So, on the basis that it took only a week's worth of medium intensity play to complete every part of the game 100%, including the bonus mode, and finding all the pickups. I can tell you that the games lifespan is minimal. after that the only thing left to do is solve random street crimes, or redo your favourite missions. So, odds are it'll be getting pretty dusty on the shelf if you buy it to keep.
Ok, lets start on a good note (because we sure as hell ain't gonna finish on one). the Graphics of TC:NYC are great, the way the ashphalt glistens in the rain is beautiful. And the characters look good too, the lighting is good, the buildings are okay, but could use some work. there are loads of building interiors too, almost every building can be entered (usually to solve a street crime within). Also it's a huge map: as the game's predecessor did with Los Angeles in Streets of L.A. True Crime NYC features a satellite correct map of the whole of Manhattan Island. Street for street. I've never been to the city, but from what I see on the televelision, Activision and Luxoflux have captured the city well. down to the paper, and trash littering the streets and floating in the wind.
The Sound is another good aspect of the game. The game has a fairly wide soundtrack, with extra songs available to be purchased from music stores dotted around the map. If you've played GTA:San Andreas, a lot of the soundtrack will seem strangely familiar (listen out for Mother by Danzig or someone, among others). Also there are a few great voice actors in the game, you may recognise the talents of: the guy who plays Morpheus in The Matrix: Lawrence someone as Isiah 'The King' Reed (Our hero, Marcus Reed's incarcerated, gang boss father); The woman in Law and Order SVU: she's got a slavic sounding name which escapes me (Marcus Reed's Boss); and the guy in Catch Me If You Can (The Father), Blast From The Past (The Father again), and I think he's in Welcome To The Jungle with The Rock (He Plays The Baddie): He play's an FBI agent who helps our hero on his quest. Hmmm... maybe I should have paid more attention to the names in the credits. One bad thing about the dialogue is there's a lot of F**king F words, not safe for mums.
Speaking of our hero's quest, now we get to the bad bits of the game. you play as Marcus Reed, an ex Gang-banger turned cop, seeking justice and vengence for his exploded mentor and fellow detective, while doing his job as a detective cleaning up the city (This is one of the objectives, solve street crimes in an area to clean it up, then repeat for each of the 20 precincts- gets fiddly when the last precinct is only about 1 square kilometer. And you have to wait for a crime to happen there out of the whole city.). So in order to complete this 'ere quest, our Marcus, has an array of weapons and vehicles at his disposal (More can be bought as you get promoted, or from dealers in the city) the trouble is, the controls take a while to get used to. make sure you read the manual cover to cover. I didnt realise you could change weapons or fighting styles until about 30% of the way through, and I only found out there was a look back while driving view at 100%. Once you know what you're doing though you still run into problems: There are special driving skills such as side-wheelie, or speed boost, or handbrake turn which can be executed with a button combo. But often they decide to execute by themselves when you really don't need it. Or they choose not to happen when you really do need it. But on the whole the driving controls are heavy, sluggish; while the driving physics in the game are hugely out of whack: hit a bus at about 10kph in a little sedan and it (the bus) flies off in a wild spin doing about 10 revolutions. also, try to drive over a rocky patch and your car will bounce like flubber all over the precinct. There are other problems I wont mention, like being runover by pedestrians, or being shot at by cops, or having shop clerks who you need for health flee, screaming and soiling themselves, just because you're holding a gun. Also there are three informants to help you on your mission, (but you end up helping them more) one of which is "Freddie" the miscellaneously middle eastern Cabbie. This is one way not to help cultural stereotypes. "Freddie" has nine wives and a funny accent. And I use the "" because since 9/11 apparently all the cabbies names changed from Akhmed and Mohammed and Rami, to Frank and Freddie and Hank!!
There are a few clever and original aspects to gameplay. If you go rogue and kill one two many cops or civillians you get a temporary demotion where you must make 3 legitimate arrests to get your proper rank back. also you can choose to be a good cop, and only arrest criminals, and hand in all evidence; or be a bad cop, and kill criminals (shooting through civillians if you must), extort shopkeepers (after selling them your illegal evidence). Good Cop Points get you promoted, and bad cop points get you shot. Your choice. There's also a little humour dotted around the game. On one of Freddie's missions Marcus says "I gotta Drive a cab? next thing I'll be flying remote controlled planes and sh*t." No Marcus. You're not worthy.
Overall Rating 6 yellow taxis out of 10: Rent, Borrow or nick. Buy GTA instead
*Genii \JEEN-ee-I\ noun : Of or relating to two or more 'geniuses'
(from The Official Gummy English Dictionary - Patent Pending)
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