True Crime: New York City

The coolest thing about this game is that it contains all of Manhattan. All the streets, anyway. Unfortunately, most of the buildings are generic with just a smattering of actual buildings and landmarks such as St. Patrick's and the UN building. You cannot enter into most of these buildings, however, with a few exceptions like Grand Central. The only buildings you can enter are generic restaurants, hotels, and laundries. And they are all the same - the interior of every hotel is exactly the same, as is every convenience store and strip club.

It was fun to roam the streets of Manhattan again, and safer than doing it for real. The game-play, however was pretty bad. The main story missions are somewhat amusing, but the regular police work is painfully repetitive. Stolen cars, fights among the homeless, rock bands wrecking hotels... you have to deal with these problems over and over and over.

This game might be appealing to anyone who has never seen, played, or heard of GTA: San Andreas. To everyone else, it's just a cheap, buggy, boring, knockoff. Forget playing the game. Just enjoy touring Manhattan without the normal traffic - sort of a Manhattan ghost town.

This review is for the PC version of the game.

I've never thrown a game into the garbage before, but that is what I have just done with True Crime: NYC. Fortunately I only paid about $10 for it at a discount store and not $50 or whatever its original price was.

The game had a lot of promise. The idea of a virtual NYC you could drive around was a cool idea, and that part of the game I really liked (although it got annoying after the 50th time I got smashed into by other cars). And I like the idea of having big name voice actors involved, though I have to wonder how hypocritical it was to have Marsika Hargitay of SVU playing a female detective whose skirt is only a few steps down from a thong (if there are cops who actually dress like this on duty outside of the vice squad, I'm signing up!).

And I liked the basic plot - what little I could get before i gave up in disgust.

And give up I did. I'm OK with games that are difficult, in terms of being able to achieve goals or fight and survive. But when one literally requires 4 arms in order to hit all the controls you need to accomplish anything, at that point I say the game is poorly designed and not worth my time. What's worse, actions that work perfectly well during the training mode mysteriously no longer work once the "real" game starts. As a result instead of frisking and arresting suspects, I ended up either pushing them in front of cars (which was fun, I'll admit, but not quite what the game wanted me to do) or my gun came out and I shot them, which again wasn't exactly the mission.

There is a difference between being frustrated with a game that is difficult and being frustrated with a game that is physically impossible to play. The first issue can be alleviated by finding a hint guide somewhere, or even finding cheat codes. But there's no cheat in the world that protects against bad design.

As I say, this is with regards to the PC version. Maybe the console versions are simpler to operate and therefore actually can be played. If you have a choice, take the console version. Unless you have 4 arms, of course.

people who don't like this game are total idiots!! This game is amazing! The graphics are a million times better than grand theft autos. You can extort clerks, you can plant evidence, you can frisk suspects,12+ bonus missions,you can shoot,you can drive , you can paddle, you can interrogate,you can go in nearly every building,search the trunk of a car,you can solve street crime,50+ story missions,buy guns, buy moves,2 5 part bonus missions(fight club and street racing),Buy cars or steal cars,buy clothes, change you hair style and much more!! People talk about glitches as if they happen all the time during play-its not true!!!!! I've had it happen to me 8/50 times of play. This game is the best police game, or for that matter, crime game you'll find on the market!!!!!!!!!!Also has a gripping story with a twist at the end.

Just reading SOME of the "reviews" of this game, it's clear that they have been written by prepubescent kids that are playing a game they should not be in the first place. Let's ignore the graphics and all the other stuff that DOES NOT MATTER, let's talk GAMEPLAY.

TC:LA was bad, bug ridden and boring. So I was hoping they could work on these problems for the sequel...they didn't. TC:NY is just as bug ridden and boring as it's previous incarnation. Yet it's VERY slightly better in terms of gameplay. First the bugs, I have lost count how many times I died during missions cos I was getting shot at THROUGH walls. Then I lost count of how many times I was pushed or punched THROUGH walls during fights. Did they even bother to hire gametesters? And don't even get me started on the driving bugs. Then there is the TERRIBLE AI, cars crashing at random, the police shooting at you and killing you as you try to arrest someone, the police shooting and killing key suspects even though they are out cold on the floor, etc.

