Urban Chaos: Riot Response – XB – Review

Imagine leaving
for a tour of duty overseas as a US Marine only to receive letters from home
that read more like desperate pleas for your return. Your father, a seasoned
police officer, feels that your home city is falling apart thanks to a
nightmarish increase in gang activity. As the city ignites in a hell fire of
gang violence that cannot be stopped it is the Major that elects to create a
police task force with a zero tolerance order to eliminate this gang. The next
letter you receive is from an old friend who tells you that your father is dead,
burned alive by this gang and that you are more than welcomed to come home to
join the new T-Zero task force. This is the situation Nick Mason finds himself
in Urban Chaos: Riot Response for the Xbox.

You play Nick
Mason as a newly established member of the T-Zero task force that is granted the
power to do just about anything to bring down a gang of Molotov-tossing gang
members called the Burners. Armed with the latest arsenal including a riot
shield that can certainly take quite a pounding, Mason finds himself deep in an
urban war zone where the community has banded together to take back their city
from the crazed hoodlums. So Mason, aided by the brave men and women of the fire
department, decides to fight back in a series of missions that make up the
game’s single-player campaign.

The charm of
Riot Response is in its simplistic game style that does away with the usual
first-person shooter fare (no keycards, nifty PDA or electronic lock pick) as
well as the delightful tongue-in-cheek manner in which the story is presented.
Told through a live evening news program that uses live actors, it’s clear that
the story doesn’t take itself too seriously. Anyone who has seen the campy
“Starship Troopers” or “Robocop” will know what I mean. While the game is heavy
on the cheesy dialogue, it isn’t necessarily awful. In fact, the game’s story is
all the more fun because of it.

In the opening
level of the game’s campaign mode, Mason gets but a small taste of what to
expect in the streets of a chaotic city. It’s clear that T-Zero is a
shoot-first-and-forget-the-handcuffs type of task force although there are key
gang members that will earn you a medal for taking them alive and sometimes
excessive force can be seen as a no-no although you won’t be punished for
putting a bullet into a gang leader or for executing a bad guy you incapacitated
with your stun gun. Unlike SWAT for the Xbox, you won’t be ordering the Burners
to lay down their weapons and you will certainly not break out the handcuffs.

The first
mission also introduces allies such as firefighters and paramedics that you can
issue orders to during a mission. Firefighters can break through doors using
their axes and can put out fires while a paramedic is on hand to give you
medical aid as well as help injured citizens and injured officers. The order
list isn’t complex, allowing you to issue orders such as Hold and Follow as well
as carry out their specialty. There are also helpful citizens that will help you
out during certain situations. You will certainly need their help since the
Burners will not only outnumber you but will attack frequently. Thankfully you
have an arsenal of weapons that include an upgradeable handgun, shotgun, stun
gun as well as the ability to use the enemy’s meat cleavers and Molotov
cocktails against them. You will even get a riot shield (that is able to
withstand quite a beating as well as shield you from bullets) and a trusty
flashlight.

As far as the
missions are concerned, there is seldom a slow-paced mission in this game so you
will often encounter fierce gun fights as well as situations where a Burner will
take a hostage. One mission has you storming a prison to take down a Burner
lieutenant while another one has you attempting to rescue a VIP and take him to
a secure location where a helicopter can pick him up. There are also a variety
of mission objectives you must complete in order to earn medals good for
unlocking weapon upgrades. The problem, however, is that while the action is
intense there are just far too many scripted moments in this game. If you just
so happen to die during a mission you will still find that crazed Burner that
jumps down at you just like he did the first time you played the mission.

At least there’s
a decent multiplayer mode to look forward to when you’re done with the
single-player campaign. Multiplayer can be played using the Xbox System Link or,
better yet, playing online via Xbox Live. Either way up to eight players can
take on each other on in a cops-versus-gangs match-up complete with enough
weapons to use in the nine or so maps.

Here is the bad
news, though. Riot Response is not a very pretty game. The game actually looks
like an early PlayStation game with its poorly rendered backgrounds and blocky
character models that look far worse up close. There are moments when the game
does look good but those moments are ruined by some unrealistic character
movements. The good news is the visual effects are done pretty good and the news
report FMVs look crisp and clear. The game is also bloody but not to an
exaggerated amount. 

As for the
game’s sound, the voice acting is appropriately cheesy and not in a bad way but
in a Jerry Bruckheimer-meets-campy-early-“Robocop” way. In other words, it is
cornball but in the best possible way. Even the over-the-top announcer who tells
you that you unlocked a pistol upgrade is a hoot. The game’s music is also
overly dramatic but not bad at all and the news reports are handled beautifully.
There are even lots of loud explosions, even louder gunfire and some good
bone-crunching violence. If you don’t mind the frequent profanity that pours out
of the Burners’ mouths you will enjoy the game’s sounds.

In the end,
Urban Chaos: Riot Response may not be the prettiest first-person shooter you’ll
play on the Xbox but it is one of the most satisfyingly fun shooters that is
well worth playing. Never taking itself seriously, this is a
simple-to-play-yet-hard-to-put-down shooter with a number of extras to unlock
and enjoyable levels that allow you to show the bad guys the real meaning of
excessive force.

Gameplay: 8.0
The simplistic
design strays from the complex features of recent shooters and there is hardly
any backtracking in the various levels. The fun comes in making good use of your
arsenal while completing a number of objectives you need to complete to unlock
extras. There are enough interesting situations to make each level unique.

Graphics: 6.5
The graphics
will remind you of the original PlayStation with the blocky character models and
environmental details that lacks a natural shape.  In spite of this there are
moments when the visuals do look decent in places and the visual effects are not
bad at all. There are also satisfying close-ups of spectacular head shots.

Sound: 7.5
The acting is
tongue-in-cheek in that even when characters try to sound serious the dialogue
feels like you’re watching a made-for-cable action movie complete with some
really cheesy lines. Yet this is what makes the game such a treat, those corny
lines and the loud explosions are just over the top.

Difficulty:
Medium
The enemies
put up quite a fight and there are gang boss leaders that aren’t easy to take
down. While gunfights can become really deadly later in the game, the biggest
challenge comes from the occasional timed mission objectives.

Concept: 8.2
Riot Response
is packed with unlockable upgrades and items worth going back for and while the
game is relatively short the action-packed moments will keep you quite busy. The
good news is that there is an Xbox Live multiplayer mode that’s actually quite
entertaining.

Multiplayer:
8.0
Up to eight
players can play through nine System Link setups or online multiplayer that pits
cops against gangs. With enough weapons and creative maps, the action will keep
you playing this long after you have finished the single-player campaign mode.

Overall: 8.0
An
action-packed ride from start to finish, Urban Chaos: Riot Response might not be
another Halo but it certainly is a fun shooter hardcore fans of the genre will
surely enjoy. It definitely isn’t a pretty game but when it comes to the
shooting action Riot Response will not let you down. Complete with an equally
addictive online multiplayer mode, this is a game you will want to play on your
Xbox this summer.