True Crime: Streets of LA

True Driving. True Fighting. True Shooting.

NA release: 4th November 2003
EU release: 21st November 2003
JP release: N/A
Developer: Luxoflux, Exakt Entertainment
Publisher: Activision
NGC Magazine Score: 75%
Mods Used: None

After Grand Theft Auto III made a huge impact, it was clear that other similar games would follow. A simple idea for a not-GTA is a game where you’re a cop and not a criminal. But True Crime isn’t just a GTA clone from a different angle, it ends up focusing on different elements that make it far more distinct. Revisiting this game, I also realised how many elements of Sleeping Dogs (which was originally going to be True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong) started right with this game.

In terms of the open world itself, True Crime features a surprisingly detailed map of Los Angeles. However, it is somewhat lacking in personality and there’s not a lot to do in the world outside of the cop stuff. The pop-in is also quite bad – you may think you can take a shortcut and skip a corner, but then a wall appears at the last second and you crash straight into it. However, it’s still a decent backdrop to the game and the open word itself isn’t the sole focus of the game, outside of random events.

Some missions in the game are simply driving to a location. While doing these missions, you’ll get reports of crimes happening over your radio, with the location appearing on your map. These can be simple things like a couple of people fighting, a mugging, a street race; while others can be more in-depth and interesting, such as a “vampire” stealing an ambulance full of blood packs and a riot due to a controversial sporting choice. One time I was driving along, and a truck careened down the road the wrong way and crashed, then a call about a DUI incident came in. Tackling these events are a lot of fun, and I was always listening out for new ones.

You’re free to tackle these how you see fit. You can show your badge, shoot in the air or just punch them or shoot them. Shooting any unarmed or surrendering crooks will earn you bad cop points (as will harming civilians), while making arrests will give you good cop points. The game is lenient so you don’t have to worry about losing points due to damaging property or cars

Shooting missions are a lot of fun. You lock on automatically, so you can focus on rolling or diving. You can enter slow-mo for a manual aim. The indoor environments also have quite a lot of destructible elements to them, so you can watch your chaos make a complete mess. Your main guns (which can be upgraded) have infinite ammo, while guns you pick up are a one-and-done affair. It makes for some intense fights.

Melee fighting also takes place in destructible arenas, this time allowing you to kick your enemies into objects for more damage – the origins of the fighting system seen in Sleeping Dogs. Once you daze an opponent you can input a combo for a more powerful move. There’s a good amount of locations you’ll end up fighting in. Both of these aspects have aged really well, and both are something that it’s main inspiration – GTA – still hasn’t caught up on. It makes True Crime still feel a ton of fun. There’s also some stealth sections that work fine enough. I do wish there was a bit more freedom over how you tackle a particular area, as each mission is a set type.

However, these missions are tied together by a really good story with Nick Kang joining a special police division after being suspended. He spent some time in Hong Kong after his father disappeared and was accused of fleeing with drugs. There’s plenty of twists as you investigate a ton of counterfeit money moving through LA, people get kidnapped, betray you, you fight an actual dragon, you save or lose your brother and plenty more. The game even features people such as Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman and Ron Perlman. Nick himself is sarcastic and enjoyable, too, and there’s clearly some inspiration from Big Trouble in Little China.

What makes the story stand out is how there are multiple paths. If you fail/skip missions or have a bad cop rating, you’ll have to leave the main branch and a total of four additional chapters for two alternative endings – which actually give you extra context for some stuff in the main endings. These paths also have unique missions and locations, so aren’t a throwaway thing. On top of these, falling (or skipping) some missions will trigger an alternative mission. One nice thing is that you can’t completely miss these missions – you can replay any mission (as well as any alternative missions) from the main menu.

Strangely, I remember finding True Crime to be an alright game when I was younger, and remember it being a bit janky and a pain to play. Returning to it now and it feels better than it ever did, it’s like the game somehow got younger over time instead of aging. I had an absolute blast returning to it and was pleasantly surprised as to how much of the Sleeping Dogs charm was present back in this game. I’d love for a new game in this style.

Fave

The driving stuff we’ve seen before but the hand-to-hand combat borders on beat-’em-up levels of complexity and the shooting part plays like old arcade favourite Virtua Cop. Initially you’ll take pleasure in steaming your car into rioters or mowing down a mugger but then you realise the heavy implication of the Good Cop/Bad Cop meter…
Dan Griffiths, NGC Magazine #88

Remake or remaster?

A remaster of the True Crime games would be amazing. The main request I’d have would be a better map with the ability to place waypoints.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy True Crime: Streets of LA.