Published by: Activision
Developed by: Luxoflux Corp.
Genre: Action
Release Date:
US: November 15, 2005

ESRB Content Descriptors: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs

Quote :

"True Crime: New York City Hands-On We've been indicted of the truest crime of all. by Chris Roper October 11, 2005 - True Crime: New York City can best be thought of not as a direct sequel to True Crime: Streets of L.A., but a unique episode within the True Crime universe. With this setup, Luxoflux has given itself ample room to both take the series anywhere it wants to go while also playing off of, improving on and even entirely changing aspects of the series without having to directly cater to the rules of the first game. We had a chance to take a look at the newest build of the game recently, and we even got our grubby mitts on the controller for a little hands-on time. Just as True Crime: Streets of L.A. featured a true representation of Los Angeles, True Crime: New York City features a fully realized version of New York, or the entire island of Manhattan to be exact. If you know your way around the island, you'll be at an advantage from the get-go as Manhattan has been recreated about as accurately as possible, sans the likeness rights to every hooker on the island. A different location is not the only change in the True Crime sequel. Players no longer assume the role of Nick Kang, but rather the new hero (or is that anti-hero) Marcus Reed. Marcus shares the same respect for the law but disrespect for doing things by the book as Nick, allowing players the ability to walk the fine line between upholding said laws or stepping over the line here and there to get what he wants. Like last time out, evidence, drugs and weapons can be turned into for credits at the police department, but they won't nab you black market items like rocket launchers, grenades or the like, so you can turn around and sell confiscated items for hard cash to earn those. Obviously, this isn't the way a good cop would do things, but you have to take the law into your own hands sometimes. While Streets of L.A. placed a lot of emphasis - possibly too much so - on upgradeable moves, the mechanics therein and so forth, New York City moves all of that to the back seat and focuses on pure, straightforward gameplay mechanics. All of those upgradeable assets are still present in the game, they're just not the focus this time around, nor does your lack of any upgraded skills at the start of the game hinder you in any way. One example of the way Luxoflux simplified the game's skill and upgrade system is in its hand-to-hand combat training. Rather than needing to head to a dojo to learn new moves, you'll be able to earn new fighting styles through the normal course of the game, like fighting at various Fight Arenas around the city, which also happen to earn you some dough.[b] You may still need to head to a dojo to essentially collect each new fighting style, but you won't be required to learn anything else there; the dojos are only there to allow you to practice, but you don't need to actually ever do any fighting there to learn a new style. [b]Weapon move upgrades operate in roughly the same manner. Gun ranges are only there now for practice, as you'll learn new weapon abilities every time you move up a rank at the police station. Gone are the tedious and annoying target shooting drills of the last game. You can still get in some target practice here if you want, but like the dojos, it's not a requirement. The way this works through the game seems to be much better off than last time. Having to go and essentially earn a new fighting style or weapon move after you've unlocked it may have seemed like a good idea, but it was tedious at best. It also meant that you were essentially held back at the beginning of the game, which made your character feel less powerful than many other games on the market. We were able to play through the first couple segments of the game, as well as some later levels, and we never felt like we were playing with an under-equipped or stripped down character. The game feels solid from the get go, so we're expecting the weapon and fighting style upgrades to fully add to the game, as opposed to being something that eventually brings you up to speed like last time out. Along with the various weapon moves, like being able to dual-wield and such, the aiming system has changed a bit. True Crime: New York City is much less reliant on the precision shooting than Streets of L.A. was, which we're happy to see. Not that it's gone, but it's not the default firing type. Without locking onto a character, your aiming and movement works in a free-look fashion, like the Max Payne series for instance. Holding a button will cause you to lock onto the nearest target, in which case the game then feels something like Grand Theft Auto. Finally, you're still able to use precision aiming if you please. The mix of these three styles, running from the most basic free-look up to precision aiming, is a great mix that seemed to work very well during our time with the game. Freeform action shooter fans may not ever bother with the lock-on button and will simply freely aim throughout the entire game, which from what we've played will work extremely well. The lock-on targeting system also seems to work quite well, though most of the shootouts we took part in were indoors and only featured gang members for us to pop caps into, so we're not sure how well it works with cops, civilians or otherwise around. So far so good, though. One thing that's pretty cool this time around is that Manhattan is broken up into various precincts, and each precinct has a dynamic and constantly evolving crime level associated with it. The main story isn't really involved in any of this, and helping take down crime in any of these precincts isn't mandatory in any way, but the crime level will affect both the safety and look of each precinct. When things get bad, windows will be boarded up and barred. Civilians will be less afraid and less tolerant of you, so if you flash your badge, they might not bother to pay you any mind, and if you find anything convicting on their person, they likely won't be very willing to go quietly. We didn't have a chance to do a whole lot of side-by-side comparisons of this effect, but from what we generally saw from two different saves, one with the city in complete disarray and one with it in good standing, the effect was pretty neat. It'll be interesting to see how this dynamic changes over the course of an entire game. The driving aspect feels much better this time out than in Streets of L.A. While the cars in the previous game felt a little squirrelly, the vehicles in New York City are tighter, have a whole lot more weight and generally drive a great deal more realistically than before. We hopped in a few sedans, a non-Hummer and a non-Ford GT (no licensed cars here) and they all felt great. The sedans felt like they had a fair bit of power under the hood and drove very smoothly and fairly responsively. The Hummer was big and hulking, though just as powerful. Its size was very evident, even when we were driving from inside the cab. The non-Ford GT was the coolest, even though its power and ultra-precise steering made it hard to navigate turns without flying off the street. One last major change that Luxoflux has made with the sequel is that the story is a little more linear than last time around. Streets of L.A. featured a massive, branching storyline, which some gamers missed out on fully experiencing as they may not have been aware that there were so many different directions the story could take. True Crime: New York City features a more linear story that helps take gamers through Marcus' tale, while still allowing for variations in mission success. While there are some missions that simply cannot be failed due to their absolute importance to the storyline, many missions can be failed while still allowing the story to continue. In these cases, you'll essentially lose whatever lead you were tracking or something of that nature, and you'll need to perform a side mission for an informant in order to get back on track. It's kind of a cool way to continue to progress through the game while still allowing for variability, plus it may end up extending the replay value a tad since you might want to go back and perfect things a second time through. What we've played of True Crime: New York City makes it out to look like a very solid title. Gone are many of the hit-or-miss aspects of the last game, and what's left looks to have been dialed in nicely. It's clear that Luxoflux isn't just riding on the sales figures of the last game and producing a sequel for sequel's sake, but rather attempting to plug every whole in the previous game's designs. So far it looks like Luxoflux has got quite a solid game under its belt, so we're looking forward to seeing where the story will take us "

