When Marcus performs the first "Freddie the Cabbie" side mission, he says, "Next they'll have me flying remote-control toys." This is a direct reference to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, where Zero used RC helicopters to do battle with his nemesis, Berkley.
The game features a majority of real life Manhattan landmarks and locations, such as:
-145th Street Bridge -375 Hudson Street -4 Times Square -58 Bowery -Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House -Alfred E. Smith Houses -American Museum of Natural History -Battery Park -Belvedere Castle -Bethesda Terrace -Broadway Bridge -Brookfield Place -Brooklyn Bridge -Castle Clinton -CBGB -Central Park -Chelsea Piers -Chinatown -Chrysler Building -Citigroup Center -Columbus Circle -East Coast Memorial -Empire State Building -Flatiron Building -Fulton Market -George Washington Bridge -Grand Central Terminal -Ground Zero -Hemsley Building -Independence Plaza -Islamic Cultural Center of New York -Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir -Javits Center -Jefferson Market Library -King Jagiello Monument -Lincoln Center -Lincoln Tunnel -Little Italy -Madison Avenue Bridge -Madison Square Garden -Manhattan Bridge -Manhattan Criminal Courts Building -Manhattan Detention Complex -Manhattan Municipal Building -Metlife Building -Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower -Metropolitan Life North Building -Metropolitan Museum of Art -New York City Hall -New York County Supreme Court -New York Life Building -New York Public Library -New York Stock Exchange -NYU Stern School of Business -One Penn Plaza -One Times Square -One Worldwide Plaza -Queensboro Bridge -Radio City Music Hall -Robert F. Kennedy Bridge -Rockefeller Center -Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum -St. Patrick's Cathedral -Statue of Liberty -The Heritage -The San Remo -Third Avenue Bridge -Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse -Time Warner Center -Times Square -Trump World Tower -Tweed Courthouse -Union Square -United Nations Headquarters -Waldoff Astoria Hotel -Wall Street Bull -Ward's Island Bridge -Washington Square Arch -Washington Square Park -Willis Avenue Bridge.
-145th Street Bridge -375 Hudson Street -4 Times Square -58 Bowery -Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House -Alfred E. Smith Houses -American Museum of Natural History -Battery Park -Belvedere Castle -Bethesda Terrace -Broadway Bridge -Brookfield Place -Brooklyn Bridge -Castle Clinton -CBGB -Central Park -Chelsea Piers -Chinatown -Chrysler Building -Citigroup Center -Columbus Circle -East Coast Memorial -Empire State Building -Flatiron Building -Fulton Market -George Washington Bridge -Grand Central Terminal -Ground Zero -Hemsley Building -Independence Plaza -Islamic Cultural Center of New York -Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir -Javits Center -Jefferson Market Library -King Jagiello Monument -Lincoln Center -Lincoln Tunnel -Little Italy -Madison Avenue Bridge -Madison Square Garden -Manhattan Bridge -Manhattan Criminal Courts Building -Manhattan Detention Complex -Manhattan Municipal Building -Metlife Building -Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower -Metropolitan Life North Building -Metropolitan Museum of Art -New York City Hall -New York County Supreme Court -New York Life Building -New York Public Library -New York Stock Exchange -NYU Stern School of Business -One Penn Plaza -One Times Square -One Worldwide Plaza -Queensboro Bridge -Radio City Music Hall -Robert F. Kennedy Bridge -Rockefeller Center -Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum -St. Patrick's Cathedral -Statue of Liberty -The Heritage -The San Remo -Third Avenue Bridge -Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse -Time Warner Center -Times Square -Trump World Tower -Tweed Courthouse -Union Square -United Nations Headquarters -Waldoff Astoria Hotel -Wall Street Bull -Ward's Island Bridge -Washington Square Arch -Washington Square Park -Willis Avenue Bridge.
The Xbox version of the game has a major bug in the "Shadow Tong" mission late in the game. In the mission you are supposed to push a thug named Tommy off a hanging shipping crate. In the PlayStation 2, GameCube and PC versions the boss is relatively easy. However on Xbox, the window of opportunity of throwing off is 1 frame. As a result, it's nearly impossible to beat the boss without using the Unlimited Endurance cheat.
A third True Crime game was in development at Activision and got retooled into Sleeping Dogs at Square Enix.
Avery Waddell is a huge gamer and played the first True Crime game before voicing in this one.