As video games become more and more complex and realistic-looking, game developers are starting to look toward other mediums for inspiration. No longer is game creation as simple as inventing a character, creating a world, and plotting out a mess of sprites. With the increased power of today's consoles, game developers have to consider the best way to keep players immersed in a game's world--a process that touches everything from the gameplay to the graphics to the soundtrack. This sort of suspension-of-disbelief approach to design is something that moviemakers cope with every day, so it's really only natural for game developers to, at least, glance in that direction for a pointer or two. Activision and Luxoflux did more than simply take a glance with their latest game, True Crime: Streets of LA. The game itself is merely a vehicle for a premise and a plot that could have--and practically has been--done as a modern day action movie, full of clichés, catchphrases, and leap-of-faith twists and turns. Unfortunately, the game's strong production values aren't backed up by an equally compelling story or game, and the resulting composition has a very uneven feel to it.

With his smarmy and annoying chatter, Nick Kang is a pretty annoying protagonist.

OK, action movie aficionados, stop us if you've heard this one before. In True Crime, you take on the role of a Los Angeles police officer, suspended indefinitely for unspecified infractions that have you classified as a "loose cannon" that no one else on the force wants to work with. But when the triads and the local Russian gangs start working together, you--and your tough, reckless take on everyday police work--are the LAPD's only hope. After quickly offending your new female partner by calling her a secretary and asking her to get you coffee, you take to the streets and set about solving this crime "your way." Along the way, you'll uncover some deep conspiracies, attempt to rescue your kidnapped brother, and even find out the truth about what happened to the father you barely knew--who, of course, was also an LA police officer who happened to vanish while investigating a particularly tough case. By the end, you'll have caused several things to explode, engaged in high-speed car chases, and shot holes in or broken the necks of just about every hardened criminal in the City of Angels. The story writers have managed to create a fairly genuine, albeit somewhat generic, take on the B-rate action movie plot.

In this action movie script, you'll play the role of Nick Kang, a recently reinstated cop. Unfortunately, the story's first problem surfaces almost immediately: Nick is almost completely unlikable. His alienation of his partner doesn't come across with the same happy-go-lucky-go-crazy nature of, say, Lethal Weapon's Martin Riggs. Instead, Kang just comes across as an unnecessarily cocky jerk from start to finish. His dialogue is stale, cheesy, smarmily delivered, and, in many cases, ripped from other movies. The way the character leans on catchphrases that aren't his (expect to hear him say such lines as, "See this? This... is my boomstick!" or "'Tis but a flesh wound!") takes you out of True Crime's world and is, in a nutshell, really dumb. That said, Kang's own one-liners aren't really any better at keeping things moving, and, overall, the main character is one of the game's problems.

While on the surface, True Crime appears to be touching the same territory as Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto games, Luxoflux's game really has a lot more in common with Sony's story-driven genre-crosser The Getaway. All three games give you wide open spaces to drive around in. In fact, True Crime models 240 square miles of the Los Angeles area with a pretty high level of accuracy--except for the traffic, which is practically non-existent. However, like The Getaway, True Crime doesn't really lend itself well to aimless driving unless you're interested in seeing if your own personal Los Angeles landmarks have been included in the game. The game always gives you a place to go, but the story unfolds in a branching, yet ultimately linear, fashion. You'll receive one of three endings upon completing the game's final chapter, and, if you're really crafty, you can even unlock Snoop Dogg as a playable character.

The different endings depend on how well you perform and what sort of cop you've been. A counter swings back and forth to keep track of your good cop/bad cop rating. Completing missions and properly solving the random crimes that pop up when you're driving from place to place makes you a good cop. Running down pedestrians and killing everyone you come in to contact with makes you a bad cop. The random crime feature is a cool addition, but you'll start to see the same crimes (street fights, illegal racing, domestic disputes, and so on) over and over again. Also, the game's sense of justice is (commentary on the LAPD's occasionally controversial tactics aside) pretty insane. You can break up street fights with your pistol, but as long as you're only shooting people in the leg, you're still a good cop. In fact, you can even solve a lot of these crimes by simply driving up and running the perpetrators over. If you hit them too hard, you'll kill them, which makes you a bad cop. Hit them a little softer, and they'll just be knocked unconscious, which makes you a good cop. To be fair, you're given a lot of different options, such as firing warning shots in the air and flashing your badge, but a little bump from the front end of your car is really all the persuasion most small-time crooks need to let you arrest them. There's just something a little weird about stopping drunk drivers by shooting their cars until they either stop moving or they explode--that's all.

It makes decent attempts with its different styles of gameplay, but none of them are particularly well done.

The random crimes are, in the grand scheme of things, pretty insignificant. The game is really about moving from mission to mission and from chapter to chapter as you uncover drug running, money laundering, other sorts of organized crime, and, well, zombies. Wait. What? Yes, you read that correctly. One of the game's chapters inexplicably pits you against the undead and other mystical creatures, and then you're back on the streets, doing cop work and tailing dirty cops. While there's something to be said for the game's random jaunt into such weird territory, it only serves to make the plot feel that much more disjointed and thrown together.

The gameplay is broken down into three types. Driving is how you'll get from place to place, and you'll encounter missions where you must escape pursuers, reach a specific location before a timer expires, or tail a suspect without getting too close and blowing your cover. Though you can commandeer any car that comes your way, most of them don't corner very well, and, overall, the driving feels a bit stiff. Over time you'll earn upgrades to your driving skills, which lets you execute burnouts and lets you skid to a stop. Additionally, you'll also earn new and improved vehicles.