It’s a hard life being a cop and even harder when you’re a New York City cop that has to constantly wrestle with his inner demons that are always in conflict. Should he forget his past life and become a good cop who is determined to put an end to the criminal underworld in the city or should he continue his hoodlum ways by being a dirty cop? In True Crime: New York City for the Xbox, this is exactly the situation that best describes the life of Detective Marcus Reed. A sequel, of sorts, to True Crime: Streets of LA, the streets of the Big Apple become your new stomping grounds in a game about crime, revenge and choices.

We are introduced to Marcus Reed in his early days as a New York City gangster. Roughed up and bloody, he manages to survive an attempted assassination that results in Reed killing everyone involved with this hit. From out of the shadows, though, a detective informs Reed that his crime boss father is now locked up in jail and offers the young man a way out of all of this. Fast forward several years later and we find that not only has Reed cleaned up his life but he is also a police detective for the NYPD. Yet during a job his mentor enters a building that suddenly explodes and Reed becomes determined to find out who was responsible and put them behind bars … or in the morgue.

The problem with finding his mentor’s killer, though, is simple: New York City is a huge place and there are criminal elements and various crime syndicates scattered throughout. Thankfully, Reed finds help in all the most unusual places such as a very chatty FBI Agent to the Madam of an underground brothel. They point out various locations around the city and believe me when I say that this game accurately duplicates the city in its entirety. That means you’ll be walking down Little Italy or driving through the side streets of Harlem. You will be busting rapists in upper Manhattan and breaking up a fight amongst the homeless in Hell’s Kitchen. Much like True Crime: Streets of LA, you’ll even find many of the city’s streets properly displayed on the screen so you’ll know when you’re standing on the Avenue of the Americas. In short, this is New York City in all its glory.

Like the first game in the True Crime series, Reed can walk among the pedestrians but he could also get into a car (or forcefully take one) and drive around. Never mind that New York City traffic is jam-packed with vehicles, you’ll be able to drive a wide assortment of police vehicles straight off the police headquarters’ parking lot but you can also purchase civilian vehicles from car dealerships. The city is also filled with vehicles for the taking whether they’re muscle cars, motorcycles and even SUVs. You’ll need vehicles in this game because there are a number of car chases in this game both for missions that advance the game’s story or during one of the many random crimes that occur in the city.

That’s right, you’ll have your hands full not only with the game’s various main missions but you’ll also have the choice to stop random crimes in your nearby vicinity. You can ignore the calls but responding to them and successfully busting the criminals involved will earn you points that lead to a new concept in the series - a salary raise. You’ll be paid in this game and the money you earn be used for purchasing better weapons, vehicles and even skills (upgrading your driving, shooting and fighting skills). The random crimes range from a serial arsonist loose on the city, waiters fighting over a tip, bank heists and even a reality dating show gone horribly violent.

Because of Reed’s past, you’ll be given the chance to play the role of a good cop (slapping cuffs on the bad guys and turning in evidence) but also as a bad cop. There are more choices for being a bad cop than there are for being a good cop because you’ll not only be able to shoot instead of busting criminals you’ll also have the chance to extort money from shop owners and street vendors. The game introduces an extortion meter that will have you laying the pressure on a person, adding pistol-whipping or threats of blasting a hole in their head. Hit the right amount and you’ll get “protection” money from them but you’ll also build a crime rating. Fortunately, each block has a number of stores and locations you can enter.

The main missions have Reed going into drug dens, chasing down potential informants in a museum and turning ever so often to helpful sources that either lead you on the wrong path or are straight enough with you that you manage to put away some of the city's major crime bosses. There are no supernatural elements in this game (unlike the strange addition of demons in Streets of LA) but the game still has its share of Grand Theft Auto-like typecasts and tongue-in-cheek humor.

Unfortunately, the game is not perfect. The driving controls are hideous and lead to exaggerated crashes that will have the victim of the other car smash right out of the windshield of their car and die a most horrible death. Worse yet that a simple collision with a cop car leads to the instant death of the officer behind the wheel and thus raising your bad cop quotient, which is unfair to the gamer that wants to get through the game as a good cop. Secondly, the game’s aiming can be a chore to deal with even with precision aiming. You’ll want to upgrade your shooting skills early because some missions require a good aiming. Really, the worst part of the game is the fighting. Sure you can upgrade your hand-to-hand skills and opt for some martial arts skills but oftentimes your enemy will vanish or, if you bust them too close to an open door, will twitch out of existence.

The game’s graphics could have actually been quite decent if it weren’t for some serious visual glitches and stutters in the framerate. The city of New York looks spectacular and it is wonderfully detailed on the Xbox but when it comes to the character models they don’t look very natural. Sadly, the game stutters enough that you’ll encounter pop ups and sections of the city will disappear in a sea of blackness for split seconds. These bugs also pop up in all the wrong moments but worse of all they take away from the game’s best visual features such as displaying so many civilians on the streets.

One of the game’s biggest highlights also happens to be the game’s massive song list that offers a rather nice assortment of musical genres. You’ll find some solid hip-hop from the likes of LL Cool J as well as alternative rock from groups like The Bravery and Sonic Youth. The game’s voice acting isn’t great but there are stand out performances from actors Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne and Mickey Rourke. For the most part the dialogue isn’t written well at all and the pedestrians in the game spout profanity in an almost endless, repetitive stream. The sound effects are handled well enough, especially when it comes to guns and crashes.  

It’s hard to recommend a game like New York City. For the most part the game adds more interesting concepts and things to do than Streets of LA but, on the other hand, all the game’s major elements come together rather poorly. True Crime: New York City could have been an excellent action game but it is hindered by some seriously crippling glitches that are too hard to ignore. The awful part is that there are some great moments in the game so if you’re willing to put up with these flaws do pick this one up as a rental first.

Gameplay: 7.0
The game’s controls are a mixed bag of decent character movement and atrocious shooting, driving and fighting elements. The good news is that there is much to see and much to do in this game and the option to be a good cop or a bad one is handled far better than True Crime: Streets of LA. Some missions are actually quite fun.

Graphics: 6.8
The streets of New York City will not fail to impress you and not because of its grand scale but because the city in this game feels like New York City from Harlem to Manhattan. Unfortunately, the character models are not so impressive and look a bit odd even during cutscenes. The game possesses glitches aplenty and they sadly pop up very often.

Sound: 8.0
Nothing good can be said about the voice acting except that Laurence Fishburne and Christopher Walken aren’t bad at all. The sound effects, on the other hand, are actually very well detailed when it comes to shooting and car wrecks that will not fail to make you wince. The game’s soundtrack is another highlight and filled to the brim with a hefty number of good tunes from musical genres.

Difficulty: Medium
The hardest part is dealing with the game’s controls and putting up with the game’s various faults that lead to a lot of aggravation. It’s hard trying to play the game as a good cop when a glitch makes you instantly kill the drivers of any vehicle you accidentally smash into at high speeds. There’s some challenging missions here as well, especially those that have multiple objectives.

Concept: 7.5
There are plenty of guns, vehicles and skills to purchase with your own salary or, if you go the bad route, the money you extort from shop owners. New York City is a huge place and you can explore it and even enter various shops, restaurants and clubs. You’ll do everything from join an underground fighting tournament to solving various crimes around the city.

Overall: 7.0
True Crime: New York City will not make a fan out of you thanks to its various flaws but it does have its good parts worth experiencing. It’s hard to dislike a game that piles on various side missions, secrets to uncover and a number of upgrades. Then again, the game’s glitches will not fail to frustrate. A rental is certainly in order, though.