Preview | True Crime: Streets of LA

From the 20 main missions there are around 100 - count 'em - sub-missions that will see you branching off and reacting to real-time in-game events almost off the cuff. For instance, an early example sees you being tipped off about a showdown at a downtown bar. You've got but a few minutes to get there, so you hop in a red sports car and start to skid through the city's streets. Turn up within the time limit and you'll engage in a kung-fu showdown with the perpetrator inside. However, should you want to take a more leisurely approach to reaching your destination and, say, partake in a spot of sightseeing along the way, you may well find that the bar has burnt down by the time you arrive. Which takes you down a different path. Intriguingly, we've been assured to that it's even possible to finish the game by seemingly 'failing' most of the set goals, which certainly backs up developers Luxoflux's claims that playing the title just to enjoy it should be as fun as playing it to achieve the game's actual objectives.

True Crime wears its influences on its sleeve, makin
g no attempt to disguise an infatuation with the stylistic elements of Hong Kong action films. Indeed, while it's tempting to concentrate on the more metallic side of combating the city's criminal scum (and True Crime is no slouch when it comes to serving up a smorgasboard of hand guns and heavy artillery), it's the emphasis upon developing Nick Kang's hand-to-hand close quarters skills that really impresses. His abilities are based on 12 fighting styles - including Tae Kwondo, Judo and, er, American wrestling - and visiting the many areas around the vast virtual city allows you to learn and gain extra moves and combos.

Likewise, inspiration has come from a variety of videogames, and sections such as the manic car chase sections seem to have graduated from the Crazy Taxi school of driving: cutting corners and flipping up on two wheels to squeeze through gaps in oncoming traffic are the type of tricks you'll be pulling off here. And while you have a showdown shoot-out with bad guys inside, say, a meat-packing plant, you can pull off Max Payne-style Bullet Time slow-mo that, in combination with the auto-lock on targetting system, will see you popping off enemies with cinematic grace.

Archer: What we've done is take all of the elements of the genre and gone to the next level; so you have driving, fighting and shooting, but there's no compromise. Nothing's been thrown in as an afterthought - everything has a full system involved in it.

Take driving while shooting. There's 360 degrees of what I'd call precision shooting, which is actually slow-mo. You can go into slow-mo while driving and target independent targets on vehicles.

In fighting we have jump-kicks, kicks and punches as well as combo moves and grapples, and interactive environments that actually have an effect on the game. There are exploding barrels and vehicles on jacks that fall down on players as well. You really have to use the environment as well as your skills to do that.

And shooting as well! There's slow-mo firing, and precision targeting in that area, too. One of the coolest things with shooting is the ability to target individual objects using each arm, so you're targeting left and right at the same time.

And as well, you can actually hold a shotgun in one hand and an AK in the other, which I don't think had been done, and that's a whole lot of fun.

We also have car manoeuvres for the driving, so you can do flip 180s and go on two wheels as combo moves, just like in the fighting. You learn these combos through the dojo, gun ranges and driving simulators.

These are entered by earning points in the city. They're trials and you're tested on your skills in each of these areas and are rewarded with a new skill or item - it's very much an RPG feel. That's something I also believe hasn't been done before - it's very cool.

Is the plot fixed or are you free to make multiple choices that affect the outcome?

Archer: There's a branching storyline, and the way it works is unique. All the way down t
o the mission we have a branching story. The things you do, the guys you bash into, the guys that get away: they all have an effect on your ultimate outcome.

Guys can come back to haunt you if you don't get 'em and there are three unique endings to the game, which take totally different paths. Those things are determined by how you do. And you never repeat missions: you go through, you shake it off and you go on to the next thing.

We allow the player to go back and right the wrongs they did, and it's really very empowering and liberating. We've found the perfect balance between story - so people are involved - and giving them the freedom to do just about anything they want.

Vice City is a very straightforward game to control, therefore easily accessible to all gamers. Can you outline the basic controls of True Crime and how the player is broken into the action?

Archer: We're actually trying to minimise the use of buttons and combinations of buttons. Fighting combos use two, three or four button combos, but they're very traditional and easy to learn. With the driving, the physics is unique for each car and it's a realistic physics base, but it definitely allows you to drive a little easier - it's not so fun to drive using real physics.

We allow you to pop it up on two wheels, spin it around on two wheels while shooting - it's not really physically possibly but we let you do it.

It's very easy to control. We have three buttons for fighting and a grapple button, so we use the four face buttons and controller, with many combos possible.

What's the inspiration behind something that is very obviously a cinematic experience?

Archer: I think the inspiration definitely came from certain novels, Hong Kong cinema and American action films. If I were to compare it to a film I would probably say your favourite American action movie and action hero with all the abilities of Hong Kong cinema, like double guns and martial arts, with an angry, jaded main character that gets stuff done his way. It really makes for a very compelling story.

Presumably you foresee True Crime becoming something of a mega-franchise for Activision...

Archer: Of course! As an example, with the technology we have we can just about take any city and recreate it in a very short space of time. It took us a while to get going but we've recreated 240 square miles in the time that competitors have made a very small amount of area. We can take another city and do it in months - it makes it a lot easier. We expect people will love it and we expect to come back.

What specific steps have you taken to create the illusion of a living, breathing city?

Archer: Absolutely. And everything is zoned, so when you go through Beverley Hills, everyone is dressed nicely and there are lots of people walking down the streets. When night comes, there's pretty much nobody on the streets and there's a lot more crime. There's all kinds of life in the city.

And it's real-time change of day with real-time shadows, so it's very, very cool.