Average Customer Review: ( 79 customer reviews )
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First the graphics. The graphics in this game are ASTONISHING! They're almost realistic in everyway! Surprisingly enough the game looks like REAL L.A. (with the exception of there not being much traffic.). So as far as eye-candy goes, True Crimes does a brilliant job here.

Now the sound. Again, no mistakes here! Good sound overall, and you can't go wrong here. Sound effects are great as well as the music. Again, you're not going wrong. The only thing I can say is that if you don't like Rap, you may not like the soundtrack as much. In this case it's good that you can take advantage of the custom soundtrack that the XBOX allows you to give the game.

Gameplay is probably where te game begins to faulter. The game has a "Good Cop/Bad Cop" system which isn't a bad idea. Should you do things the way a cop in real life would (i.e. you don't kill those you capture, you only injure, you fire warning shots and only shoot people in the leg and such) then you'll be considered a "Good Cop". Do the complete opposite and you're a "Bad Cop." There is a meter that tells you on which side of the bar you fall on.

Good Cop/Bad Cop isn't too badly done, but it really brings down the difficulty level of this game. It's fun to drive around but the game is so simple to keep to one side. If you see someone rob a bank you can easily just hit them with your car and not kill them, which results in you being a "Good Cop". If you hit him and kill him, you're a "Bad Cop". This becomes simple gameplay should you approach it that way.

What also makes gameplay simple is that you can choose to redo any failed missions. Clearly you could try them over and over again until the game is done with. BUT you could continue and leave mission failed. If you do this it effects future missions. Missions are very realistic. You can go undercover and hope you don't blow it even. You can do various things that a cop would do. You can search them and see if you find drugs, weapons, etc. or you could flash your badge, which will result in a suspect running or something else.

What's not to like about the gameplay? Well, it's too simple for one thing. I already talked about how you could hit a suspect with a car and not kill them, and this finishes missions easily. The other part is that you could easily complete missions without shooting (just knock them out). The auto-aim is very nice however.

The other bad thing about the gamplay are those camera angles. You'll find yourself constantly repositioning the camera just to see some of the action. Because of the camera you could be "jumped" and never know who did it, or get shot from behind.

The game presents a branching story. The outcome depends on the missions you succeed in and whether or not you're a "Good Cop" or a "Bad Cop". There are tons of ways to go through the story but the final confrontation is the same. You "could" become a bad guy but it makes no difference.

The story is actually more like something you'd see in an action movie. You've got your average jerky character (Nick Kang) who doesn't want a partner and constantly refuses to work with his and goes at it alone. His father used to be a part of the LAPD but died working a case. Sound familiar? It should, and it's full of chase scenes, one liners, and everything else you could want in an action movie.

So while larger than Vice City by A LOT the game is actually fairly linear. The storyline is decent (although the main character takes a bit of time to like), the gameplay is nice and overall the game is pretty good.

The Good:
+Great graphics and sound!
+Though quite linear, TONS of missions
+Lots of weapons to choose from
+Branching story
+Multiple endings
+HUGE City to explore

The Bad
-Main character is unlikeable at first
-Annoying Camera Angles
-Missions are too simple

The game overall is pretty decent. You've got a lot of freedom to enjoy and a huge map to explore. A great experience.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:

True dissapointment.Jan 26, 2004
By Michael Mcnerny "Skwirl"
If you haven't played GTA: Vice City, get that game instead of True Crime. If you have played Vice City, don't get True Crime because you'll just be dissapointed. What made Vice City so good is the same thing that makes True Crime not so good. Detail! The map is huge, too big for my tastes as I had no idea where I was most of the time, but it does seem to be a pretty accurate map of L.A., so if you are from L.A., you could probably visit the house where you are currently playing this game. Spooky. The game basically breaks down into three aspects; fighting, shooting, and driving. Because the map is so huge, I was mostly driving. This is where the game came up short. Most of the cars handled like 18-wheelers, and their top speed would rival most forklifts. Like most driving games, there are a few camera modes, and like most driving games the first person camera is planted on the bumper. Who would want to drive with their nose six inches off the asphalt? I have been to L.A. a few times and I know that they probably have more radio stations than any other city in the world, but in this game there is only one. I logged in over 100 hours in Vice City and never got tired of the eight different radio stations. In conclusion, my recommendation is to get Vice City. If you already wore that out, wait for Driver 3 comming in March.

21 of 28 found the following review helpful:

True CrimeOct 29, 2003
By Zach Engelbrecht
Although I will always charish Grand Theft Auto, True Crime looks like it will blow GTA out of the water. Here are some reasons why I think this game is better than GTA:

1. You play as Nick Kang, a former EOD cop ready to take on the streets of LA.

2. There is 250 square miles of living, breathing LA turf. You heard me. 250 SQUARE MILES!!!!!! That is 10 times bigger than Vice City and 7 times bigger than the Getaway!

3. Branching Storyline lets you play how you want to play. No matter if you pass or fail a mission. With random crimes going on aside from the story missions, the game is totally unpredictable.

4. Over 50 cars to choose from created from scratch, yet still reconizable car models.

5. Bullet time. What can I say? Bullet time.

6. Driving. Fighting. Shooting. All in one to give you the most immersive game of 2003.

Although there may be other reasons, this game will be AWESOME!! But GTA will always be inside of me.

5 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Yuck!Dec 27, 2003

This game was so loud and obnoxious it gave me a headache. It just tries too hard to be a "street" game by dumb, wannabe "street" dialogue that is neither funny nor interesting. The controls are horrible! You run around the street trying to point your character towards the bad guy, and there is no "quick adjustment" to send the camera behind Nick (main character). It's a slow rotation--five punches at your head later from the bad guy.

It is LACKING in atmosphere. Atmosphere is what made GTA (Grand Theft Auto Series) a winner. I felt like i was in the world. With True Crime, I felt like I was playing an annoying video game.

Music: Can we fit more "F" words in a song? I mean, yes, once in a while it's fine, but it's almost as though they were going out of their way to fit as many curse words in the soundtrack as possible simply to call attention to itself. I'm not a fan of that type of music anyways, but there ARE songs from that genre (Rap etc..) that are good. Just, not many of them are in True Crime. GTA had a number of different genres to choose from, which was nice.

I would rent this game first. Don't fall for the commercials like I did (and I never will again)--let Blockbuster be your friend. If you like it--then buy it. But this is not the type of game I would blindly buy. Leave that to the GTA series....

7 of 9 found the following review helpful:

Better than the Getaway but its no GTANov 05, 2003
By Jimbo Jones
I have had this game since Monday and was able to play it. The game opens you play as Nick Kang a member of Elite Operations Division (E.O.D.) Your job is to take down the criminals of L.A. The cool thing about this game is you can either go to a crime in progress and help or you can go to your intended destination and progress to the next level. If you are killed or fail the mission you do not need to redo it if you don't want to. The soundtracks pretty good no real compilants you can also custimize your soundtrack. The game isn't too bad the graphics are nice and sound is good and the voice acting is good look out for a few big HollyWood names. Overall I like what I see thus far and I quite enjoy this one but GTA comes out in the next few days for the xbox which will you be playing?

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