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Coming Soon > What's New > Reviews > Staff Review | |
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| Setting
the Scene: Imagine going back to the original Tomb Raider third person adventure game and then roughing the graphics up a little. Add a touch of Grand Theft Auto's brilliant street-wise humor. Make the control system as poor as Carmageddon. Include a few refreshing new ideas and... WHAM! You get Urban Chaos. Rough and ready to go! Leaving so soon? Why not stick around! You may miss something special. So what's it all about then...? Urban Chaos covers many genres. It's a beat-em-up, shoot-em-up, platform, action, adventure that takes place in a complete 3D scalable, rotatable city. You are thrown into the heart of a modern urban jungle at the turn of the millennium. To succeed you'll need a lethal combination of stealth, physical agility and martial arts skills as you interact with the city around you. The player is offered complete freedom to explore every area of the city, gathering information from civilians as you walk the toughest beat of Union City. Climb up to the rooftops, make your arrest and then slide back down to ground. Question, search and arrest a suspect... or just beat the snot out of them. You can ride on the subway, steal a motorbike, drive a car, and even use a hand-glider. The future is completely in your hands as you are drawn into an underlying plot featuring a mysterious cult, who are intent on evil at this unpredictable and potentially menacing millennium period. The story goes that Nostradamus' prediction for Armageddon is fast becoming reality and the planet is now in turmoil.... "In the year 1999 and seven months the great king of terror will come from the sky. He will bring to life the great king of the Mongols. Before and after, war will reign" Since the beginning of time, good has always fought evil. Up till now, good has won. But as the new millennium dawns, it seems that the tide may be turning. The thought is on everyone's lips: maybe, just maybe Nostradamus was right. The game is set in 1999, just at the turn of the millennium. Turmoil, war, and famine rule. In the major cities of the world, chaos is rampant. Crooks, thieves, terrorists and violent cults lurk around every corner. It is up to you to enter into the tattered remains of this city and try to bring order. You can enter the world as one of two characters. D'arci is a cop trying to prove her mettle. Roper is a vigilante dedicated to thwarting the efforts of a religious cult. Either one could be the hero this city is waiting for. But time is running out. Only by exploring the gritty city streets of America and beating the forces of chaos at their own game can you bring hope to a world at the edge of the new millennium. Sound and Vision: I was racking my brains thinking of another game that could be compared to Urban Chaos visually. It's certainly not as smooth as Tomb Raider, but not as rough around the edges as ODT. Neither is it as 'top down' as Re-Loaded or Syndicate Wars (comparisons will be made). Maybe Nightmare Creatures would be a fair likeness. Regardless, this game opens up with a real action thriller of an intro movie, which sets the scene superbly. Mainly viewed from the third person perspective the player separately controls a few different personalities. The games main character is Officer Stern D'arci. She's loyal and ambitious but has a tendency to be over enthusiastic in her duties. She's also a brilliant athlete. During the game you also get your hands on Mako, a real bad guy who shoots kneecaps for fun, and the rough, tough ex-military informant Roper McIntyre. With a list of convictions as long as the arm of the law Roper is an extremely dangerous character and should only be approached mob handed. Enemies have almost been color coded to determine their strength. Should the gangs jacket color be gray then they should be fairly easy to take down. Green jackets are medium strength proving better shots with weapons. Watch out for the red jackets, as these guys are deadly in unarmed combat and lethal with any weapon. The easiest way to spot an enemy is to check the onscreen radar. A flashing dot moving towards the center of the transparent circle gives an indication of the direction of attack. Once involved in combat (which can be single or multiple attack) you can dive straight into the mêlée using hand to hand combat, or pause the game and choose a weapon. Each blow to the enemies' body provides a groan of pain accompanied by a spurt of blood. When the enemies health bar reaches zero they lie dead in a pool of blood. All that's left to do now is search their bodies and confiscate any weapons or power-ups found. The scenery is made up entirely from polygons, with many obstacles being moveable or destructible. While the animation and coloring are impressive there is a noticeable amount of pop-up. The re-draw distance is extremely short and often you can see the outlines of stationary enemies waiting ahead for you to cross that certain point which will trigger them into action. Regardless, the city is alive with action. Cars drive up and down the roads, pedestrians amble along the sidewalk, prostitutes are getting 'seen to' in the back alleys (interrupt them and the 'customer' runs off fumbling with his trousers, while the hooker goes crazy with the cop for "not letting a gal make a decent living"), touch someone's private property (such as their precious car) and they run outdoors screaming abuse. Meanwhile gangs group together on corners and roam around the back streets getting up to no good. The sound effects are excellent. The character speech acting is as over the top as the old Starsky and Hutch series. Mako sounds like Chef out of South Park... Isaac Hayes eat your heart out. All the while police sirens and gun shots can be heard in the background. I didn't really notice the music for the first few hours play, but eventually a few quality tunes force you to prick up your ears. This is not surprising when the soundtrack has been provided by Way Out West, the 3 Jays, Audioactive & Asian, Dub Foundation, Tour De Force, Photek and Infidels. Click HERE To read more of this Review... |