similar environment and generate sales with
gamers looking for alternatives. Some titles decided to draw
influence whilst keeping in context, such as Spider-Man
2and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, whereas
others such as Total Overdose decided merely to take the
idea, and place it in a different setting. One of the most prominent
of these successor releases was True Crime: Streets of L.A.
and, although nowhere near as well liked as the insanely popular Grand
Theft Auto series, was considered a good game in its own right
and a much greater technical feat. The title featured the same
popular Sandbox Environment, high-speed car chases and third-person
shooting that frequents Grand Theft Auto, but had the user
play as a Police Officer, as  opposed to Grand Theft Auto in
which the protagonist is a criminal. As we all know, the reasonable
corporate success of a videogame or film almost always guarantees a
sequel. In the case of True Crime: Streets of L.A., this is True
Crime: New York City. Planning to build on the good points of
the original, True Crime: New York City has garnered a fair
amount of anticipation. Do Activision have a Grand Theft Auto
conqueror this time round? Or is it destined to fall into obscurity
like so many others?
Somewhat
obviously, True Crime: New York City is set in a gritty
version of New York. You play as Marcus Reed, a gangster-turned-cop looking to work his
way up the ranks of the New York Police Department. The game starts
with a brief look into Marcus’ past and involves him arriving at a
run-down house inhabited by several gangsters. After a short
Cut-Scene, in which the game shows-off it’s excellent
cinematography, Marcus finds himself as target practice for the
aforementioned disgruntled residents. Shooting takes place in the
third-person, as does the rest of the game, and features a logical
and accessible Lock-On and Fire System that players of the Grand
Theft Auto series and Mercenaries will be familiar with. 
The game features a Wall-Hugging System, similar to that recently
used in Perfect Dark Zero, and also allows dual-wielding of
weaponry. In general, the combat featured in the game is done well,
however picking up any weapons after the first seems unnecessarily
difficult to achieve as you regularly seem to throw the most
recently picked up weapon away. There is also the option of
hand-to-hand fighting, necessary later on in the game for arresting
violent criminals. There are fast-light attacks, slower heavy
attacks and grapples for players to incapacitate their foes but,
although not essential, it would have been nice if there were
different animations to differentiate between the light and heavy
blows. Unfortunately True Crime: New York City features pretty terrible collision detection which means that even
Locking-On to a target and throwing a punch does not guarantee a
hit. Fighting animations often continue long after their
requirement, usually resulting in an easy escape for a suspect, or a
moment of punishment for your avatar. These problems are further
highlighted by the use of the diving-grapple, almost essential for
arresting fleeing suspects, which is a hit-and-miss affair which
will sometimes even see Marcus jump through the target; hardly a
negligible problem in a game that frequently wishes you to arrest
running suspects.
After
the short prologue and a brief-spell in police-training, you are
free to explore the city. The game always gives you a location
to-go-to advance the story high-lighted on your on-screen Radar, but
also regularly gives you the location of nearby crimes in progress
for you to either resolve or ignore. These crimes are quite varied
featuring everything from car-jacking and robbery to hotel-trashing
rock bands and insane-pyromaniacs that will set themselves, and
frequently your avatar as well, on fire. Choosing to reply to these
and completing them successfully will earn you Career Points which
will enable you to increase your ranking within the Police
Department and gain access to better weaponry and vehicles from the
Police HQ. However, failing to arrest every member of an offending
group will cause the game to decree that all escaped, regardless of
the fact that twelve of them may be laying on the floor with their
hands cuffed behind their back. Another of the large number of
faults that plague True Crime: New York City, many of which
seem to be the direct result of a rushed product.
The
game features a Good Cop/Bad Cop System that allows the player to
play as a by-the-book police officer or a corrupt street cop. This
is, in general, very well done with the corrupt-cop being able to
plant evidence on innocents, extort street-traders and buy black
market weapons, but will find advancement in the police force more
difficult. However throughout the game the player will find it very
hard stay as a Good Cop, as in the first title in the series, it’s
very easy to accidentally kill innocent people while driving and
shooting, but it does make you play more cautiously, as it’s
likely a Good Cop would.
This
Good Cop/Bad Cop idea is used as the basis for the games’
multiple-endings, for example, choosing to work for your criminal
father will require you to perform some less-than-admirable police
work and as such choosing this option will divert you to a darker
path. This multiple-path choice is one of the features that True
Crime: New York City likes to boast about and really is one the
games more interesting features.
Although
each driving-related game has its own take on how a car handles,
apparently in New York all cars have had their shock absorbers replaced with jelly. Feeling
more subversive than in the title’s GameCube counterpart, this
effect makes driving unrealistic and ultimately nowhere near as fun
as other games in the genre. There is also the problem of some
frankly absurd AI which can see pedestrians hurl themselves off the
pavement and into the path of your car which as you are driving down
the road; presumably their attempt to get out of your way, although
you will be, in fact, not even driving towards them. This would not
really matter from gaming point-of-view if it was not for the fact
that killing pedestrians affects your Good Cop/Bad Cop Rating.
True
Crime: New York City is definitely a good looking game. The lighting effects are good
most of the time and the background effects, such as paper blowing
in the wind, help to make the setting that much more believable.
However, occasionally the lighting effects behave bizarrely causing
unrealistic light patterns, which is a shame since graphically this
game draws a decent amount out of the PlayStation2. The voice-acting
in this title features Hollywood stars such as Christopher Walken and Mickey Rourke and although
occasionally featuring some fairly corny lines, is done very well.
The sound effects of the guns are similarly impressive immersing you
further into the sordid
New York
underworld.
Although
True Crime: New York City had some promising goals, it
ultimately falls short and actually becomes worse than the original
due to it’s obviously hasty production which, like the original,
has resulted in the game having more bugs than a termite mound. You
can picture the scene; “OK guys, the beta version is finished, can
we get some play testers?”. “Sorry lads, Chris Walken wants
another ten thou, just get it to print, it‘ll be fine”.
Unfortunately guys, it isn’t.
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