First look: State of Emergency

Rockstar Games has released the first details on State of Emergency for the Sony PlayStation 2. It is described as a mission-based urban riot game, where players must smash everything and beat up everyone in order to advance through the game. At times, in situations involving street brawls, players may have to participate in fights with up to 100 people at once. There will be four city-based environments in the game, with at least 20 missions apiece. These environments will be fully interactive, as players will have the ability to loot stores, bomb cars, and break just about everything in their surroundings. At their disposal will be a variety of weapons, including traditional weapons such as grenades, rockets, shotguns, machine guns, and flamethrowers and weapons available in the surroundings themselves including bricks, benches, trash cans, and dismembered body parts. There are two primary modes of play, the story-driven progressive mode and the freeplay mode, where players can wreak havoc at their own pace.

Considering the large cast of characters and the virtually unlimited gameplay possibilities, Rockstar promises that State of Emergency will use an advanced AI system that gives the characters uncanny intelligence and realism. Each of the characters reacts to the environment and game events. For example, helpless citizens may choose react to violence around them by cowering, simply running away, or running to the nearest police officer for help.

State of Emergency will be released for the Sony PlayStation 2 this fall.