True Crime: New York City (2005) (VG)

Writer:

Matthew Cirulnick (writer)

Release Date:

15 November 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

New Crime. New City.

Plot:

Former gangster, now street cop Marcus Reed tries to uncover who is behind the murder of his friend and mentor, Lt. Terrance Higgins.

Plot Keywords:

Nypd | Taxi | Grenade | Motorcycle | Handgun

Cast

Avery Waddell	...	Det. Marcus Reed (voice)
Laurence Fishburne	...	Isaiah Reed (voice)
Mickey Rourke	...	Terrence Higgins (voice)
Christopher Walken	...	Gabriel Whitting (voice)
Mariska Hargitay	...	Deena Dixon (voice)
Esai Morales	...	Captain Victor Navarro (voice)
Brian George	...	Freddie the Cabbie (voice)
Redman	...	Himself (voice)
Traci Lords	...	Madam Cassandra Hartz (voice)
Beetlejuice	...	Zeke (voice)
John Melendez	...	(voice)
James Hong	...	Mr. Lin (voice)
Tia Texada	...	Street Racing Promoter (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paolo Andino	...	Rey
Philip Anthony-Rodriguez	...	Director
Susham Bedi
Doris Belack
Fred Berman	...	Vincent Tuzzi
Sheryl Bernstein
Corey Burton
Laura Kai Chen
Jennifer Chu	...	Vivian Chen (voice)
Sam Coppola
Kathryn Cressida
Monique Gabriela Curnen	...	Dispatcher (voice) (as Monique Curnen)
Francesca DiMauro
Jeremy Dunn	...	Marus
Greg Eagles
Venida Evans
Quinton Flynn	...	Alfie / Nosferatu
Olga Fonda
Candy Ford
Yoko Fumoto
Misha Gonz-Cirkl	...	(voice) (as Misha Gonzales)
Jay Gordon
Golda Inquito
Marina Kotovnikov	...	Russian Civilian Woman (voice)
Phil LaMarr
Dana Lee
Yin Lei
Telly Leung	...	Fei Lao / Peasant
Dawnn Lewis
Steven Littles	...	Lavar
Kari Loya
Jason Ma	...	Tommy
Tirlok Malik
Danny Mann	...	Tony
Vanessa Marshall	...	Candi / Secretary
Chuck McCann	...	Gino
Sam McMurray
Alvaro Mendoza
Justine Miceli
Pino Moreau
Jeanne Mori	...	Kobi
Phil Morris	...	President Lincoln
Matt Prescott Morton
Mark Moseley	...	Handler / Curator / Doorman (voice)
Masasa Moyo		(as Masasa)
Rene Mujica	...	Manuel
Yuri Naumkin
Laraine Newman
Natasha Perez	...	(voice)
Tony Pimental
Iraida Polanco
Carmine Raspaolo
Jane Runnalls	...	Metropolitan Opera Singer
Socorro Santiago	...	Teresa
Cathy Shim	...	Vivien Chen - Yakuza Party Girl
André Sogliuzzo	...	Orderly / Donnie
Gary Anthony Sturgis	...	Bouncer
Margaret Tang	...	Racey Stacey
Armando Valdes-Kennedy
Ben Wang	...	Jing / Cronie
Stephanie Wang
Cornell Womack	...	Benjami
Michael Yama
Richard Yearwood	...	President Hamilton
Jerry Ying	...	Leeland
Keone Young
Ruth Zhang

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:18 | USA:M

Company:

Luxoflux

Trivia:

When Marcus (Avery Waddell) performs the first "Freddie the cabbie" side mission, he says, "Next they'll have me flying remote-control toys." This is a direct reference to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (where Zero (David Cross) used RC helicopters to do battle with his nemesis Berkley).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When entering the subway station at the corner of W 125 St. and Frederick Douglass Blvd. or after boarding the train and selecting that position from the map, the name of the subway station is Wall St.

Quotes:

Marcus Reed: You have the right to remain, blah blah blah.

Movie Connections:

References The Deer Hunter (1978)

A FAIR review of a flawed and dull game.....

