Don't listen to the critics; this is one of the most addictive games I have ever played!
Of course, there are glaring issues, especially related to the fact that, sometimes, when you rotate the camera, and a car is coming, it may just vanish, or a car may appear out of nowhere. Of course, this is only occasional, and not often. Also, one of the annoyances, not really a problem, but I find it annoying, is that some of the shops shut down whenever it is raining out, and you can only enter during the day, when it is sunny out. This gets frustrating if you have to go to a mission, and you want to teach Marcus Tai Kwon Do, or Karate. You'd have to wait a whole fifteen minutes or so, in order to get the martial art. And what if it is raining the next day? This becomes frustrating.
However, there are good points to the game. You can change Marcus' apparal, weaponry, haircut, martial arts, music player selection, and many other things. You can weild anything from a nightstick to a statue, from a pistol to a rocket launcher. Another feature I found useful, was the vehicle health meter at the bottom of the screen. Have you ever played Grand Theft Auto, and wondered how close your vehicle is to blowing up (if you are a terrible driver)? Well, True Crime: New York allows you to tell how close your vehicle is to destruction, giving you plenty of warning, so that you can ditch the one that you have and pick up another.
One of the handy abilities to being a cop instead of a criminal, is that you can flash your badge and gain authority. By flashing your badge, you can commandeer a vehicle, fend off the cops if they attack you for beating the crap out of some random guy, and some times gain the co-operation or fear of other civilians.
As far as the graphics are concerned, I suppose that Luxoflux could have put some more effort into developing them further, so that some of the crowded streets scenes were a bit less choppy. However, it isn't that bad as it is, and there are no real glaring problems with the visuals, except for a few occasional disc skips that may freeze your Playstation 2 while loading a cutscene. It's probably advisable to save every so often so that you don't lose your data.
The opening theme song could not have been better. Jay-Z, Cam'ron, and Juelz Santana made a spectacular song that really fits the game's image, and it's currently one of my favorite songs. Some of the other songs are just okay, with a few classic hits from bands like Blue Oyster Cult and Grateful Dead.
As far as the story is concerned, I suppose they could have chosen a better plot, as some players may not follow it that well, or lose interest. However, I didn't mind the plot, in fact I thought it made a lot of sense. The main character, Marcus, joins the police force, and remains a police officer to honor his fallen comrade. It's pretty much that simple, with the story following the plot line of Marcus trying to find the assailants, and seek vengeance for his fallen comrade.
Here's the Break Down:
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Storyline: 7 of 10
Interactivity (How much you can do to Marcus, and how many different fighting styles you have): 9 of 10
Character Development (Throughout the storyline and cutscenes): 7 out of 10
Gameplay (How to control Marcus outside of events): 10 out of 10
Audio: 9 out of 10
Graphics: 8 out of 10
Cutscene Graphics: 8.5 out of 10
Extra Content and Freedom of the player: 10 out of 10
Overall Score: 8.5 out of 10
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I would highly recommend True Crime: New York to all fans of the Grand Theft Auto series, as it's game style is very similar to that of Grand Theft Auto, only more expansive and open, any fans of the other True Crime games (I have never played the others myself), fans of shooters, and action adventures. I have heard opinions from five other people that I have either loaned, or let play the game, and all five of them thought it was a great game. Personally, I cannot wait until the next True Crime game comes out, and hopefully it will have PS3 level graphics, with an even vaster area!