Login to access exclusive gaming content, win competition prizes
and post on our forums. Don't have an account? Create one now!
Why should you join?
Click here for full benefits!
Follow our Twitter feedDestroyed a lot of people with Akimbo.
SIGN IN/JOIN UP
CVGPSWForumsCheats
BioShock has "many stories" to be told, says 2K | Yakuza 3 premium edition revealed | Big names sign up for E3 2010 | Fallout New Vegas lets you "shape the world" | Aliens vs. Predator close combat video | 3D Dot Game Heroes gets UK date | Battlefield "a better online game" than Modern Warfare 2 | Third Naughty Bear trailer arrives(!) | Uncharted 2 soundtrack released | Ghost Recon: Future Soldier trailer out | PixelJunk Shooter sequel looky-likey | Assassin's Creed goes to Rome | LA Noir release window confirmed | FIFA fans break Guinness World Record | MLB 2K10 gameplay trailer arrives | All EA titles "will have an online component" | BioShock 2 review round-up | BioShock 2 is "only pure shooter out right now" | Deus Ex: Human Revolution trademarked | LBP gets Valentines, Chinese New Year DLC | Wada statement baffles FFXIII devs | Exclusive BioShock 2 multiplayer video | Dragon Age goes triple platinum | Dead Space 2 early 2011 | Gran Turismo lifetime sales revealed
PlayStation World Magazine
Search CVG
Playstation World - The UK's best independent PlayStation magazine
PlayStation World Home » Reviews
PreviousSOCOM 3: Navy Seals PS2Urban Reign PS2Next

Crime Life: Gang Wars Review

A lazy, bandwagon-jumping urban gangster affair strictly for grannies mistakenly buying GTA clones for their grandkids
What is Konami famous for? Well, there's the Pro Evo Soccer series and the Metal Gear Solid games for a start - both of them fully paid-up members of the PlayStation2 A-list. So what went wrong here?

Let's be honest. This is clearly nothing more than a lazy, bandwagon-jumping urban gangster affair. Its best hope of finding its way off the shelves of your local game shop is by ensnaring short-sighted grannies who think they're buying Grand Theft Auto for a young relative.

Allow us to elaborate. For a start, the camera movement is so slow that by the time you can see who's beating the living hell out of you, you're already flat on your back and leaking life-giving fluids all over the pavement.

The brawling itself consists of mad, desperate bouts of swinging fists and frenzied stamping. At the end of it you'll hopefully have taken down some rivals, but it's hard to tell in the thick of it. As the game progresses, there's the opportunity to learn new, ever more brutal death moves. At this point the combat starts to become more satisfying, but until then the fights are hit and miss.

Rival gang members crawl the streets looking for action, and each different area has its own distinct atmosphere, but the impression of a real, living, breathing city is shattered by the fact that all the traffic on the streets consists of just two types of car: the pink saloon in the screen above and another van.

With a cumbersome camera that severely limits what you see and do in any given situation, and hazy mission objectives, all the game's tension comes in the form of tooth-gnashing frustration. If you're looking for a bit of bad-boy street action, divert your gaze towards the far superior 50 Cent: Bulletproof.

PlayStation World Magazine
// Overview
Verdict
Crime Life: Gang Wars fails in almost all areas. Too clunky to be a proper beat 'em up, far too empty to work as a free-roaming GTA-a-like.
// Interactive
Share this article:  
Digg.comFacebookGoogle BookmarksN4GGamerblips
del.icio.usRedditSlashdot.orgStumbleUpon
 
No comments have been posted yet.Post a Comment
// Screenshots
PreviousNext2 / 2 Screenshots
// Related Content
Reviews:
Previews:
News:
More Related
// The Best ofCVG
News | Reviews | Previews | Features | Interviews | Cheats | Hardware | Forums | Competitions | Blogs
Top Games: Pro Evolution Soccer | Pro Evolution Soccer 6 | Metal Gear Solid 4 | Grand Theft Auto IV | LittleBigPlanet | Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Canis Canem Edit | Need for Speed Carbon | Pro Evolution Soccer 2006 | FIFA World Cup 2010 | Demon's Souls
Top Reviews: Assassin's Creed II: Battle of Forli | Beaterator | Fight Night Round 4 | Overlord II | The Godfather 2 | Red Alert 3: Ultimate Edition
SOCOM Confrontation | Killzone 2 | Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe | Call of Duty: World at War | Far Cry 2
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited,
Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885