Not better than GTA, but better than Streets of LA
Enter True Crime: New York City. A much darker city than La-La-Land and a much darker story. All of the aspects of Streets of LA have been polished, but are just a tiny bit lacking.
Graphics: 9/10
I don't care how hardcore a graphics junkie you are, this game will make you gasp out loud at the same things you would gasp at if you visited the real NYC. The city is sculpted beautifully, a real work of art. At night, the lights are all on and it really gives the illusion of the city that never sleeps. During the day it's just as beautiful, with realistic weather patterns. Famous locales such as Times Square, Central Park and Grand Central have been recreated with a scary level of quality and accuracy. Even the less well-known places are done perfectly: For instance, my dad works in the city. His office building has columns on the corners, has a small park across the street and is connected to the MetLife building by a small bridge that goes over the street at about the 15th floor. Believe it or not, I found it in this game and it is EXACTLY the way it looks in real life. Every detail in present in every building across the entire city. Many people make claims that the game lags terribly and that the framerate crashes constantly. Quite frankly I have never experienced any problems whatsoever, mine has run smooth as silk all the way through. This is a matter of your game system, not the game. People make claims that this game completely sucks, and their only argument is the framerate. Don't believe them. Test it out for yourself. I can't guarantee anything, but my PS2 is one of the oldest there are, and it never gave me problems.
Gameplay: 8/10
Here is where I'm docking some points. As I mentioned before, all the unpolished aspects of SoLA have been perfected, but there is no variety in this game at all. As a whole, the gameplay is executed flawlessly, but gives you no real reason to continue. You trace 4 different crime syndicates, but each major case goes the same way. Drive somewhere, shoot some guys, fight some guys, interrogate somebody, go to the where the previous guy told you to go, rinse and repeat. Boooooring.
However, you do have many side missions, including confidential informant missions, illegal fight clubs, racing circuits and the like that you can do for cash as well as just for something to do.
The driving: 8/10
The mission variety may be lacking,but the individual aspects are done quite well. The driving, for instance, is a major improvement over the last game. There, cars were horrendously floaty, you could accelerate a bus to its maximum speed just as fast as a sports car to its maximum speed, and it was absolutely a chore to drive, which the game had you do quite often. Here, it's done much, much better. All of the driving upgrades from the last game are here, but much easier to get. Cough up a couple thousand bucks and you have nitro boost, for instance, instead of going through an annoying "Do not hit anything and finish course in X minutes" scenario from Streets of LA.
In addition, motorcycles are incredible fun and have their own unique handling and physics.
The fighting: 7.5/10
Again, done very well. It's a bit less fun than the previous game, because you now only use the X and Square buttons to execute moves. Grapples are now free-bees. Enemies cannot repel your grapple anymore, and the moves you do to an enemy while holding them in a grapple are usually completely devastating. You can switch between different fighting styles on the fly, which works well, although I found the basic Brawling works perfectly in almost any situation. Again, the fighting moves are obtained much easier and require no action other than coughing up some dough.
Many melee weapons are present, and include countless things from the environment as well. Chair legs, garbage can lids, guitars, dead chickens and the blown-off limbs of people have all been used by me to kick some ass. And there are obviously many many more.
The shooting: 8/10
I am equally pleased and disappointed by the gunplay in this game versus Streets of LA. While it still flows very well, it's bit more boring and a lot less fun than it was in SoLA. You now have the option to free-aim as opposed to auto-targeting, but I always opted for the auto-target. Having 5 guys shooting at you with automatic weapons is not a great time for trying to move the over-responsive right analog stick to line up shots. In a nod to GTA, auto-targeting is now done by holding L1, which makes this game's gunplay just as exciting as GTA's, meaning very boring. The best thing is the now perfected precision target, which now does not zoom out after like 10 seconds and is made much easier with the ability to hold L1 while moving the stick, which slows the reticle down and makes precision aiming very precise, unlike in SoLA, where you were frantically moving back and forth trying to center over a certain part. Slo-mo dives now have no use, as it doesn't work half the time, and when it does you only jump like one foot off the ground and air time, even when it is slowed down via an upgrade, lasts perhaps one second. The best thing to do in any scenario is run around holding L1 and never releasing the trigger.
Guns are pretty varied and include pistols, shotguns, semi automatic and automatic weapons, RPGs, flamethrowers and some more specialized weapons like stun guns and beanbag shotguns. Interestingly enough, there are at least 10 specific types of each weapon. Its almost impossible to say how many guns there are. A few days ago I picked up a weapon some criminal had dropped to see that it was a wild-west black powder revolver.
Story: 6.5/10
Very cliche, and contains 1, yes, 1, plot twist. If you're looking for in-depth storylines, this is not where you go. Simple as that. The characters are pretty colorful and there is a lot of great voice acting, including Laurence Fishburne, Mickey Rourke and Traci Lords, but its all rather pointless when you have a story as boring as this. What this game lacks in story, it makes up for in gameplay and graphics. Easily.
Basically, you are a gangsta-turned-cop who is raised by your crime kingpin father and also by a detective in the NYPD. Years ago some people conspired to kill his father, but failed, leaving him in prison, and early on in the story your detective mentor, Terry, is killed. I guess Marcus is just pissed off that everybody tried to kill his fathers because he becomes hell-bent on opening a can of whup-ass on every crime group in NY. Missions are done in a more free-roam environment, and, fortunately, the ability to replay missions is indeed present.
Sound: 8/10
Very much improved over SoLA's 95% rap soundtrack, this includes a great mixture of rap, rock, metal, punk, dance/club, and some of the more obscure yet awesome music from such bands as Blue Oyster Cult. There is some huge variety in this game in terms of music, and at any time you can skip to the next song in a continuously changing random playlist, which is a great feature.
Replay Value: 7/10
Afterwards, its fun to just drive around and collect what you haven't collected. And, as before, random crimes are still a source of great fun.
Rent or Buy?
I would say buy, becasue the game is really cheap right now