by Jody - January 18, 2004

When Grand Theft Auto 3 was released, we saw a new standard for action games. Having the ability for totally free-roaming over a city was one of the most fun things to do nowadays in gaming � everyone knows about it. Now, with True Crime: Streets of LA, we see it again � but is it better? Comparing the two would be a pretty difficult task, but wouldn�t it be more fun to roam around town as an undercover cop who CAN�T get arrested other than a wanted mob who CAN?

Nick Kang, will you be my father?

To start off, you play as a character by the name of Nick Kang. He�s an cocky undercover cop whose attitude you�ve seen from movies such as Lethal Weapon and such. At the beginning, he goes into work and gets convinced to go undercover (he is just now) to bust this drug deal. He is then assigned a partner, whom he does not like � nor does she like him. A little bit later, she gets shot and you have to save her... then she just becomes a guide for you. (No that is not a spoiler, it happened at the beginning of the game).

After you actually get into the city, you first start driving around in your lovely Monte Carlo. Because I�m not a big fan of the car, I decided to trash it and get my own car � a Honda s2000. As you drive around town, you�ll see a large number of crimes being committed � anywhere from a bank robbery to a car hijack. Not that you really have to, but you can then go after the crime � following the red dot on the map. Once you�re there, you can either solve the crime by killing the people who committed it or beating the holy hell out of them and arresting them. I prefer to just beat the shit out of them, handcuff them, and then blow their brains out while they are laying on the ground helpless.

Another good thing about this is that you can search random people � sometimes finding bombs or drugs and avoiding would-be crimes. This is essential if you want to have a good cop record. If you�re like me though, and you tend to kill a lot of people, you probably shouldn�t even bother.

The thing about the god cop/bad cop rating is that it effects the flow of the game. Playing through the game as a good cop, you can see how everything goes around you, and if you get to the end of the game, you will get the most perfect ending. Now, if you have a bad cop rating� things won�t go the way that you had planned� and if they do, you will have a harder time getting to it than the good cop did. Also, you tend to get a pretty bad ending with a bad cop rating. All in all though, you can play the game the way you want to and beat it how you want to � it�s your life.

It really does look like LA!

The graphics of the game are pretty vivid. LA is modeled PERFECTLY � from every street to every house, it is LA. The graphical designs of the cars, people, and roads are also pretty good. Compared to the Grand Theft Auto series, I�m going to have to say this is a little bit better, but really, graphics doesn�t make the game, right? I just find it amazing how real it is compared to the real city of Los Angeles.

Rap sucks.

Here is the downer. I hate rap. And since I hate rap, I hate the audio portion of this game. As it seems, the developers must be black... because every track in this game is rap (save for maybe one). You�re probably going to have to turn off the audio if you�re like me. Even if you don�t have music, you can still pop in one of your Radiohead albums in your computer or stereo and listen to that while playing. Works just as well as having in-game music!

The gun fire and car sounds are pretty good though.

GTA on the GameCube? Seems like it!

I think it�s pretty cool that I can have a GTA3 style game on my GameCube. I�ve always wondered how it would be to have GTA3 launched for the GameCube, but I didn�t really ever think that would happen. Not that I mind it not being on the console, I just hate putting down my lovely GameCube controller to use the Playstation 2 one. Now, with True Crime: Streets of LA, I finally get to play a free-roaming-murder-as-many-people-as-you-want game. It feels damn good.

Try it for any console!

All in all, this game is worth $50 � even for any console. Even if you�ve played through GTA3 over and over, getting tired of it, this game will still interest you. (No one can kick a gun up in mid air then catch it like Nick Kang can). If you�re low on cash though, you can always rent it. Either way, this game deserves to be played � maybe even more than Grand Theft Auto 3 does. I like the realistic cars more in this game anyhow.