This review is for the PC version of the game.
I've never thrown a game into the garbage before, but that is what I have just done with True Crime: NYC. Fortunately I only paid about $10 for it at a discount store and not $50 or whatever its original price was.
The game had a lot of promise. The idea of a virtual NYC you could drive around was a cool idea, and that part of the game I really liked (although it got annoying after the 50th time I got smashed into by other cars). And I like the idea of having big name voice actors involved, though I have to wonder how hypocritical it was to have Marsika Hargitay of SVU playing a female detective whose skirt is only a few steps down from a thong (if there are cops who actually dress like this on duty outside of the vice squad, I'm signing up!).
And I liked the basic plot - what little I could get before i gave up in disgust.
And give up I did. I'm OK with games that are difficult, in terms of being able to achieve goals or fight and survive. But when one literally requires 4 arms in order to hit all the controls you need to accomplish anything, at that point I say the game is poorly designed and not worth my time. What's worse, actions that work perfectly well during the training mode mysteriously no longer work once the "real" game starts. As a result instead of frisking and arresting suspects, I ended up either pushing them in front of cars (which was fun, I'll admit, but not quite what the game wanted me to do) or my gun came out and I shot them, which again wasn't exactly the mission.
There is a difference between being frustrated with a game that is difficult and being frustrated with a game that is physically impossible to play. The first issue can be alleviated by finding a hint guide somewhere, or even finding cheat codes. But there's no cheat in the world that protects against bad design.
As I say, this is with regards to the PC version. Maybe the console versions are simpler to operate and therefore actually can be played. If you have a choice, take the console version. Unless you have 4 arms, of course.
