| True Crime: Streets of LA | |
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North American cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Luxoflux |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Composer(s) | Sean Murray
Executive Producer Chris Archer |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Mobile phone, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter, sandbox |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
True Crime: Streets of LA is an action-adventure video game developed by Luxoflux and published by Activision for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube in November 2003 and the first game in the True Crime series. Activision later released versions for Windows in May 2004 and the Mac in November 2004.
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One of the first open world action games to be released after Grand Theft Auto III, True Crime: Streets of LA focuses on the other side of the law in the genre of the police procedural. The player controls police officer Nick Kang, and is to set out catching criminals and doing missions for the police force.
True Crime's gameplay has been called "the GTA III clone where you play a cop," [7] as the core mechanics are identical - the player can wreak havoc across the city, do whatever they want in the city and progresses through the storyline at their own leisure. However, as the game focuses on the other side of the law, committing similar crimes in True Crime: Streets of LA in comparison to that of Grand Theft Auto will has less severe concequences that Grand Theft Auto games, but will result in the player losing "good cop" points. If the player loses a certain amount of "good cop" points, their rank in the police force will drop, to the point where they are exiled from the police force entirely. If that does happen, the player will have to perform "good cop" actions in order to rise back up the police ranks. The amount of "good cop" points determines the game's ending.
The player assumes the role of Nick Kang, a young Chinese-American detective and the living bane of every police chief, because of his highly unorthodox and destructive means of catching criminals. When the game begins, Kang returns to Los Angeles after being suspended for going after a suspect and disobeying a direct order from his superiors.
Kang is at a police shooting range practicing his two-fisted technique when the Chief of the E.O.D (Elite Operations Division), Wanda Parks, enters. Parks welcomes Nick back to the fold and asks his assistance in solving a rash of bombings of local businesses in the Chinatown district. Though seemingly unrelated, the pattern of the crimes indicate the work of one or more of the Chinese Triad groups. At first, Nick is uninterested in the case, wanting to focus on his personal matters; Parks subtly coerces him to help out, on one condition — he does things his way. Despite Kang's reputation, Parks quickly agrees to this.
Parks partners Nick with Rosie Velasquez; when Nick teasingly remarks how she's a "good girl", Rosie angrily responds, saying before going straight and becoming a detective, she "ran with more than a few Latino gangs in her time." Like others in the department, Rosie is uneasy about Nick and his reputation, but for Rosie, it is more personal — if Nick goes wild again, she doesn't want to get dragged down with him.
Why Nick first refused, and then accepted this case is personal; his father, Henry Wilson, was an exceptional police officer who was involved in a major drug operation in the 1970s; one day, he disappeared and was never found. Soon afterwards, Internal Affairs found a stash of cocaine in his locker, bringing his motives and role in the situation into sharp question. Though heartbroken by his father's disappearance, Nick refuses to believe this.
Rosie learns of Nick's backstory, and when his mother died and father disappeared, Nick and his brother Cary had traveled to Hong Kong to grieve. Nick then returned for revenge while solving another case. His methods grew increasingly reckless in his pursuit of justice. Nick went under the surname "Kang" when his father Henry Wilson died, As Nick unravels the thread tying the smaller criminal dealings together throughout the game, he faces Triad thugs, as well as crime lords like Jimmy Fu, Big Chong, the mysterious and legendary Ancient Wu, Rocky (a member of the Russian Mafia) and Han Yu Kim (a general of the Korean People's Army).
In the game, the plot takes one of three different turns: Bad, Average and Good. Nick's actions and his Good/Bad cop rating decide the course. Each ending path concludes with a one-on-one brawl.
Bad Ending: Nick faces off with Han Yu Kim at the top of a high-rise bank, after shooting his way through the General's mercenaries. If Nick loses the final fight, he is thrown off the building and only wakes up in time to realize his fate, as the General escapes. If Nick wins, it is the General who falls off from the building before Nick receives any information from him.
Average Ending: Cary is dead, Rosie is kidnapped by Rocky, who forces Nick to drive an armored car full of counterfeit money to the Chinatown Plaza, in exchange for her life. After being ambushed and killing the General's men, Rocky and Nick have a final fight. If Nick loses, he dies and Rocky escapes. If Nick wins, Rocky surprises him and is about to stab him to death, when he is shot down by Rosie. Earlier, he had taunted Nick about knowing the truth about his father; however, the secret died with him.
Good Ending: After battling through Ancient Wu's trials, the truth is revealed: Rocky was formerly a plant by the KGB, who quickly turned criminal when given the opportunity, along with Rafferty, Henry's former partner. Kang tracks the two to the Santa Monica airport, but is surprised by Jill and knocked unconscious. Coming to, Rocky reveals the rest of the story: when Henry refused to be turned by Rocky or Rafferty, Rocky shot him in the head and dumped his body in the ocean. Rocky prepares to kill Nick, but Rafferty takes the bullet. Rocky dies after Nick blows up his jet. The General arrives and explains that the Russians stole their money and must deal with loose ends. If Nick loses, the General escapes and Nick either passes out or dies from his injuries just as the police arrive. If Nick wins the fight, the General is killed just as the police arrive.
The game features an extensive 240-square-mile (620 km2) re-creation of a large part of Los Angeles, most of Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica with most street names, landmarks and highways. However, there are unmarked neighborhoods surrounding the game. The player cannot enter these parts of town, as an attempt will respawn Nick back onto the nearest street in the game. The game in general features many Los Angeles landmarks, such as the US Bank Tower, Hollywood Sign, Santa Monica Pier and Marina del Rey.
True Crime has around 50 songs. In addition to those 50, more songs were added to the PC version of the game. A CD soundtrack is available. Despite being a 16+ rated game, the songs in the soundtrack are uncensored, and contains profanity like "fuck" and "nigga", as well as in gameplay, unlike the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, rated 18+, which doesn't use the words until the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in 2004.
The soundtrack was released through Vybesquad Entertainment / Koch Records. The soundtrack was the recipient of a (2004) Billboard Digital Award/ Best soundtrack in a Video Game and nominated for “Best Soundtrack To a Video Game” on MTV’s 2004 Video Music Awards. The song "Dance Wit Me" went on to gain radio play as the single from the soundtrack. Mixed by Rich Niles, this title featured Snoop Dogg and Doggystyle Records' Quazedelic.
The game was inducted into the Greatest Hits for the PlayStation 2 in 2004, as well as becoming Xbox Classics for Xbox and the Player's Choice title for the Nintendo Gamecube. A sequel, True Crime: New York City, was released in late 2005 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube.
Critical reception for the game was mixed but fairly positive overall, with the PS2 version[8] and other console versions holding average scores of 77 on Metacritic, and the PC version holding a score of 68.[9] Common criticisms included the main protagonist, who was described in Gamespot's review, rated 7.2/10, as "completely unlikeable",[10] and the perceived low level of difficulty. IGN rated the game 9/10.
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