Crime Life: Gang Wars

Slightly more fun than a weekend in the county lock-up.

aFew will argue that life on the streets is easy, but it's got plenty of drama to build a game around. Unfortunately, for every gem like The Warriors, there's a stinker like Crime Life.

Raging Baloney
As Tre, the newest non-descript member of the Outlawz, you're subjected to poorly voiced lip service about earning respect, but it's a smokescreen: there's no reputation system, no meaningful advancement, and the story could be mistaken for dull-witted satire. Crime Life is an isometric Grand Theft Auto with everything but the fist fights, petty theft, and occasional fast food meal mercilessly stripped out.

The city map and instant messaging system where objectives are hidden look like they're from an ancient computer game, not a modern console title, and the presentation's yuck factor doesn't end there. Freedom to roam and destructibility are welcome, but it seems you're doomed not just to poverty and crime, but laughably awkward animation amid a drab and lifeless ghettoscape, with no compelling reason to explore. There just isn't much to do in Grand Central City while you take in the uneven hip-hop soundtrack.

Throwing the Fight
One might forgive such a shallow, ugly world if the fighting were enjoyable. Quick and strong assaults are built into simple combos that grant access to rage attacks, and cool, if disjointed, execution moves finish your opponent for good. That's where the development of the fighting system stops, though, and because the basic punches do pitifully little damage, you're stuck constantly ramping up to and triggering the same special attacks ad nauseam.

The mind numbs along with your thumbs. Though the streets fill with indistinguishable enemies, clogging the frame rate, you'll never find the excitement you crave amid the mechanical melee, only a dull realization that you can't tell which thug is yours, and that you don't much care.

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