Just reading SOME of the "reviews" of this game, it's clear that they have been written by prepubescent kids that are playing a game they should not be in the first place. Let's ignore the graphics and all the other stuff that DOES NOT MATTER, let's talk GAMEPLAY.

TC:LA was bad, bug ridden and boring. So I was hoping they could work on these problems for the sequel...they didn't. TC:NY is just as bug ridden and boring as it's previous incarnation. Yet it's VERY slightly better in terms of gameplay. First the bugs, I have lost count how many times I died during missions cos I was getting shot at THROUGH walls. Then I lost count of how many times I was pushed or punched THROUGH walls during fights. Did they even bother to hire gametesters? And don't even get me started on the driving bugs. Then there is the TERRIBLE AI, cars crashing at random, the police shooting at you and killing you as you try to arrest someone, the police shooting and killing key suspects even though they are out cold on the floor, etc.

OK, you get a great re-incarnation of NY to explore, trouble is only around 40% of it is actually used in the game, so what is the point? At least in GTA there is a point to exploring the cities and almost every corner of them are used. It takes too damn long to drive around between missions (cos the map is so damn big for NO good reason). But at least you can use taxis & subways to get around, which is dull but far better than having to drive everywhere.

The missions, you get 3 main story missions split into several parts. So you get around 17-20 story missions....compared to GTAs 50/60+ or so, that's pretty damn weak really. But let's not forget the sub-missions...all 3 varieties of them. You got racing missions (which would be great if the driving sections were not so terrible), you get 3 tiers again split into 3 races and 1 final race, so 10 races altogether....YAWN! Then there are the informant missions, which basically have you working for a cabbie, working for a "madame" or taking "jobs" from you dad...at least these are varied. Then finally you have the mele fighting missions, split the same way as the races so you get 10 fights. The mele fighting is probably one of the few good points of the game, but the fight arenas do get repetitive, good job there are only 10 fights. Oh I almost forgot (it was so dull) you also get to clean up the city by "solving" random crimes around town.

Yes you can go into almost any building...trouble is they are all the same. All hotels look the same, all restaurants look the same, all bars look the same...you get the idea. So what is the point of being able to go into almost any building if they are all the same anyway? All of the interesting building in NY you can not enter, just generic hotels and bars, etc. No getting to the top of the Empire State for a great view here.

The best part of the game is the mele fighting, you get to learn all sorts of styles and can even swap styles mid fight. Start a fight as a "brawler" then finish them off with some "Kung Fu". There are also mele weapons skills to learn such as sword, and bo (staff) fighting.

One of the main draws of the game is being able to play as a good (arrest people turn in evidence) or bad cop (kill people, accept bribes, sell evidence)...but it makes NO DIFFERENCE at all to the game what path you choose...so it's ultimately pointless. Maybe if they added different story missions to follow depending on which path you choose, it would have added some extra value to the game. The only minor difference between good/bad cop is the good cop gets promoted quicker, but the bad cop makes money faster.

You get to spend that money on new cars, guns, clothing and skills (driving, guns and fighting). So at least there is some point to the cash. Trouble is it's one of those games (like GTA) where earning money is so damn easy, you end up with too much and nothing to spend it on.

The collecting of "evidnece" for crimes is a nice idea, though it makes no difference to the outcome whether you do or not. It would have been great if you had to collect enough evidence to convict a bad guy instead, but as it stands evidence is just another excuse to make money. So again, a nice idea wasted as it's pointless really.

To be honest, there is more variety and enjoyment in GTAs sub-missions alone in comparison to the WHOLE of TC:NY.

Overall, this is a VERY average game full of bugs with fairly dull and flat gameplay. But all these turn out to be good points as the game is so damn short, you don't have to put up with them for too long. TC:NY is just to damn flawed to warrant higher praise...but the "teenagers" that are too young to play the game and think it "cool" to run around shooting people will lap it up, just that "true" gamers will spot the flaws in the game's design and gameplay and see it for what it really is...a BADLY programed game forever to be in the shadow of the games it rips off so much. If you can find a copy of this in the bargain bucket at you local shops, lap it up. But there are much better games on the market that do this sort of thing with much more style and sustenance. (I'm looking at GTA:SA and even to a lesser extent The Godfather)