True Crime: New York City (2005 Video Game) User Reviews

Above average

[middle_earthfan454 · 6/10 · 11 July 2006]

I have this game right now from rent and to be honest, I think it's slightly better than the first. Here is the games description (From my POV) True Crime: Streets of NYC is based on a cop named Marcus Reed who is an ex-gang member and takes up a job as a cop in the big apple. Your job is obvious, kick or shoot the crap out of perps, gang members and other law breaking creeps.

You also take on missions that can either influence or injure your good cop/bad cop meter (This indicates the good/bad deeds you commit during the game). For example if you shoot a guy in the leg marked blue, its good but if you shoot him in the head marked red, it's bad. This can get very annoying as you may accidentally run over civilians which adds bad cop points, running over other cops is worth much more, ever perps count.

Making matters worse, the artificial intelligence so much as forces pedestrians to jump the into your driving path and with narrow streets and terrible break controls, it's difficult to avoid running over people.

Unlike Streets of LA, you can't learn new fighting moves but entire techniques such as karate and tai quan do (you start the game with brawling). You can also learn sword and bo staff skills but these are not all that necessary as you start the game with a knight stick which works just as well.

The map is Enormous! It's practically the entire city taken from real life and put into a game but not with particularly large buildings and historical monuments. You can enter some buildings but nothing too fancy, only night clubs, restaurants, laundromats, pawn shops and gun stores which all look the same.

You can make money from arresting perps or collecting evidence from crime scenes. Eventually you'll have bought everything you need in the game but all the money you'll be making will no longer be needed.

There is an unnecessarily large array of guns available, you can get them from gun shops or from perps. Some weapons deal the same amount of damage and hold just as many bullets so there is no actual point to buy a different gun with the same stats.

The glitches are easily noticed, the game freezes and skips certain stuff, I have myself stuck in a predicament in which the missions won't come up and all the objective screen says is solve city crime...I'VE CLEANED THE WHOLE DAMN CITY!!! All in all, Streets of New York is a good game, it has some cons that are pathetic or frustrating but the shootouts, endless crime chasing and money making parts may count as a bright side. I find it as a good game, just not the best or amongst the best.

For people who like cop and cars

[roboh-2 · 8/10 · 12 February 2007]

True Crime New York

If you like cops and cars this is the game for you!!! First A look at the worse of the game.....Yes it has a lot of bugs, and yes the story is not top of the line.....However, the game it's self is full of action and their are choices of different things to do. At any time you can veer off the normal missions and solve street crimes, their are also a few side missions to complete as well. People will argue that it's a rip off of GTA. It's just a good cop sequel to the True Crime Streets of LA. Overall I give it A 8. If not for the bugs I would have given it a 10.

Solid Game

[Jackson122 · 8/10 · 10 January 2008]

Let me start off by saying that this is the 1st ever mature rated game that I ever bought. For any parent looking to buy this game for a child, the violence isn't too bad, but the language is definitely in full force. Anyway, back to the review. The bad? The game is glitchy at times, even stopping when entering a building or in the middle of a mission. Also, the game is very short, and the language feels overdone in certain places. The good? However short, both endings are solid and resolve the game for the most part, and the characters are very realistic and likable, especially the game's protagonist, Marcus Reed. I could not justify $50 for this game when it came out, but now, it is a great buy for $10 at your local Gamestop. Overall, a solid game.

Don't listen to the negative reviews!!

[Mission31 · 2 March 2006]

people who don't like this game are total idiots!! This game is amazing! The graphics are a million times better than grand theft autos. You can extort clerks, you can plant evidence, you can frisk suspects,12+ bonus missions,you can shoot,you can drive , you can paddle, you can interrogate,you can go in nearly every building,search the trunk of a car,you can solve street crime,50+ story missions,buy guns, buy moves,2 5 part bonus missions(fight club and street racing),Buy cars or steal cars,buy clothes, change you hair style and much more!! People talk about glitches as if they happen all the time during play-its not true!!!!! I've had it happen to me 8/50 times of play. This game is the best police game, or for that matter, crime game you'll find on the market!!!!!!!!!!Also has a gripping story with a twist at the end.

Absolutely RIDDLED with glitches

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 6/10 · 21 January 2010]

I enjoyed True Crime: Streets of LA despite the fact that it was clearly just a poor man's GTA. Having just owning a Gamecube at the time it was the closest I could get to playing a GTA game on that system. TC: NYC had been on my wishlist for years but Gamecube games are increasingly hard to find so I never managed to track one down until recently.

Now that I own a PS3 and very familiar with GTA IV, playing TC: NYC is a HUGE step down in quality. The graphics and gameplay are already very dated. TC: NYC came out at the tail end of the Gamecube's lifespan and for those of you who are spoiled by the slick nature of current generation consoles playing the game will be very difficult, glitches or not. Comparison's to GTA IV might seem unfair, but are inevitable since both take place in a nearly identical environment.

