Urban Chaos Preview

While the PC version of Urban Chaos was generally well received by critics, who praised its interesting take on the classic beat-'em-up formula, the game's PlayStation version fared much worse. Though the game's premise seemed to be better suited to a console release, the PlayStation's graphical limitations proved too great an obstacle for developer Mucky Foot to surmount. As a result, the Urban Chaos' PlayStation incarnation was riddled with graphical warts that worked to undermine the seamless fluidity that the game's experience depended on.

With the upcoming Dreamcast version of Urban Chaos, Mucky Foot hopes to not only produce a game boasting the PC version's graphical polish, but also to take advantage of the console platform's inherent strengths.

Urban Chaos' plot is centered on Union City, a town caught in the grip of millennial madness. Hordes of hooligans terrorize the streets, and they're not driven solely by material concerns - rumblings of the occult are in the air. As rookie cop D'arci Stern, your job is to confront the fearsome Wildcats gang, the group responsible for the brunt of Union City's woes.

Urban Chaos' action takes place on the streets of Union City, where Stern must take on a variety of missions, mostly involving the completion of a single goal. The missions are essentially nonlinear, however, and they allow for free roaming in the environments, which provides you with an opportunity to pursue new objectives. Urban Chaos features 30 missions in total, which, when compounded with the number of sidequests within each, amounts to a good deal of gameplay.

The missions are generally geared toward hand-to-hand combat, for which Urban Chaos features an exciting system: Once in range of an enemy (or enemies), a combat sequence ensues, which allows you to duke it out with your foe(s). Button combos are the order of the day, and D'arci is armed with moves that allow her to face any situation, from direct face-to-face assaults to creeping ambushes. During certain missions, D'arci will have access to vehicles, the hulls of which she can use to assault her enemies.

Mucky Foot is currently porting Urban Chaos to the Dreamcast. The game is slated to ship in October, so stay tuned to us for more info once it becomes available. For now, enjoy these shots from the DC version, and check out our reviews of the PC and PlayStation versions for more info.