From start to finish, Urban Chaos is a non-stop thrill ride of gunfire and shield-bashing that blows you away.
The riot shield is the biggest and most bold part of the gameplay design. The riot shield is an invincible shield that protects the player from frontal assaults. This includes pistol shots, sustained fire from assault rifles, nail bombs thrown at your feet and more. However, as great as this shield is, it is not the perfect defense. Attacks coming in from oblique angles, such as when they are flanking you face no defenses when they open fire. The shield defends the front of the player, and nothing else. This definitely adds more strategic elements, as the shield doesn't allow charging into an area and mowing down enemies without fear of reprisal. Additionally, the shield is made from a form of a translucent polymer which makes it easy to advance with the shield in front of the player. This works well until under attack; the shield reacts realistically to weapons fire and blood. The more bullets that are deflected with the shield makes it more and more difficult to see through the pockmarks that appear in the polymer. If enemies with knives and chainsaws or even guns get too close to the player, they can be on the receiving end of a shield bash, but the blood that is transferred onto the shield makes sight more difficult as well.
The controls are tight and responsive. The onscreen avatar moves the way commanded, and the camera, as a first-person, never gives any problems. Control-wise, one of the most difficult things to get used to is the fact that there is no jump function. The player remains firmly on the ground for the duration of the game. Once I came to grips with this decision, I found that I rather enjoyed it. There were no jumping from point to point portions or any other occurrences that will sometimes find their ways into shooters. Turning and moving around feel as they should.
Another feature of the game that great adds to the overall experience are the medals that are awarded at the conclusion of each mission. There are four medals that can be awarded: Non-Lethal Enforcer, Sharpshooter, Survivor and Detective. The first, Non-Lethal Enforcer ties somewhat to the story of the game. As a member of a counter-gang task force, the player is basically a military-trained police officer, and, as such, the public is mistrusting. Using the stun gun or riot grenades, enemies can be taken alive. Each gang member that is incapacitated will be counted toward the level's totals, and if there were enough of the enemies take alive, the medal is awarded. The Sharpshooter medal is granted for placing a certain number of headshots during a mission. This is actually somewhat more difficult that it sounds. As far as I can tell, there is no "cone of death", as many PC players constantly phase it. Where ever the gun is aimed, the bullet will impact. If the gun is aimed a hair below the head, it will hit the gang member in the chest or the neck, not the head. The Survivor medal is awarded on completing the level with the use of any of the checkpoints. There are relatively few checkpoints in the missions, even though they are of decent length. Reseting to a checkpoint, or dying and restarting from one will both disqualify the player for receiving the medal on that playthrough. Lastly, the Detective medal is awarded for finding gang masks in each level. In every level other than emergency situations, there are five gang masks hidden in varying degrees of cover.
In three out of the four difficulties, these medals can be gained. Thankfully, achieving each medal in one playthrough of a mission is not required. As stated above, there are four difficulties: Rookie, Veteran, Elite and Terror. Playing on Rookie awards no medals, and Terror isn't playable until the all levels are played. There are eleven main missions to play, and each one is of a decent length. They include varying locales, even within a single level. One level starts out in a burned out alley, and the player progresses from building to building, garage to garage, before making it into a burned out residence and rescuing a camera crew. Another begins in a dockyard which leads to a firebombed factory, which leads to a loading yard. Within the first ten levels, there are gang leaders that should be taken alive. Capturing these gang leaders unlocks intel in the form of extra levels called Emergency Situations. These are timed levels that require moving quickly to eliminate resistance and rescuing a captured V.I.P. There are six of these levels in total.
