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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.
i can't wait for this game to come out. hopefully it'll push rockstar to innovate even more in gta in order to compete!
I love the idea, but hate the city they chose to set the game in. Why couldn't they pick a better city for this type of a game. I'm thinking of something like NYC which has lots of famous buildings, parks, bridges, etc. L.A. has... well... suburbs, and lots of them.
501 Not Implemented
Is this our new genre to be mass-copy catted? First it was the FPS, then the RTS, then the MMO games... I guess we're all in for a steady stream of crime-game clones in the next few generations. ...
Oh well, I hope they do a good job. The largest benefit of these games is thier open ended nature. I like the ability to ditch a mission, jump in the nearest car, and drive the the other side of the city just for the hell of it. You really don't need the crime and violence to make these games entertaining. Hopefully someone can use the most appealing parts of these titles and apply it to something completely different (kind of like I'm expecting the Simpsons Hit and Run is supposed to be).
"...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."
You mean like GTA3?
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For me (and most everyone I know who played it to any extent) GTA and it's offspring stopped being fun long ago. The only true joy I can squeeze out of it now is dropping a Rhino tank out of the sky, and that gets repetitive quick.
Now, if there was a Sim City-line GTA-style game in which you create your city and then wreak havoc on a personal level, that might get my attention.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
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?
If I want 'cinematic flair' I'll go to the movies!
A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men... --Willy Wonka
Driver 3 (ps2 link, but it also comes out on XBOX, GC and PC), and T.H.U.G. (tony hawks underground, XBOX link, and its on everything but PC) Driver 3 will be a grittier, more realistic, more rigid GTA, with some of the nicest graphics ive ever seen; THUG will be tony hawk, just with some GTA features... I think they are trying to take a bite out of GTA's market share by adding some gimmicks. The city building feature, however, is pretty cool.
Newsie, Moderator, www.tauniverse.com
This sounds like what I wanted. Not just a great game, but a real city map.
I don't play GTA3 as much as before because I've forgotten the map. Getaway doesn't seem to have all the little streets that make London so interesting. I wish it were San Francisco, because I know that city better, but LA will be fun too. It'll make the hours I spend driving around LA more fun. It's a learning game.
Next, Dirty Harry's Streets of San Francisco.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
I wonder if it'll have freeways...
1. High Speed Freeway Chases!
2. re-enact movie scenes driving the wrong way on the 405!
It sounds like it should be a LOT of fun.
Nothing to see here; Move along.
I just wish we had a european version of these games, with real cars! It was great to play the gateway with cars that I knew and that can turn (not like in VC). Other than that the game was pretty boring.
Maybe these games could be adapted to your favourite town. You could have the London, Paris, Roma versions.
I'll do it for cheesy poofs.
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.
I love GTA3 and Vice City. Two games that set the bar excessively high for PS2 games in overall attributes.
But I bought The Getaway, and it just was badly done. They jacked up the difficulty (IMO) too high at the beginning. I haven't even passed mission 2. Found out on a newsgroup that you had to hold down three buttons simultaneously to shoot someone w/ autotargeting.
Also, driving around is a hassle. Not the problem of the rush-hour in London, but there's no map, and sometimes your turn signals make you go down the wrong way on a one-way street.
No freedom to do anything either, until you've completed the game. A shame, really.