When I was younger, I started a little collection of PlayStation 2 games. I visited some stores, bought a couple of games, etc etc. I saw True Crime: New York City laying in the shelves. Back then, I hadn’t even played it’s predecessor, one of the definitive PS2 classics, True Crime: Streets of L.A.… I decided to give it a shot anyway. I bought New York City, went home, and gave it a try. Well, it wasn’t pretty. Without further ado, let’s delve into the world that is True Crime: New York City.

The Graphics

At a first glance, you may think the visuals aren’t that bad. The characters look decent and the facial animation actually looks quite good. Let’s compare it to GTA: San Andreas, which came out in about the same time. Whereas a lot of characters in San Andreas look only half finished, the people in True Crime: New York City just look more… human. So that’s good. But then I was thrown into the open playground of New York. Oh boy… Well, New York City is dark and colourless. It’s all very depressing to look at. The game has a day and night cycle, which is always impressive, but you’ll seldom know when it is day or night since the game is so dark anyway. There are a lot of glitches happening around you, with people walking against buildings, etc those kind of glitches. Some of these bugs can be entertaining for a while though, so that’s a little redeeming. But there’s the more annoying glitch where you enter a certain area of the game which hasn’t completely loaded yet, making for some pretty bizarre sights. When you drive a fast car at full speed for so long, you’ll get this scenario. The game glitches out, turning into Swiper from Dora the Explorer, taking off with your minimap, and you’re even unable to pause the game. This is why loading times are a necessity in certain games. Like True Crime. It’s a pity, since this game could’ve looked great. The cars look nice, and again, the people look quite decent.

The Sound

Most of the voice acting is good. Your character, Marcus Reed, has a well spoken-in voice as well as a lot of other characters. What’s more, True Crime: New York City has a great licensed soundtrack, and has something for everyone. Like True Crimes: Streets of L.A., it’s biggest selection is in hip-hop and gangsta rap, but there’s also rock music, alternative, metal and trance. There’s bound to be something in the playlist that you like. If there are more songs that you like, you can put together your own playlist, which plays every time you enter a vehicle. But these are the only memorable things about the sound. Gunshot sounds are extremely muffled, the random things pedestrians say are very repetitive (and poorly spoken-in, might I say), and the sound effects often glitch out, making them sound continuously. Still, in my opinion, the sound is without a doubt the best thing about True Crime: New York City. Or, at least what’s least problematic about it.

The Addictiveness

Ever played a game which had so much potential, so much going for it, but just falls flat in so many areas, giving you a very unsatisfied disappointed feeling? True Crime is one of those games. There are very little open world games where you actually stand on the good side of the law, and driving around, hearing a dispatch call involving a burglary of some sort, making your way to the destination to solve the crime just sounds like fun. But the glitches and bugs just take so much  of the fun away. Honestly, I came back to this game so often because I just really wanted to enjoy this game for being the cop-simulator I wanted it to be, but the glitches stopped me from liking it.

The Story

The story is sort of interesting, but ends unsatisfying. You’re Marcus Reed, a ganster-turned-cop, out to clean the streets of crime. Someone helped you to get on the good path, and got you with him into the police force. One day, an investigation goes wrong where your partner (the guy who got you on the force) is killed by a car bomb. You make it your duty to investigate who is behind this. But then there is this plot twist where I won’t go into details of.

The Depth

True Crime: New York City holds a variety of things which you can do apart from the main missions. You can perform street races, solve random crimes, search people on the streets to see if they have something illegal on them, etc. You can also look for these licensed Puma shoes scattered around the city. Finding these will reward you with an extra outfit. I gotta say, I’m impressed that producer Exakt managed to get a licensed brand to work with their game.

The Difficulty

This is one of those games in which the glitches determine the difficulty. If there weren’t any bugs or glitches in this game, I’d say the difficulty level would’ve been moderate. But more often than not, this game gets unnecessarily difficult or maybe even unplayable at times because of some glitches. I’ve even heard that some players encountered a glitch somewhere in the middle of the game which prevents you from beating the game. But by sheer luck, you just might actually find a glitch which makes the game a cakewalk -like I did- for example, a boss guy who’s supposed to shoot at you but won’t so that you kill him with ease. I still rated this aspect of the game with a 7. As I said, if it weren’t for the glitches in this game, this game would be of moderate difficulty, so a 6 should suffice. However, due to the amount of game-killing glitches you may encounter, I’ll just add an extra number to the score.

By all means, buy True Crime: New York City to add it to your PS2 collection. But don’t expect to enjoy a lot of it if you ever decide to give it a try. It is full of game-stopping bugs and glitches, the city -how accurate New York City may be rendered- is drab and lifeless, and vehicle physics are just… weird.

Pros:

-          diverse licensed soundtrack

-          you can start the game to check if your PS2 still works

Cons:

-          city is dark and lifeless

-          vehicles control awkward and not how they’re supposed to

-          glitches ruin all of what could have been a pretty awesome game