Sound: 7
Graphics: 6.5
Gameplay: 7.5
Replay: 7
Multiplayer: No

Activision reminds me a lot of EA. They seem to be more of impersonators rather than inovators. Their game franchises just tend to drag on and on. The companies keep rolling in the money because of their big names rather than big games. I'll admit their have been a few games that have seperated themselves from these two companies, but as soon as they do, they are immediately capitalized upon and expansion packs are pumped out as fast as possible to keep the money flowing. Does Activision impersonate or innovate with their newest game, True Crime: Streets of L.A.?

Let's just say Grand Theft Auto doesn't have the Identity Theft solutions from Citi Bank. True Crime is practically the same exact game wrapped in a different storyline with slightly (emphasizing slightly) improved graphics. Really, this game is almost an exact copy. It's so close it's scary. Activision saw how successful the GTA franchise is and decided to try to get themselves a piece of the pie, and the sad part is people are actually buying this game. Don't be fooled by the flashy commercials and big time advertisements, read this review before you decide to dish out the cash for this game.

For a change of pace, I will mention the game's few (sadly) good points first. Starting with sound, the game actual has pretty good voice acting. Activision went out of their way to get some big actors to do the voice overs for their characters. Actors such as Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, Michael Madsen, and Michelle Rodriguez power the voices behind the game. If this game was rated based on how many big time actors it brought it compared to other games, then it might rate pretty high. But the voice acting isn't everything. There are some other good points about the sound, however. There are a lot of *somewhat* funny phrases. They are overused, however, and in a lot of cases pretty corny. But games that at least try to be humorous deserve some good points. The driving and shooting sounds pretty pathetic though. They don't sound anything like they do in real life.

I don't really know what to say that's good about the graphics...I mean, they are extremely outdated. They don't look much better than Vice City. They are a little bit brighter, a little more detailed as far as the characters, but other than that the graphics suck. Cars "appear" in the distance out of nowhere, as do people. You can't see very far ahead, even on the Xbox. The setting is pretty cool, the game taking place in over 100 square miles of Los Angeles, so if you know you're way around then your set. But just because it's set in that area don't expect everything to look the same. If you live in that area and try driving by your home don't expect the house to look anything like yours or for businesses to be located where they really are. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but I don't think so. I mean, if they are going to limit the vision they misewell make what you CAN actually see look good, right?

The gameplay has a few positives. The fighting mode is repetive and needs a lot of improvement but it is a good idea. It's just a series of punches, kicks, and then when they finally get stunned you "super combo" them to take out an extra chunk of their health. Keep repeating until the suspect has lost all health, then arrest him (or forgo all this and shoot him in the head to get some bad points, but too many bad points and you will get the SWAT on your ass). Repeat the above fighting steps on all bad guys you want to take down. Sounds fun, huh? This part of the game may have been somewhat innovative, but it is boring and repetetive. A good idea but it failed. This fighting system needs a lot of work.

So you want replay, huh? Well, I guess you might be able to wring out just a tad if you want. But don't expect this game to be overflowing with it. In fact, by the time you're even a quarter of the way through the game you will most likely be so bored of it that you won't even play through it the first time, let alone play it again. You can be either a good cop or a bad cop in this, so that adds a little bit of replay. Depending on your actions the story branches off a little bit. Arrest guys rather than killing them will make you a good cop. But don't worry, you will be able to kill too, there is a time for everything. Other than that, however, there is little replay here. No unlockables, no real secrets. There are some character upgrades from playing through the game but nothing good enough that I would actually refer to as "unlockables". They are just small things.

Now the bad sides...oh the bad sides...woah to me and all who play this game. The sound first. Crashes sound dull. Explosions sound dull. The guns sound dull. The sound definately won't draw you into this game. Their is no teeth-clenching action and explosions. This is just the kind of game that if you are bored and want to beat up a few people or take on the cops, pop it in. If you want to listen to some rock music while doing it, that would probably be a good idea. You wouldn't be missing out on anything.
The graphics are awful. Really, they don't look much better than GTA: Vice City and that was released years ago. Activision doesn't like to put out good looking games, as is evident in their franchises such as the Tony Hawk series. Each game looks slightly better than the last but doesn't compare to most games out there. The same is true with True Crime. The cars look pathetic. I mean, I don't even WANT to steal any of the cars on their because none of them look good. There are only about 10 or so different NPC character models. So you will see Johnny and about 500 of his twin brothers as you are driving down one street. This is to be expected from games like this, but it doesn't have to be that way. The environments are pretty sad too. Buildings are just painted on. They don't look good. The trees look like paper machette. This definately isn't an eye pleaser.

The gameplay is really clunky. It is fun shooting guys, and there is even some bullet time mixed in there, but trust me, this is no Max Payne. You probably will never even use the bullet time because it is just useless. The melee fighting, as mentioned earlier, needs a TON of improvement. It is just the same old thing over and over again. The driving doesn't feel smooth either. There is just no sense of speed. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City had a better driving portion than this game. It feels as if the maximum speed if 40 mph. The pace just feels off in this game.

Well, with no real reason to play again, no secrets or valuable unlockables, there is little reason to play this game again if you ever even manage to get it in you to finish it the first time. But if you want a game to satisfy your desire to beat up people before the next Grand Theft Auto is released then this one may give you a taste, but for most it will just be salt water, it will only make you thirstier rather than feeling refreshed. So don't waste your money buying it. Give it a rental, play it for awhile, and move on to bigger and better things.