Like the Original GTA's! (kind of but good enough)

*Please note that when I say "map" I mean when you open the larger map. Not the small bottom-left one*

If you've played the original GTA's (the third-person perspective ones) and couldn't stop loving them, then this game is kind of for you. While I haven't played the first Crimelife, this game has a lot to be desired. On the contrary though, it has quite a handful of things to offer in terms of what a beta should. In short words, this game displays the potential it has for being as fun as the GTA console games are. Even if it doesn't last very long.

Graphics in the Gameplay: The graphics in this game are okay at best. To get the best understanding out of it, it doesn't really make you want to change the person's clothes as much as you had hoped (if you did) even as much as bother to use the boat or fly the helicopter as high as you feel like going. But the textures aren't too bland, and are perfectly tolerable, so some people may be fine with the clothes changing option and seeing the whole world for a while. Putting that aside, there are a lot of objects and buildings to see, which is quite a blast for the first few runs through the game, since it's actually possible to make a GTA-like game like this! I was impressed that the core elements that I enjoy in a GTA game are present: the helicopter, buying weapons (which you can easily find outside if you look hard enough, which kind of ruins the point of buying the weapons in the first place), and even mowing people down at fast speeds while driving a car, a motorcycle, or larger vehicles. The other things that are needed are the details, which are hopefully in the works. These are: eating at a restaurant, being attacked by helicopters and more officers with a really large felony, and... well, tasks to carry out. While those are mainly for the gameplay, they're also good for the eyes. Besides the art museum there isn't much to look at regarding the large buildings you can go in. Most of the repeated objects in the buildings are just thrown in the corner. The houses are better though, since they have more things to lay your eyes on.

Sound: It was kind of disappointing that no music is in this game (especially car music) except for the intro, but since this is a beta it is A-OK. The shotgun sound was familiar for some reason. The sounds in this game are okay and the car sound effects are not all that annoying. The car motor sound keeps looping when I open the menu, though. There aren't that many sounds, but this beta shows that this game is coming along nicely, and has a lot of effort put into it. Each gun has its sound and each type of person has his death cry, which is pretty funny/amusing.

Gameplay: Playing this game is like playing any other beta: it's fun for a while, but then you feel like there should have been more to the game before releasing it so early. It's a bit harsh to say that, but this game is clearly not complete. This came from the graphics section, but when you go into one of the large buildings, you'll find that there's not much to do other than look at the bland environments that are multiple generally-identical rooms with the same type of objects and nothing to do but play a variation of Frogger in the Cinema place. I couldn't find the Bowling Alley so I won't be reviewing that at this time. Using the different vehicles, I noticed that the turning was very solid for this game. It could be better, but it doesn't hinder the gameplay. What I don't understand is I can pick up an object, but I don't know how to do anything with it after that.. =\

Story: With no missions or any type of story at all, you can't do anything other than move/drive around, kill people, take money, and buy car repaintage and weapons with it. Then again, the story hasn't been touched in this game so this is as far as I go with this section. There's a nice cutscene bringing you into the game though.

Interface: When in the options menu, I found that changing the viewing distance made water surround my character. My character moved as if there were no water at all, though. I tried this multiple times and had to exit each time it happened, so I didn't bother continuing that. It was because the view distance was pretty bad for when looking at the streets, since they pop up only when you get close enough. The creator of the game provided cheats which made the experience all the better. I don't understand why the stamina bar is needed, because it only delays my trip to a near-by vehicle. Among the cheats was the ability to spawn a helicopter, which was very nice, since I couldn't find one anywhere I looked. The Hummer was a horrible option, because it goes slow and its durability was the same as the other cars, so if you use it, you're pretty much a moving float that wants to die, lol. Another negative thing about the interface was that the map doesn't give any indication of where you are, so you have to memorize a "landmark" (part of the map that looks different from the other places) and move the cursor on the map to find where you currently are. Even so, you cannot find where you want to go because the only things you get are different colored boxes that represent houses/buildings you can enter. So you'll have to also memorize where the buildings are. A good point is that the game loads nicely for a 3d game like this. The car physics are definitely in need of tuning since they don't crash very well and you can easily accumulate damage if going fast enough and hitting multiple walls. The exploding car animation and sound were amusingly and surprisingly short and funny the first few times. Which made me want to destroy quite a bit of them.

Overall, this demo shows us that high-quality GTA fan games on the pc are definitely possible, and with enough work, this game can be a hit for this site. Playing this game definitely reminds me of what GTA is and what the fun is all about: sandbox fun. If this game were to be polished and expanded, it would make for an easy getaway and a great alternative to the console GTA games since thousands to millions of gamers might not be able to afford the console GTA games.

--------------------------

xCRILLZx, a gamer.