A good game, almost great when you realize what it tries to deliver! This is by no means a poor game. No gta-clone!
THE BAD: glitches, a lil rough around a few edges, controls, frame rate
OK here's the deal. If you try to play this game like a GTA-game, you'll be dissapointed. Sure there's the open ended city to explore but hey..is Godfather a GTA-clone? The glithces are there but they don't appear as often as you'd expect reading the reviews around here. Just save and you'll be fine.
If you must compare this to GTA: graphics are way better, there's a certain depth here because you are the good guy but still can slip on the bad side.
The whole good cop / bad cop thing is fascinating in itself. This feels like a new game rather than a sequel to LA, which is great. There's that much difference.
I felt like sucked into the story right from the introduction. Sure the characers are cliched but u gotta remember this is just a video game, not a movie andd there still aren't many games with this set up.
This game has it all: action, story, the character has his own life (much more so compared to LA). The story includes everyghing from italian mobsters, political figures, gang members, chinese mob, japanese ninja-like chicks, corrupt business men, you name it. Of course the vehicle "borrowing", small city crime patrolling make their return. New york is much harder to navigate thru than LA but u can take cabs aswell. The graphics have evolved significantly since LA. The framerate is choppy when you're outside but if you're man enough you can take it. The city is dark but don't be put off by it. It's just a way to tell you gotta clean the city. Once you do, the city gets brighter bit by bit.
There's one trait that stands out above all in this game and that's detail. It's everywhere from visuals to gameplay. It would take a couple of pages to explain all of it. You need to check it out your self. The tutorials in the beginning give a pretty good idea. If you grasp all of it then you're in for a treat. If you just run thru the game you'll in for a mediocre experience. Details in game play come with a price though. It takes a while to learn the buttons.
So there's your usual linear story and linear missions that are mostly shooting action, driving and stealth missions, major cases to go through but in between you can solve city crime, clean different parts of the city. On top of that you have side missions that really feel worth playing thru. Not so much cos of the money but because of the fun. E.g. you can visit your old man in city jail and do some dirty work for him or help your ever so amusing Indian cab driver friend with his perils (such as the Indian ambassador's sick harem of wives, lol).
The soundtrack is cool and tracks play when driving vehicles. There's a load of stores to buy music and clothing. The music ranges from metal to hip hop and trance. I give special credit to the hip hop selection. Alot of great classics. None of the MTV sh*t of today is there but instead true school classics like Tribe Called Quest, Big Daddy Kane... even more oldskool.. I could go on..
You need to take a look at this yourself. Don't be put of by bad reviews. You might actually end up liking it! I did.