True Crime: New York City Preview

It is a gritty tale, told with frankness, blood and language best not heard by the young.

True Crime: New York City is the latest in the True Crime franchise and while the game is very open ended, contrary to the joke cracked by one of the developers from Luxoflux at an Activision media event recently held in San Francisco, this game will not be supporting an “E” rating.

The language is foul, the violence extreme and the story is a rough tale told well by the talented developer team. 

It begins when Marcus Reed, the son of the King, a crime lord serving a long prison sentence, gets wind of a plot by Kev Lar to have his father murdered. He pulls up to the house that Kev calls home, his arms and left side of his face drenched in blood. A few automatic machine guns, of the Uzi variety, are tucked into his waistband, under his shirt behind him. He walks in and confronts Kev, telling him – in essence – that his “boys” failed and Marcus’ father is still alive. Kev is not happy at the news; he is less thrilled when Marcus pulls out the weapons and puts a round or two into his torso. That is when it all breaks loose. Marcus works through the guards and finally corners Kev, and puts an end to his life. That is when Terry shows up, the cop who has served as a surrogate father figure to Marcus since his father has been incarcerated. Terry offers to clean up the mess, but only if Marcus does what Terry tells him to do. Fast forward five years later and Marcus is now a member of the New York City Police Department, and looking to transition to plainclothes duty.

When Terry is killed during an investigation, it falls to Marcus to find his killers – a task he undertakes with a vengeance.

According to a development team member on hand, several elements have been improved over the previous editions in the franchise. Driving and targeting have been made easier (and yes, you can upgrade your vehicle), and this year’s edition has approximately 2,000 doors in the city that can be opened for your character to enter. There are 200 possible interiors, random crimes that occur throughout the city that can be tackled while on the main story arc. But the game offers much more than that. There is a right way and a wrong way to detain and bust criminals. The choice is up to the gamer, but should the bad cop approach be taken too often, the game’s dynamic will change to reflect that image. And Marcus’ father will occasionally call upon him to do a “job” for him. This can also affect the way Marcus is perceived.

But while some of the game mechanics have been improved, the build shown (not a final build) did have some problems, which hopefully will be corrected by the time the game releases in mid-November.

The camera was awkward and did not follow very well, and there were some major, selective clipping problems (which should be cleaned up by the time the game releases), but where in the build played. Pursuing a street whacko, for example, was not easy. The target would run through street lamps and other street obstacles, but Marcus would hit them and stop due to his own collision path. But again, this was not a final build.

But the game’s look was, otherwise, strong, with familiar landmarks, solid lighting and environmental affects, and much of what makes for a very good third-person shooter. The soundtrack was a killer, with a great musical score and some top names – like Laurence Fishburne and Mickey Rourke – doing some of the vocal work.

The game’s combat elements are well done and the A.I. seems to be on track. Perps won’t wait for Marcus to arrest them, but will run, dive into buildings and maybe even jack a car to escape.

For those wanting their shooters down and dirty, a mixture of harsh reality of the streets blended with a dynamic evolving, somewhat open-ended gameplay style, True Crime: New York City may warrant your attention.

This title is also scheduled to be released on the GameCube and Xbox.