The plot to TC: NYC is right out of a typical 80s Golan-Globus trash movie. It's pure garbage, but entertaining garbage, and thankfully features none of the supernatural nonsense from the previous game. You'll be surprised how quickly it's over. There are plenty of side-missions but you'll get bored of them after a while since they repeat again and again.

Now to the glitches. Oh where to begin? It's a good idea to save your game every time you make significant progress since it has the tendency to completely freeze-up, requiring you to reboot your system. Sometimes you'll be unable to enter buildings, leaving missions unfinishable. There is also an extremely bad frame rate problem causing your character to jump all over the screen.

As for gameplay faults the freedom of GTA is not present here. It's virtually impossible to drive to crime scenes or pursue criminals without killing pedestrians, which pushes up the crime rate in the area. The other cops NEVER help, and ALWAYS hinder your mission. There are plenty of taxis in the game to get you to locations safely, but since there's no button to hail them it's very difficult to get inside one.

The whole game is set on Manhattan island, with endless streets of tall, foreboding buildings. There is virtually no sunshine either with lots of rain and night, giving TC: NYC a claustrophobic, gloomy and oppressive feel. If you are used to blue skies and sunshine of Sonic the Hedgehog then this might be a bit of a miserable experience for you.

There are ways to customize your character and vehicle, giving each player their own unique experience. But as you'll encounter on every street of TC: NYC; there is very, very little variety. There are about 10 vehicle models and about the same number of characters. Every street is populated by six or seven models of a single character. There aren't a lot of guns available either, and there's little difference between them.

TC: NYC clearly was not finished. Activision obviously wanted to rush the game to stores before the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube became relics. I can't imagine it selling well, which explains why I had such a hard time finding it.

I did enjoy playing it, which counts for a lot since there are plenty of bad points it had to make up for. But if you are the kind of person who easily throws the control pad through the TV screen when a game freezes then I'd certainly not recommend it.

As bad as the other one was this one was not too bad..

[mikeybowers999 · 9/10 · 21 October 2006]

I gave this game a 9 because of it's really good arsenal. Your car can hold about a lot of guns at once. It was really good than the other one. One tip, don't kill a innocent person or you will loose your badge! That is a really bad thing to happen because you will lose all progress and will need to start the game over. The infestations are really good and realistic. Blood is bad but high in action. You start off as a criminal and have to fight you way out of some hideout. You get caught and become a cop.You have to fight off bad guys and take over the streets in a battle you could never think of! It is really good! 9/10.

Best Cop Game Ever?

[olkan_gndgu1996 · 9/10 · 21 January 2019]

Oh man I love this game so much.Story is really good and both ending is powerfull.Too bad It's little short but side missions also have.I know game is little buggy but bugs make the game funny and enjoyable.Voice actor is so damn nice for time.Laurence Fishburne,Mickey Rourke,Christopher Walken and bonus is Redman is in BonusGame.You can enter almost all building.You can buy clothes chance hair buy some weapons from black market buy cars.You can join the Fight Club or Race.I don't care what you saying I love this game.

Impossible to control - threw my copy in the trash

[23skidoo-4 · 1/10 · 4 August 2007]

This review is for the PC version of the game.

I've never thrown a game into the garbage before, but that is what I have just done with True Crime: NYC. Fortunately I only paid about $10 for it at a discount store and not $50 or whatever its original price was.

The game had a lot of promise. The idea of a virtual NYC you could drive around was a cool idea, and that part of the game I really liked (although it got annoying after the 50th time I got smashed into by other cars). And I like the idea of having big name voice actors involved, though I have to wonder how hypocritical it was to have Marsika Hargitay of SVU playing a female detective whose skirt is only a few steps down from a thong (if there are cops who actually dress like this on duty outside of the vice squad, I'm signing up!).

And I liked the basic plot - what little I could get before i gave up in disgust.

And give up I did. I'm OK with games that are difficult, in terms of being able to achieve goals or fight and survive. But when one literally requires 4 arms in order to hit all the controls you need to accomplish anything, at that point I say the game is poorly designed and not worth my time. What's worse, actions that work perfectly well during the training mode mysteriously no longer work once the "real" game starts. As a result instead of frisking and arresting suspects, I ended up either pushing them in front of cars (which was fun, I'll admit, but not quite what the game wanted me to do) or my gun came out and I shot them, which again wasn't exactly the mission.

There is a difference between being frustrated with a game that is difficult and being frustrated with a game that is physically impossible to play. The first issue can be alleviated by finding a hint guide somewhere, or even finding cheat codes. But there's no cheat in the world that protects against bad design.

