More combat would be nice, though. The mission arc is quite short; a dedicated player will knock it out in a weekend, even with the branching options, since you can easily access a menu to replay failed missions or try out alternates. As damning as it would seem, the Fuhrman meter only comes into play in a few places, where your good/bad standing will affect the branching of the story. That being the case, build up a high good cop score so that when the going gets rough you can use some dirty tricks and still hit the story fork looking like an angel. Just like the real thing, eh?

Protect And Serve

Visually, True Crime is a solid operation with one major flaw. The rendering of L.A. is superb -- simply put, there's not a better real-world model in gaming. If you know the city at all, simply cruising is a lot of fun; I was able to hit that lousy hotel that overcharged me last E3. The PS2 even manages to hold it's own against the other consoles, though there's a bit of jaggedness here and there. Character and car models aren't as nice as the exteriors, but they do the job. The problem is with the camera, which has some real problems in tight quarters. There are also occasional clipping issues between characters, but the camera is the sticking point.

Run and gun through downtown L.A.
The soundtrack doesn't disappoint, though. Plenty of West Coast hip-hop is booming, aided by a few rock tracks. It's all good stuff, setting a low-key but dangerous tone. Similarly, the voice acting is high-caliber, with Christopher Walken as point man -- Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Madsen, and Gary Oldman were also in the recording booth. The one weak link is Nick Kang himself. Russell Wong really struggles with a lame script that's at odds with the otherwise serious tone. Too many crappy lines make Nick tough to like, and that hurts.

The problems can't tear down the fact that True Crime really does create its own identity, with a tough, unforgiving combat model that creates as solid a police sim as GTA did for gangsters. Too bad it's so short, but there's plenty to do in the city of L.A. once the story is over. This is the first game that treats the GTA model as inspiration rather than a quick ticket to the bank, and it's enough to make you take a whole new perspective on the LAPD. Well, almost.