[Edited on October 12, 2005 at 12:32 PM. Reason : ]

10/12/2005 12:32:12 PM

Quote :

"September 19, 2005 - The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has revealed the voice cast for Luxoflux-Activision's True Crime: New York City, the Big Apple-based sequel to the original True Crime: Streets of LA. According to the magazine, the cast will include such notables as Laurence Fishburne, Mickey Rourke, Christopher Walken and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit's Mariska Hargita. With such well-known and talented actors providing their vocal talents, we can only imagine that the gameplay experience will be that much enhanced. We will let you know if any other celebrities decide to hop on the True Crime paddywagon. "

10/12/2005 12:33:57 PM

This games gonna be ill

In the video they showed us at Activision, you can pull over cars, search their trunk/passengers/drivers for drugs (In the vid they search an old ladies Sedan and found Crack in her trunk, hahah)

Cars get dirtier the more you drive them. Older vehicles/poorer areas have rusted cars that sound like beaters, others get the smooth rides

The soundtrack is overseen by Jay-Z and Def Jam, and features New York artist

If you played the last one, you mighta played as Snoop Dogg. This year, it's "Red Gone Wild" where you have to make it from one side of NY to the other, going through the boroughs, with all the civilians violently attacking you the whole way

The Subways are cut off, no taxis, no cars...you gotta run/walk/sneak/fight your way through the city

Theres also some interrogation/enviorment kills, ala The Punisher games (but uncensored in this one) Saw a guy get his head shoved in a stove, hahah.

Everything is a weapon, break a table, throw a table leg. See a pot on the ground? Kick it at the perp.

This is one of the games I'm most looking forward to, and that was before I got the job


**oh yea, and the naked cowboy is in the game in the exact spot he is in New york

[Edited on October 12, 2005 at 12:40 PM. Reason : ]

10/12/2005 12:37:49 PM

10/12/2005 12:47:37 PM

Haha I remember in GTA San Andreas there were the billboards saying something like "True Crime, cleaning up the Streets of LA" and it had a picture of a garbage truck.

10/12/2005 12:52:19 PM

hahah yea

In True Crimes Streets of LA they had "Jockstar" with a closeup of a dudes crotch in a pink banana hammock and a pink "rockstar" logo

10/12/2005 12:54:09 PM

I liked the first one. I'll probably pick this one up when the price drop hits sometime next year.

10/12/2005 12:54:17 PM

or you can enter the pizza eating contest i'm trying to have to win a copy

10/12/2005 1:01:27 PM

[hate hate hate]

[/hate hate hate]

10/12/2005 1:12:21 PM

huh

10/12/2005 1:26:53 PM

http://www.truecrime.com/info/age_check.php?return=/info/index.php

10/12/2005 2:34:06 PM

Oh so the pizza contest thing worked out then eh? Who is hosting? Sylvia?

10/12/2005 2:37:06 PM

Pizza..?! Hah, no game for me.

