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True Crime - Streets Of L.A. Ratchets Up The Vice
Thanks to C+VG for their interview with the producer of Activision's True Crime: Streets of L.A., the Luxoflux-developed, rather Grand Theft Auto-esque game that's due out for multiple consoles this November. The game is pitched as "...an extension of the genre... We have the cinematic flair of The Getaway with the freedom to explore like in GTA." The idea of an open-ended experience is also pushed: "...as you get into the game, you don't have to repeat a mission you get stuck on, you can carry on playing through the game, which gives you more of an ability to play through - you can always go back and try that mission again later." There's another recent preview over at UGO.com for the game, which vies with The Simpsons: Hit And Run as the only GTA-styled games out this Christmas.
LA is a good city for this.
It has crime-
It has streets you can actually drive on-
It has famous buildings, parks, etc.
What about Hollywood? What about Griffith Park? (You might not know the name, but you know the park) Interesting stuff like the La Brea tarpits- imagine sinking your enemies car into that- loaded with a trunk full of thugs.
LA city hall is far more recognizable than NY's (you've seen it on TV a million times.) And what about General Hospital? Yes, it is a real place- once again, very recognizable.
This game is about a cop, who uses violence to get the job done. You don't think that the LAPD has a reputation for this?
LA has a Chinatown/Little Tokyo (always important for crime syndicates!) as well as just about every other ethnic group having a stronghold. Seen the LA riots? (that was a popular show on TV a few years ago) You do NOT mess with Korean shop-owners.
The game could have a lot of missions in East LA, Compton, Inglewood, etc. You might remembers stories where people get shot for just driving down the wrong street (avenida de asesinos I believe).
LA is not all suburbs- in fact, by definition, the suburbs are not part of the city. Yes of course there is sprawl, but if you are looking for recognizable landmarks, LA is full of them. True, the MTV studios are not here, and being able to blast Carson Daly with a shotgun would be great- but the Church of Scientology HQ's would be a nice place to go on a rampage.
No reason to lie.
Seeing as how GTA is the only game I still play every day 9 months after it came out- I am all for the imitators. Bring them on. thank god that levels and linear design are dying off.
Granted, I would hate to see the genius of GTA overlooked for it's violent content. Its breakthroughs have less to do with content and more to do with structure.
Copying the underlying game design of GTA isn't lack of originality- it is embracing a radical new way of presenting a game to a gamer. No more 'on rails' gameplay.
Tony Hawk 4 (and the forthcoming Underground) and the next Spiderman game show that you can 'immitate' GTA w/o having to make a game about killing old ladies. These games aren't guilty of lacking originality- they are taking the 'free-roaming' ball and running with it.
That all being said, True Crime DOES look like a GTA knockoff. Okay, you play a cop instead of a gangster, but it is still pretty much GTA. Luxoflux, however, would be at the top if my list for devs I would like to see rip-off GTA. Vigilante-8 was a ripoff of Twisted Metal- a ripoff that blew the original out of the water.
Actually, Vigilante 8 was a sequel to Interstate 76 of sorts, most of the same dev team and defiantely the same style even if the gameplay was a lot more arcady than the original.
No arguments, GTA is a great game, but that doesn't mean that every game should include its core design. You also have to keep in mind, that most of the imitations will be crap rather than improving descendents. Look at the fighting game boom of the 90's. After Street Fighter every other game released on a home system or the arcade was a fighting game, and most of them were utter shit. GTA is a great game because it put a new spin on existing game structure, and spawned a unique expereince, not because it coppied an existing game, suppose they had made it like Halo because Halo was big at the time?
Point is, even the rip-offs can be great- or better. GTA somewhat ripped off Driver 2 but it is a far better game. We aren't talking about 'every' game being a GTA clone anyway. As the main post states, True Crime and the Simpsons game are the ONLY free-roam driving games this holiday season. How many FPS games are there? How many RPGs?
We are not yet at the point where 'every' game is a GTA clone. So far they are less than a handful. And roughly a third of those aren't even 'crime' games. They incoprorate the free roaming aspect into a new setting.
And whatever Vigilante 8 is a sequal to... it really is a Twisted Metal clone. A superior clone on all counts.