The gangster
life has certainly been getting a lot attention from game designers this year
and with so many urban hip-hop flavored gang banging games already available
they’re becoming a dime a dozen. Most recently we have seen some bad gangster
games (like 187 Ride or Die and Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance) and a really good
one (The Warriors), so now Konami throws in their very own take with Crime Life:
Gang Wars. Trust me when I say that this war really isn’t worth fighting.
You play Tre, a
young gangster who has always wanted to run with the Outlawz (a gang run by a
man named Big Dog), and thanks to his cousin Darryl he gets the chance to join
by showing off his fighting skills against a huge thug named Furious. Winning
the fight, Tre is initiated into the gang and begins his quest to become a
respected gangster and help restore the Outlawz to their former glory. Of
course, this isn’t going to be an easy feat to accomplish since there are
various rival gangs including the powerful Headhunterz to deal with first.
We follow Tre’s
criminal career as he hits the streets to participate in a number of missions,
crime sprees and random rumbles with rival gang members dumb enough to walk into
Outlawz territory. You are free to explore your surroundings and even enter
certain shops, bars and even a neighborhood barbershop. Want to earn more
respect and money, there’s an unofficial fight championship run by a girl named
Conchita you can enter at any time. Do you want to show the neighborhood that
the Outlawz are kings? Well grab a spray can and paint the walls. If there’s not
enough money in your pocket, you can always walk into a store and shoplift or
beat the storeowner until he gives up the cash (shades of Rockstar’s The
Warriors, only not done right). In short, there is a lot for your thug to do in
Grand Central City.
The problem is
that this game’s main attraction just so happens to be the street fighting and
this is where the game really falls apart. For the most part the game begins
with a fight and gamers are quickly introduced to the moves as well as the
complex combos. The basic attacks such as spinning attacks and heavy punches can
be pulled off easily enough but the combos require a gamer to possess
double-jointed digits to pull off successfully. Tre can throw his opponent and
even perform some backbreaking brutal attacks and finishing moves that snap
limbs quite easily. The problem is that the targeting makes it hard to focus on
one specific fighter at a time and since the game often throws multiple
opponents you will often be punching one thug and kicking another foe tossed in
your direction. It gets worse when you have other Outlawz aiding you since the
enemies they fight can accidentally cross your line of sight. Almost
immediately, you will stop hitting the opponent you were going to defeat and
start dishing out painful blows to the enemy that was tossed your way.
You can also
grab weapons – the worst being melee weapons such as baseball bats, planks and
batons – and use them against the enemy. There are also guns but the targeting
problems will result in frustration. For most of the game, though, you’ll be
using your fists and if it wasn’t for the fatal brutal attacks you’ll be looking
at the same fighting moves repeatedly. At one point, you’ll earn enough respect
to issue orders to fellow gang members. The orders range from “Attack,” “Hold
back,” “Assist me,” “Regroup” and “Recovering.”
As I mentioned
above, there are shops, bars and other areas you can enter. If you want to
purchase weapons you can head into Mal’s shop while a trip to Fat D is necessary
if you want to replenish your health. You can head into a bar to brawl or just
get drunk. There are various stores and you can pop in, shoplift an item or go
in with a bat and threaten storeowners for a good old-fashioned burglary. Every
crime you commit, though, raises a crime meter that will have the police combing
the streets looking to arrest you. This would have been a nice diversion from
the game’s main mission but it quickly gets old fast.
Visually
speaking, Crime Life is not a good-looking game whatsoever. The character models
are just plain awful with very little in terms of animation and variety.
Oftentimes you’ll fight gang members that look alike, giving you the impression
that you are up against a clone army. The environments lack detail and better
textures than the washed out ones found here. Really, as for as Xbox games go,
this wins the Worst Graphic Ever award. Even the animated cutscenes are
unappealing.
If there’s one
good thing that can be said about this game it is that the game contains one of
the best hip-hop soundtracks heard in a game of similar genre. We are treated to
a rather enjoyable mix of American, British, German and French hip-hop that
sounds amazing. You’ll find tunes from DIZ, Phear, T Baby and Spax and they will
certainly make a fan out of any hip-hop fan. The game’s soundtrack more than
makes up for the horrible voice acting and weak dialogue. The sound effects are
only Ok.
Despite
borrowing elements from recent gang-related action games, Crime Life: Gang Wars
just ends up being a dull fighting game with very little to add to an already
overcrowded genre. The game adds a variety of things to do besides fighting but
even those concepts are not handled well enough to make this game fun. Sorry
Konami but this is a game actions fans will certainly not remember fondly.
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Gameplay: 3.0
With fighting
controls this atrocious, not many gamers will want to stick around for the
game’s uninteresting story nor care about the burglary and tagging side
missions. Crime Life uses some recognizable elements from recent gangster themed
games but just does not execute them well.
Graphics: 3.5
Aside from a
few bugs and the occasional twitchy framerate, the game features bland
environments and, worst still, awful character models. You won’t even tell some
gangs apart since they all seem to look alike. There are some decent finishing
moves but it’s really nothing to write home about.
Sound: 5.0
On the plus
side, Crime Life features a wonderful collection of hip-hop tunes from an
international list of artists that range from D12 to rhymes of Fratelli-B. These
tunes really deserve to be on a compilation CD than in this game. The voice
acting is awful and the dialogue really tries to hard to sound “street.”
Difficulty:
Medium
Using the same
repetitive moves and combos will surely finish off the bosses you’ll face so the
challenge here is surviving an attack from three or more gang members. The
game’s more challenging missions come near the end.
Concept: 3.0
There is not
much to go back to when you’re finished aside from some unlockable features not
worth the trouble unlocking in the first place. Grand Central City is a big
place with not too much to see but at least you can enter some places. There is
no multiplayer online or off but the game is Live Aware.
Overall: 3.5
Uninspiring
and lacking a style of its own, Crime Life: Gang Wars is a brawling game that
goes down for the count before the real fight begins. The game’s fighting
mechanics are not only stiff but they are also completely devoid of anything
that comes close to fun. Do yourself the favor and skip this one.
