True Crime™: Streets of L.A.™, the Luxoflux-developed Activision title that looks set to knock the much-admired-but-aging GTA franchise from the open-ended console gaming throne, is fast approaching release, and the game keeps looking better and better. I recently had a chance to sit down and explore the city of Los Angeles in more detailand put together the following handy strategies for getting the most out of True Crime: Streets of L.A. on your own first play-through.
Wait—a carjacking? In L.A.?
Take the Scenic Route To make the most of True Crime, you’re going to need to know the fastest routes everywhere. Your GPS tracking system and automap are seriously helpful to non-Angelenos in this regard, but once you start marking out landmarks and get familiar with it all, you’ll rely on the technology less and less. On your first time through, take your time exploring the city—that biker gang will probably wait for you. If you want to game the system, restart once you’ve familiarized yourself with the environs.
Take It Easy on the Car Yeah, you can take—sorry, commandeer—almost any vehicle in the game, but Nick Kang’s own wheels are too sweet to give up lightly. Go ahead and reload your game if you take a pounding your first time out.
Keep Your Ears Open Your police radio has got around a hundred random missions and at least as many story missions waiting for you. Once you get to know the city, you can take these more quickly and efficiently. But don’t kill yourself taking down every jaywalker and hooker, unless you’re immune to good game play, you’re going to be playing through this game more than once—and no two games will ever be the same.
“Nick, CYZPDQ, buddy.”
Your Kung Fu Is Weak Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade—and I wrote that three times because you’ve got three types of game play to work on and improve. First, your shooting skills. Firing ranges are surprisingly common in L.A. (or maybe not so surprisingly), and Nick will become a better marksman with practice. Which is fun anyway, really. Nick’s brother also runs a chain of martial arts schools, as it happens, and that’s where you’ll go to learn new combat techniques. And the auto shop will improve your wheels, ensuring less collateral damage and more speed, of course. All are important to upgrade, but for my money the martial arts skills are the most useful. Or maybe it just looks the coolest.
There’s “Rogue Cop,” Then There’s “Maniac Cop” Nick Kang is a one-man PATRIOT Act, busting heads and taking names with little or no concern for civil liberties, due process, and other obstacles to justice. But even Nick Kang’s bosses at the Elite Operations Division might decide you’ve become a liability if you go too blatantly homicidal. Worse, you’ve got a much greater chance of missing out on side missions by eliminating the wrong dirtbag—sometimes these guys have got leads and tips for you down the line. Try to keep the more aggressively therapeutic beat-downs, vehicular homicides, and unjustified shootings to real crooks and you should be fine. Not that taking on the entire LAPD isn’t a fun challenge….
Keep Your Finger on the Trigger The right trigger, that is. Your firearm is more than just a means to blast perps and ask questions sometime in the near future if at all. If you’re on foot, it’s also probably the easiest way to nab just the right vehicle—just walk into traffic and pull the trigger, and watch Nick fire a few rounds into the air to stop your new ride in its tracks. It’ll also scatter civilians and lessen your chances of winding up in a hostage crisis.
Don’t call it bullet time—it’s precision aiming. And they’re not comic books, they’re graphic novels. Jeez.
“Precision Aiming” Is Luxoflux-ese for “Bullet Time” Like Max Payne,Dead to Rights, and something the kids are talking about called “The May Tricks.” True Crime: Streets of L.A. lets you slow down the passage of time. This naturally lets you dodge shots, and more importantly, take enemies out before they can get the jump on you. But True Crime’s version bears the somewhat more realistic name “Precision Aiming,” which you have to admire. It ain’t magic—he’s just a dead-eye shot.
Don’t Move Along, There’s Plenty to See Here You car radio isn’t the only source of missions for Nick Kang. Try getting out of the car (Nuts, I swore I wasn’t going to say that. Hope it’s not copyrighted) and talking a brisk walk. The streets of Los Angeles are rife with true crimes.
