25 To Life
One life to waste.
Published: February 19, 2006
Most of the time, this isn't a problem, since the AI tends to just shrug it off as one of those weird freak bullets that go whizzing through the ghetto and huge palatial estates. Of course, when they do spot you, they transmit this data telepathically to their friends, and all of them can see through walls, essentially eliminating you're ability to use the slow-moving lean buttons to peek around corners. You can imagine how much fun it is to try to take on enemies with submachine guns, automatic rifles, and a rocket launcher that are ready to fire at you the second a bit of your body comes into view.
The mindless dashing and hammering on the R1 button is more or less duplicated online, though there are far more modes. Modes that we covered a while back in our online preview, and since little has changed since then, you should definitely give it a look, as it's probably the only redeeming part of the game, and even then it's not because of the gameplay, but the impressive number of match types and rules you can set.
The level designs are almost always boxy corridor runs with an overabundance of doors that simply won't open. It's understandable when you're in a banking complex, but when you're in your own effing house it just makes no sense. Texture detail is fair -- particularly on the main characters, though the rest of the game would seems smeared with a generally low-res look and many enemies are simply recycled models -- some of which will move at the same time with the same animations. The rest of the animations feel stiff, and the interaction with the environment is limited to blowing up the occasional car or vaulting a fence. Everything else is static, giving things a lifeless feel.
Even weapons fire feels limp. The sound effects -- particularly the shotguns -- can feel fairly beefy, but running up to an enemy an bucking them in the chest at point blank range will often give you the same death animations as hitting them from afar. There's no feeling of weight to the weapons. The rest of the sound effects are filled with quips from enemies that died a few seconds ago (as in had their faces blown to chunks), the occasional "damn, it's locked" comment, and that's about it.
The single best thing about the game is the soundtrack, and that will largely depend on your love of rap. If that is your thing, you'll find plenty here to enjoy from Tupac to Ghetto Boys to Gangstarr to Public Enemy, with plenty of more current artists like DMX and Xzibit thrown in. All the songs sound great, are laced with almost as many expletives as the game itself, and give the whole game an angry vibe.
Not that it needs it. All the frustration at painfully small targeting, enemies that are crack shots with a shotgun at 100 yards away, useless human shields and level designs that never seem to break out of corridor-itis will be plenty. This is, quite simply, a bad game, and an entirely unnecessary one. When games like State of Emergency 2 make you look bad, perhaps it's time as a publisher to just shelve the project. It's obvious Avalanche didn't give a crap about it once the sweet, sweet Disney cash started rolling in.
