True Crime: Streets of LA Preview

You've heard it all before - violence, bad-language, girls, flashy cars, all neatly wrapped in a convincing plot, coupled with an authentic setting and open-ended gameplay. There are only a few games on the market which manage to express these qualities successfully (and 95% of them start with the words Grand, Theft and Auto - Six). So, instead of playing through GTA: Vice City for the one hundred and eleventh time, perhaps you should consider checking this game out... the moment the PC version hits stores, of course (some time during Spring 2004). Although the Xbox, PS2, and GameCube versions of True Crime: Streets of LA did okay, we have always been interested to see how the game will work with sharper graphics and the ultimate control combo (i.e. keyboard/mouse). The developers threw in a variety of features exclusively for the PC version to make things a bit more exciting for PC gamers, especially those who have already had a chance to experience True Crime on the next-generation consoles. Just so you know, the PC port is being done by Activision and development studio LTI Gray Matter (which should not be mistaken for Gray Matter, the developers of Return to Castle Wolfenstein).

I didn’t get a shoe polish for nothing!

Gotta get used to the damn floor wax!

We're certain many of our readers are still unaware of the plot details, so we'll run them by you one more time in a jiffy. The dynamic storyline follows the intense life of one Nick Kang, a tough dude who got thrown off the force for employing excessive force and causing massive property damage while on duty (damn, I guess that's what you'd I call your ultimate character outline for an action-game). Well, there's nothing wrong when you're passionate about your work, right? In any case, kissing his LAPD badge goodbye, Nick deiced to turn to the E.O.D. (Elite Operations Division), a well-organized anti-crime taskforce that would be perfect for harnessing his strengths and effectively use them to fight street crime. Mind you, his vital task is to bring down a Russian and Chinese crime syndicate that's been thriving for quite a while in Los Angeles. Speaking of LA, we were pleased to hear that the game portrays an authentic re-creation of approximately 240 square miles of the city, so players should feel as if they were actually driving (or walking) through the "City of Angels" (Does it come with the mind-numbing traffic jams and endless billboards for the Spearmint Rhino Club? - Six). The narrative should be engaging enough for any gamer, and there will be plenty to do (about 100 story-driven missions to be exact).

Rockstar's imposing cast of top Hollywood actors hired to voice characters in GTA: Vice City is zilch when compared to what Activision prepared for this one. True Crime: Streets of LA features a truly impressive and swanky cast of big-time actors, including the following: Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Michael Madsen, Michelle Rodriguez, Ron Perlman, Snoop Dogg, and others. Sound good enough for ya? (Snoop Dogg and his dazzling acting skills, yeah! - 2Lions)

It doesn't take an Einstein to recognize the game's unadorned resemblance to GTA 3 and GTA: Vice City. Yes, in terms of character movement, vehicle handling, and gameplay basics it's perfectly clear that these two titles were the main inspiration. Other analogies can be made here though. The use of slow-mo bullet-dodging denotes a similarity to Max Payne, while various martial arts moves draw a noticeable parallel with Dead to Rights.

Essentially, we're looking at a third-person action game which allows you to move anywhere around the city - using any convenient vehicle at any given time - and fist-fight or shoot your way through a lot of nasty baddies. Fist-fighting, however, is only a small segment of what is otherwise a fairly complex combat system. You start off with a small range of basic combat moves, working your way up as time goes by. Luckily, Nick is a guy with many associates throughout the city. One of the most helpful is his brother who owns a chain of martial arts facilities, where you will be able to train and improve combat. Acquiring a certain amount of combat points eventually allows you to go to the dojo and learn Kenpo, Judo, pro wrestling, Wu Shu fighting styles, and more. The idea is to practice until you are ready to challenge the dojo's master. Defeating the master unlocks a new martial arts skill that will be usable later on during the game. Apart from attuning your combat abilities, you'll also get a chance to upgrade weapons and vehicles. Unique training areas, such as shooting ranges, will increase the character's accuracy. At the outset, Nick may only rely on the basic auto-targeting, but as the game rolls on, other skills will be unlocked; like targeting multiple foes at once and bullet-time aiming. This second ability will come in handy when Nick needs to aim at a certain body part in order to keep the target alive and fit for questioning.

You need shiny, new fillings! Allow me...

No more worries about those long-winded Miranda rights!

In terms of content, a few interesting things were supplemented expressly for the PC gaming crowd. Expanding the variety of weapons in the game, the developers thought it would be nice to add three new weapons for you to use throughout gameplay - the rocket launcher (hell yeah!), crossbow, and baseball bat. Coupled with the rest of the game's weaponry, this makes for quite a decent choice of firearms.

Like we've said at the beginning, gamers can expect the game to be well-optimized and tweaked to work with the long-established PC control standard - the keyboard and the mouse. Controlling the character in this game is, once again, similar to what we've witnessed in popular third-person action titles such as GTA:VC and Max Payne. The developers will be making serious revisions to the auto-aiming feature which was an important part of the console version. One of the key changes, of course, is mouse-controlled targeting - that should make things a whole lot easier than in the console version (amen to that, never really fancied my chances in shootouts when I'm forced to aim with a gamepad).

The game's multiplayer is clearly the biggest innovation in the game (a feature sorely missed in the console versions). This time around you'll be able to enjoy four-player matches via LAN or Internet (sorry folks, the game supports only four players) with different modes you can play through. The following MP modes will be on offer: Street Racing, The Beat, Dojo Master, Battle Master, and The Chase. The first mode allows you to participate in a variety of races a la "The Fast and the Furious." In The Beat, your goal is to cruise around looking for trouble and snap the cuffs on the nearest lawbreaker. Dojo Master and Battle Master are fighting modes where players have to use their martial arts skills or any of the weapons readily available, respectively. The Chase is, as you may have already guessed, a mode where one player must avoid being captured by other players within a specific amount of time. Obviously, this will be one of the most appreciated extras in the soon-to-be-unleashed PC port.