OK, you get a great re-incarnation of NY to explore, trouble is only around 40% of it is actually used in the game, so what is the point? At least in GTA there is a point to exploring the cities and almost every corner of them are used. It takes too damn long to drive around between missions (cos the map is so damn big for NO good reason). But at least you can use taxis & subways to get around, which is dull but far better than having to drive everywhere.

The missions, you get 3 main story missions split into several parts. So you get around 17-20 story missions....compared to GTAs 50/60+ or so, that's pretty damn weak really. But let's not forget the sub-missions...all 3 varieties of them. You got racing missions (which would be great if the driving sections were not so terrible), you get 3 tiers again split into 3 races and 1 final race, so 10 races altogether....YAWN! Then there are the informant missions, which basically have you working for a cabbie, working for a "madame" or taking "jobs" from you dad...at least these are varied. Then finally you have the mele fighting missions, split the same way as the races so you get 10 fights. The mele fighting is probably one of the few good points of the game, but the fight arenas do get repetitive, good job there are only 10 fights. Oh I almost forgot (it was so dull) you also get to clean up the city by "solving" random crimes around town.

Yes you can go into almost any building...trouble is they are all the same. All hotels look the same, all restaurants look the same, all bars look the same...you get the idea. So what is the point of being able to go into almost any building if they are all the same anyway? All of the interesting building in NY you can not enter, just generic hotels and bars, etc. No getting to the top of the Empire State for a great view here.

The best part of the game is the mele fighting, you get to learn all sorts of styles and can even swap styles mid fight. Start a fight as a "brawler" then finish them off with some "Kung Fu". There are also mele weapons skills to learn such as sword, and bo (staff) fighting.

One of the main draws of the game is being able to play as a good (arrest people turn in evidence) or bad cop (kill people, accept bribes, sell evidence)...but it makes NO DIFFERENCE at all to the game what path you choose...so it's ultimately pointless. Maybe if they added different story missions to follow depending on which path you choose, it would have added some extra value to the game. The only minor difference between good/bad cop is the good cop gets promoted quicker, but the bad cop makes money faster.

You get to spend that money on new cars, guns, clothing and skills (driving, guns and fighting). So at least there is some point to the cash. Trouble is it's one of those games (like GTA) where earning money is so damn easy, you end up with too much and nothing to spend it on.

The collecting of "evidnece" for crimes is a nice idea, though it makes no difference to the outcome whether you do or not. It would have been great if you had to collect enough evidence to convict a bad guy instead, but as it stands evidence is just another excuse to make money. So again, a nice idea wasted as it's pointless really.

To be honest, there is more variety and enjoyment in GTAs sub-missions alone in comparison to the WHOLE of TC:NY.

Overall, this is a VERY average game full of bugs with fairly dull and flat gameplay. But all these turn out to be good points as the game is so damn short, you don't have to put up with them for too long. TC:NY is just to damn flawed to warrant higher praise...but the "teenagers" that are too young to play the game and think it "cool" to run around shooting people will lap it up, just that "true" gamers will spot the flaws in the game's design and gameplay and see it for what it really is...a BADLY programed game forever to be in the shadow of the games it rips off so much. If you can find a copy of this in the bargain bucket at you local shops, lap it up. But there are much better games on the market that do this sort of thing with much more style and sustenance. (I'm looking at GTA:SA and even to a lesser extent The Godfather)

Let me start off by saying that this is the 1st ever mature rated game that I ever bought. For any parent looking to buy this game for a child, the violence isn't too bad, but the language is definitely in full force. Anyway, back to the review. The bad? The game is glitchy at times, even stopping when entering a building or in the middle of a mission. Also, the game is very short, and the language feels overdone in certain places. The good? However short, both endings are solid and resolve the game for the most part, and the characters are very realistic and likable, especially the game's protagonist, Marcus Reed. I could not justify $50 for this game when it came out, but now, it is a great buy for $10 at your local Gamestop. Overall, a solid game.