As I say, this is with regards to the PC version. Maybe the console versions are simpler to operate and therefore actually can be played. If you have a choice, take the console version. Unless you have 4 arms, of course.

Freaking awesome

[tigerstar154 · 8/10 · 18 January 2012]

True Crime New York City:

If you have always loved gangster films that took place in NY, then you will love this game. It's fun, it's dark and really addicting. Though it it may have influences from GTA, it is a big improvement from Streets of LA. (Not that it was bad in the first place)

The story line: Marcus is a reformed gangster turned cop who avenges the death of his mentor by looking for the mole.

The Pluses: There are many which include, great voice casting, acting, graphics and the use and variety of weapons. Open environment of NYC!!

The Minuses: Despite all the good stuff, there are negative things. Glitches, you will encounter them no matter what!! The voicing is off somewhat and the cars are somewhat hard to drive without crashing.

Overall, True Crime:NYC is the most underrated game ever, Play it now!!!

Good way to virtually tour NYC

[lopingbuzzard · 3/10 · 31 May 2006]

The coolest thing about this game is that it contains all of Manhattan. All the streets, anyway. Unfortunately, most of the buildings are generic with just a smattering of actual buildings and landmarks such as St. Patrick's and the UN building. You cannot enter into most of these buildings, however, with a few exceptions like Grand Central. The only buildings you can enter are generic restaurants, hotels, and laundries. And they are all the same - the interior of every hotel is exactly the same, as is every convenience store and strip club.

It was fun to roam the streets of Manhattan again, and safer than doing it for real. The game-play, however was pretty bad. The main story missions are somewhat amusing, but the regular police work is painfully repetitive. Stolen cars, fights among the homeless, rock bands wrecking hotels... you have to deal with these problems over and over and over.

This game might be appealing to anyone who has never seen, played, or heard of GTA: San Andreas. To everyone else, it's just a cheap, buggy, boring, knockoff. Forget playing the game. Just enjoy touring Manhattan without the normal traffic - sort of a Manhattan ghost town.

GTA III, Goes WAY down

[samy-11 · 9/10 · 5 June 2006]

This game is one of the best games I have played, another person who wrote a review felt the same as me. The story is fantastic, the city and people have some of the best graphics of all time. I would recommend this to anyone except the queasy because this game is extremely violent. I can't say I didn't enjoy myself when playing this game, the only reason I chose to give this game a 9 is because of the bugs...That's where the game goes downhill. To anyone who has or is going to buy this game: If you have a lot of games and keep them on your PS2 it puts a lot of pressure and weight onto it causing the game to freeze more often. The bugs are the only thing that really angers me. If I could find the head of Luxoflux or Activion, I would say the game rocked! But the technical problems are really annoying. I would also say, You should make a game called TRUE CRIME: Miami. It would be so nice if they would create a True Crime game set there. I hope this helps viewers. The ending is great, there are two by the way, Good and Bad, both are awesome. I beat the game 100%, got a secret Puma outfit and the secret level, but I'll leave you to find out what the level is... I hope this helped and my advice is THIS GAME ROCKED!!! Don't listen to the negative reviews. Trust me.

True Crime NYC IS better than True crime streets of LA

[life-goes-on94 · 8/10 · 29 March 2007]

True Crime NYC is the next in the True crime series after streets of LA. IT is a very good game in my opinion with fair graphics, OK gameplay and a fairly good story. Although the music in my opinion isn't very good as it is mainly all rap, and you are sometimes shot through walls it is still a good game. It is also longer than Streets of LA as in that game you could pretty much just skip every mission and have it done within 2 days. The shooting is also better in streets of NY. However, the game does have some 'bugs' in it, for example one time i got trapped underneath some stairs and could not move so i had to restart the console, i was meant to be going up the stairs. also sometimes the game jumps and everything starts flashing all the things i just mentioned as well have nothing to do with how clean the disk is.

awesome!!!

[wolfmano23 · 1 December 2005]

True Crime Streets of L.A. was an awesome game, and this game puts that to shame. In the long awaited sequel (of sorts) too True Crime: L.A. This game takes place in the city that never sleeps. In the beginning it's Christmas eve 2000. You are Marcus Reed the no good, low life son of gangster Isaiah Reed AKA "King". After narrowly being killed by his father's goons when he tried a hostile takeover of his father's criminal empire, Marcus wreaks bloody vengeance on the "friends" who sold him out, and is saved from a jail cell by his father's friend a member of NYPD's elite O.C.S, Terrence Higgins. Cut to five years later and a dramatically different Marcus, who now fights on the side of Law and Order as he graduates from beat cop to the O.C.S. while on a case, Terry is killed in an explosion effectively ending Marcus' O.C.S career even before it starts.