Between the eleven Story Missions and the six Emergency Situations, there are a total of seventeen levels. There are four medals to be gained per level per difficulty. Four medals multiplied by three difficulties means that there are twelve medals to be gained per level, and if medals are gained on a higher difficulty, they are also gained on the lower. Twelve medals per level multiplied by seventeen levels results in a grand total of two hundred four medals. And now, the point of the medals: unlocking equipment. Early gains are simple, such as improved damage from the pistol, an upgraded shield, improved stun gun and so forth. As the player starts to gain a larger number of the medals, even better rewards are gained. Finishing the Emergency Situations yields the shotgun and assault rifle, which are then subsequently given improvements through the medals. Riot grenades, smoke grenades, extra clips, even great improvements to damage and accuracy, et cetera. Collecting all of the medals and obtaining all of the upgrades became quite addictive for me, and it is possible to look at the overall list of improvements is possible. They are given out in a predetermined order, but the order works well to ensure an even difficulty curve. Later missions become more and more difficult, requiring better strategies and better equipment.
I found that I really enjoyed using the assault rifle for many of the levels, but upgraded pistol packs quite a whallop. Enemies do not have access to the same weapons as the player uses, and thus, there are no ammo pick-ups for the weapons the player carries from the armory. Extra clips via medals are very helpful. The enemies carry their own weapons, which start out minor. Cleavers and sawn-off shotguns quickly turn to chainsaws and compact assault rifles, supplied by a financier. Eventually, there are enemies who carry their own riot shields and who carry Magnum revolvers. On the Veteran and Elite difficulties, the levels are somewhat tough, but when playing on Terror, tactics and caution are much more appropriate.
The graphics in the game are good. They aren't mind-blowing, but they work well. The environments are well detailed and textured. The lighting is done well, and the general layout of all of the levels is done well. Sometimes, the enemy character design appears a bit chunkier than it should, but by and large, the enemies are modeled well, and they wear different attires depending upon their rank in the organization. Basic enemies aren't outfitted well. Later gang member wear body armor to go with their compact assault rifles, and the grenadiers wear yellow stripes.
Friendly characters and their AI are implemented well also. Medics, firemen and police officers are all present to aid their assistance when needed. Medics are the only source for healing in the missions, and they hand the player vials to inject, which restore health. They only carry three, so it's not a free license to spray and pray. Police officers will oftentimes follow to provide some backup and take out some of the enemies while you focus on others. By far, the characters that accompany the player the most are the firemen. They are helpful for knocking down barricades, putting out fires that block the path, lifting overhead garage doors and carrying people injured from burning buildings. In the course of many levels, the job the player is to lead a fireman to someone trapped in the building and escort him to and from the person, defending him from any and all gang attacks. One of the cool graphical touches are the reflective strips on the coats of the firemen, which light up great in dark areas.
The sound, an important element in most games, is done well. The gunfire and sound of bullets thwacking into the shield sound great. Elemental sounds, such as water in the sewers or the crackling of the fire are also realistic. The soundtrack is great, and I kind of wish I could find it in stores...
Something very interesting with the game is the story that it tells. Each Story Mission is predicated by a news anchor presenting a news piece. These cutscenes are live action, and they look great. They add a sense of far-reaching consequences to what is happening, and tracking the results of my efforts was a good feeling. Seeing the public attitude changing from against the counter-gang unit T-Zero (Zero Tolerance) go from zero support to nearly complete adulation with my efforts made me feel as though I was actively contributing to the situation in the game.
Another gameplay touch which I enjoyed were the hostage situations. At scripted points in the game, a gang member would grab a police officer or a civilian and hold a gun to the person's head. If the player gets too close, or shoots at the wrong time, the hostage is killed. What then happens is the player waits behind the shield until the enemy empties his clip and pauses to reload. This then opens a brief window where the player drops the shield and lines up with the briefly vulnerable enemy. Precise shooting is required, or the hostage can be shot. All of the situations, when successfully resolved, end with a graphically rewarding death of the gang member.
As I'm sure has been obvious, I thoroughly enjoyed Urban Chaos: Riot Response. It's one of the few games that actually motivated me to go back through the game and complete all of the difficulty levels. And attain all of the rewards. Despite a few shortcomings, this game is one that I will always look upon fondly and will likely play another time.