If you can get past the glitches... this game is awesome!

User Rating: 8 | True Crime: New York City PS2
I played and reviewed True Crime: Streets of LA a few months ago, and although the game had a few shortcomings, I was generally very impressed and definitely excited to play its sequel. When I saw True Crime: New York City for a good price at my local game store, I immediately snatched it up, went home, and fired up my beloved PS2 for some good gaming sessions. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed - this is an immensely fun and downright massive open-world action game, and although the main story should only take you roughly ten hours, there's so many other things to do that you'll be playing the game long after the story is over. Whereas True Crime: Streets of LA didn't take advantage of its massive environment at all, True Crime: New York City provides the player with a huge world to explore and interact with. In this and many other ways, True Crime: New York City is a major step forward from its predecessor, but a few big flaws also drag it back a few steps.

As a matter of fact, when it comes to imperfections, True Crime: New York City has many more than its predecessor did. For one, this game is usually a glitchy mess, even in some of the main story missions. During one interrogation, pressing the X button (which provides you with a hit towards the person you're interrogating) was supposed to bash the guy's head against the door, but there was a glitch that made the guy take no damage every time I hit him. When I unsurprisingly failed the interrogation due to this game-breaking glitch, I had to replay the entire lengthy story mission over again. The glitches don't stop there, either - you'll get stuck in invisible walls, you'll get stuck in real walls, you'll get stuck on the ground, and you'll get stuck in purgatory between a door and the open city. Some people haven't experienced all of these glitches, but I found more bugs than I would've liked to in an otherwise excellent game.

True Crime: New York City has a few other flaws, too, most noticeably in the control aspect. Combat just never really felt natural to me, with or without guns, and although the gunplay works well enough, the fighting just feels really weak and uninspired. Mindless button-mashing is really what the fighting mechanics often equate to; it's forgivable, but I would've liked to see a few improvements in this area. I also found that the difficulty is almost unfairly steep during some of the fighting portions, and it will definitely take more time to get through those sections than it will to get through the others. The cars are also downright terrible - every single car drives like an uncontrollable tank, and simply driving down the street feels far too difficult. It's a shame the driving mechanics are so poor, because with some good driving controls, that could've added another awesome aspect to this game.

It may sound like I'm coming down really hard on True Crime: New York City, but that is not my intention - I'm just pointing out some flaws in an otherwise flawless game. The story is excellent, the graphics are impressive, and the game is just a lot of fun; and, provided that you can look over some of these flaws, it's very much worth playing. Apart from a few game-breaking glitches that I've encountered, any shortcomings in True Crime: New York City are forgivable simply because the game is so much fun. I'll easily recommend this one to fans of open-world action games, and although you'll be very lucky not to encounter any glitches, the overall experience is absolutely worth it.