Angered by the loss of his friend and mentor Marcus wages war on the low life drug lords of the city working his way up the food chain to the mastermind behind Terry's death. Along the way making friends and enemies and taking orders from his commander Deena Dixon. Action and adventure await in this fast paced, tough as nails adventure. You have the choice to be either the good guy or the rouge officer. And the reward is not one but two endings, and a surprise that will shock and amaze you. And be sure to visit as many stores as you can to upgrade your music collection and listen to some great tunes form yesterday and today in the world of Hip-Hop, Rock, Techno, and club music. But beware this game is NOT for kids, harsh language awaits. So get out there and show your True Crime!

Total garbage.

[Eatdacheetoh · 1/10 · 12 January 2006]

True Crime: New York City is a pitiful attempt to cash in on the urban themed games, the game is the sequel to True Crime: Streets of LA, which was a decent attempt to cash in on the popularity of the GTA games.

One of the problems comes from the story, so bare bones and generic I was guessing the plot quarter of the way in.(And mostly right too!) The script is pretty bad, even though they've got Traci Lords and Christopher Walken in this game, they drop F-bombs and the N word every few seconds.

The only glimmer of hope in this game should come from the Graphics, sound, and gameplay... right? Well maybe the sound, but that's it.

The graphics are nothing short of unimpressive and uninspired, sure they mapped New York down to almost every nook and cranny, but it's useless when you've got nothing to do.

The gameplay combines sneaking,fighting,driving, into a mish mash of awfulness I can't even comprehend.

The sound is probably the only thing that saves this game, it has a combination of rap and the New York music scene.(The Ramones, Blondie, etc.)

But, here comes the worst part of the game. The bugs. Not your regular house hold bugs, but "destroy your game permanently" bugs. The x-box version gets the worst of it, including a bug that makes it impossible to finish the game. But that's not the only bug, oh no. Enemeies get hung up in objects and cars disappear. Which makes you have to restart the mission you where on at the time.

Overall, I give this mess 1/10. It's quite possibly the worst game i've ever played, don't even bother. Save yourself $50 or $5 dollars.

God awful crap

[matthewwestfall1 · 1/10 · 27 August 2006]

this game has so many screw ups and glitches i don't even know where to start. this game is another poor attempt to mimic the GTA series. the graphics are terrible. every time I play the game its raining. it'll rain for about five seconds then stop then start raining again. the only good thing about this game is I guess the music. Anyone who likes The True Crime series or Driv3r (the worst)is "mentaly sick and should be shot I'm afraid to say." (Quoting from GTA VC Pastar Richards on VCPR)if you have played GTA Vice City. I've been playing for over 5 years. I've also played just about every single game that has attempted to mimic GTA. I have nothing good to say about those games. My advice to you, stay away from this game!

This isn't bad. Its just got some flaws.

[twisted_priest1 · 18 February 2006]

Alright so your Marcus Reed a cop. Its basically like GTA San Andreas. But your in New York and your obviously a cop. But then you can change your clothes and hair style and get so many more cars than in Streets of LA. In this sequel you can ride taxis across town, subways and then you have a selection of codes (not recommended) to use. There's just one flaw. It has major screw ups on it like the screen turns kinda white. The game freezes up on you sometimes. And then sometimes it won't let you into some buildings. But there's many more missions to do like street clean ups, brawling clubs and street races. The selection of music is good too from everything like rock n roll, metal/punk, rap, club music and many many more, with hits like Knockin on heavens door, Beat on the Brat and Don't fear the reaper.

Overall I'd give this game 8/10

This game has fatal flaws, and can easily be best categorized under the worst games of 2005

[kylekool150 · 1/10 · 20 December 2007]

To summarize this in one minute... not a very good review, but I all I can do is hand out negatives, so give me a break.

After playing True Crime: NYC, there are dozens of things I can say about the game. First being, that you should not waste your money on this game, even if you're just renting it to fool around with a couple of friends and point out flaws.

This game has erratic frame rate, and is completely disabled by bugs. It also has horrible dialog, sound effects and graphics. Not only this, but the controls are faulty, and in-and-out of missions annoying phrases are said over and over again. The horrible acting job and the casting makes it more frustrating.

And beyond these flaws of many other flaws, the game has basically no replay value, and the core game play is plenty poor itself. You get no thrill from firing the weapons, driving the vehicles, or any elements of the core game play.

As for the soundtrack in the game... well, it's pretty rushed. There are a few decent songs in there, but it's mostly tacky rap music. Not only this, but another huge problem is not being able to listen to the soundtrack while in-game off the menu. I suppose this doesn't matter, since the music being enabled in the game play isn't going to fix the rushed game play or provide any interest.

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

[Littlebitsofgaming · 4/10 · 17 June 2006]

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)