10/12/2005 3:25:02 PM

hasnt all worked out yet

i'll be doing a raffle and whatnot still

but the Pizza is just another draw-in for people to come

10/12/2005 3:37:42 PM

dammmmit
now i want pizza

10/12/2005 3:59:04 PM

So what are the details about how we can win a copy? I really enjoyed the first one and wouldn't mind playing the second one, looks good.

10/12/2005 4:26:12 PM

Well, if I still have the shot with a raffle, I guess I'll show

10/12/2005 4:44:11 PM

10/27/2005 1:13:29 PM

10/28/2005 8:18:14 PM

I love the screen with the 3-D sidewalk art.

10/29/2005 12:00:42 PM

11/2/2005 9:38:07 PM

http://music.ign.com/articles/664/664597p1.html

Quote :

"ORIGINAL TRACKS Redman - "True Crime" Redman -"True Crime (Bonus track)" LICENSED IN-GAME TRACKS Redman - "Rush the Security" Cam'Ron featuring Jay-Z - "Welcome to NYC" Run D.M.C. - "Sucker MC's" Kool Moe Dee - "Wild Wild West" The Sugarhill Gang - "Rapper's Delight" Public Enemy - "Bring The Noise (Chuck D Mix)" DMX - "Where The Hood At" Busta Rhymes - "Put Your Hands Where my Eyes Can See" Agnostic Front - "Police State" Bad Brains - "I Against I" Bob Dylan - "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" Danzig - "Mother" The Ramones - "Beat on The Brat" Interpol - "Slow hands" Wu-Tang Clan - "Protect Ya Neck" Jungle Brothers - "Straight Out The Jungle" Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - "New York New York" Hatebreed - "Another Day, Another Vendetta" Misfits - "Last Caress" Blondie - "Hangin by the Telephone" Sonic Youth - "Kool Thing" Skarhead - "New York Crime" Dope - "The Life" Kool G Rap and DJ Polo - "Streets of New York" Biz Markie - "I'm The Biz" Big Daddy Kane - "Ain't No Half Steppin'" 24-7 Spyz - "Yeah X 3" Suicide - "Ghostrider" Iggy & The Stooges - "Search and Destroy" New York Dolls - "Subway Train" Bloodsimple - "Blood In Blood Out" Biohazard - "Shades of Grey" Gang Starr - "Full Clip" Big Punisher - "Twinz (Deep Cover)" Vision of Disorder - "Imprint" Mandrill - "Echoes In My Mind" The Damned - "Neat Neat Neat" The Velvet Underground - "I'm Waiting For the Man" Helmet - "Unsung" The Rapture - "The Killing" Black Star - "Definition" NaS - "N.Y. State Of Mind" Slick Rick - "Children's Story" Youth Of Today - "Break Down The Walls" Cramps - "Wrong Way Ticket" The Casualties - "Sounds from the streets (Death Toll)" White Zombie - "Thunder Kiss 65" Unsane - "D train" A Tribe Called Quest - "Scenario" Mark Ronson - "Bout To Get Ugly" X-ecutioners - "Let Me Rock" Black Rob - "Woah!" Madball - "Pride (Times are Changing)" Richard Hell And The Voidoids - "Blank Generation" The Walkmen - "The Rat" Kurtis Blow - "The Breaks" Black Sheep - "The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)" De La Soul - "Thru Ya City" Gorilla Biscuits - "New Direction" Eric B & Rakim - "Paid in Full" Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Force - "Planet Rock" Sam Scarfo - "Homicide" Bobby Womack - "Across 110th Street" Marley Marl - "The Symphony" My Chemical Romance - "I Never Told You What I Did For A Living" Mobb Deep - "Shook Ones Pt. II" Quicksand - "East 3rd Street" Vordul Mega - "Neva Again" Black Moon - "Who Got The Props?" Jeru the Damaja - "D. Original" Leaders Of The New School - "Case of the P.T.A." LL Cool J - "I Can't Live With Out My Radio" Sick of It All - "Potential For A Fall" The A.K.A.'s - "Shout Out Loud" Blue Oyster Cult - "Don't Fear the Reaper" Digable Planets - "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like dat)" Murphy's Law - "Crucial Bar-B-Que" Yeah Yeah Yeah's - "Black Tongue" Harley's War - "Criminal (4 Life)" The Bravery - "Honest Mistake" Television - "See No Evil" We Are Scientists - "Callbacks""

11/4/2005 8:23:04 PM

The commercial looks good. The playlist is huge.

11/5/2005 5:28:27 PM

Red Gone Wild

11/8/2005 7:50:28 AM

hahaha ive been planting drugs on white people and extorting money from chinese people all night

i love this game

11/16/2005 12:38:24 AM

^When are you having the event for it? Or are you still having it?

11/16/2005 12:48:18 AM