True Crime: Streets of LA (Gamecube) Review

Activision has created a new Game of Crimes, etc, in Los Angeles (L.A.) for all consoles. In the E.O.D. (Elite Operations division), Nick Kang, that is you, partners up with Rosie Velasquez, who was actually a former gangbanger. The E.O.D. was founded in 2003, it was formed to combat the most brutal crimes in L.A. Rosie was not happy at all when she got partnered with Nick Kang. You have to face so many crimes when you are in the E.O.D. Nick Kang usually likes to do things his way.

Graphics: True Crime: Streets of LA has some great graphics, it is rendered exactly like LA and has good textures. The bad thing is that bodies can lye through fences and other bodies, cars etc. The cars look very nice, and the smoke and fire looks good when they get smashed up. LA Buildings, People, etc looks fairly close to realistic, very nice. The Matrix/Slow Mo style when he jumps looks totally awesome and you can actually see the bullets shooting. When they play the movies before you actually start playing it is very nice.

Sound: The sound is one of the best things of this Game if not. True Crime features many Hip-Hip and Rap songs from Snoop Dogg, Westside Connection, Bone Thugs n Harmony and way more. The soundtrack fits in the game very well, exactly how it should be. Real Voices by real people sound good. The music comes on when you are driving the car, and Nick Kang actually talks while he is frisking pedestrians etc.

Gameplay: The Gameplay of this Game is unreal. It is definitely what it says on the back of the cover, “True Driving. True Fighting. True Shooting.” You can do everything in this game, you can frisk pedestrians, earn upgrades (see below), do street crimes that are optional, unlock cars and guns, and more. You can flash your badge, fire a warning shot, arrest criminals and way more.

Driving: Driving is probably the most fun in the game other than shooting, you can unlock 4 cars that sit in your parking garage. You can unlock maneuvers which consist of Boosts, Sharp Turns, Up On 2 Wheels and way more. You actually start off with a car. The bad thing is there are no motorbikes in the game but you can steal other types of cars like buses, vans, utes and more.

Here are the Controls for Driving:
Steer Left/Right – Control Stick
Accelerate/Brake/Reverse – C Stick
Accelerate – A Button
Brake/Reverse – B Button
Hand Brake – X Button
Look Back View – Y Button
Get In/Out/Commandeer Vehicle – L Button
Fire Weapon – R Button
Car Horn – Control Pad Left
Siren On/Off – Control Pad Right
Chang View – Tap Control Pad Up

Fighting: Fighting is exciting because this is what Grand Theft Auto didnt have, besides punches. On this Game you can Punch, Low Kick, Jump Kick, A Few Grapples and Loads of Moves. You can unlock the Grapples and Moves by going to Upgrade Centres that cost 1 Shield to enter. You can not do the moves or grapples unless you have unlocked them even if you know the button code.

Here are the Controls for Fighting:
Move Character – Control Stick
Pan Camera/Select Target – C Stick
Punch – A Button
Low Kick – B Button
Grapple/Throw Weapon/Pick Up Weapon – X Button
Jump Kick – Y Button
Draw Guns (This goes into Shooting Mode) – Tap R Button
Drop Weapon – Z Button

Shooting: Shooting is a fun part of the game because you can do all sorts of things like Matrix/Slow Mo style where you jump while shooting either forwards, to the left or right, or backwards and you can actually see the bullets that you shoot. There are a few Guns to unlock and loads maneuvers to unlock which help your shooting with the gun etc.

Upgrade Centres: Through out the Game there is Upgrade Centres to unlock Shooting Skills, Fighting Skills & Driving Skills. This means you can do all different kinds of stuff with the Guns, while Driving & while Fighting. They are the Blue Dots on the map.

Health Restore/Car Repair: These are Yellow Dots on the map the Health Restore has a + sign and the Car Repair has like a petrol tank sign on it. You pay about 20 reward points each to Restore Health or Repair a Car. It is worth it though. So if your Car is wrecked, or you low on Health visit one of these and they will fix you up.

Street Crimes are optional and can be found on the map as a little red dot. You will be alerted by a radio dispatcher telling you about the Crime, if it is a Drive By etc. If you do these and arrest the people you defeated you get reward points.

This has to be the worst part of the game. It is too short and easy. Yeah, there are upgrades and all. But more than the missions is needed, and it is easy. I will go through it again and do it with a different person using a cheat. There are about 15 episodes and about 7 missions in each. Sure, there are Street Crimes, but they are optional, and you should do them. It would have taken me 5 Hours to pass all the missions. A bit of a disappointment.

Graphics 9.0

Gameplay 8.0

Sound 9.0

Tilt 5.

Value 9.0