14 DAY TRIAL // It's been a long time since we heard from True Crime, ever since True Crime: New York City proved to be a total disaster. While the first game of the series, Streets of LA, proved to be a decent title, its sequel showed that it couldn't even rise to its predecessor's knee. But, now, True Crime is back, and it is bigger than ever. At the Video Game Awards this year, Activision unveiled its project for a new addition to the franchise, simply entitled True Crime.
While it is covered in all sorts of acts of violence, the trailer's narrator is sure to remind us that this is not Grand Theft Auto. "When you're undercover, you have to make sacrifices. These people are ruthless. Whatever happens, just remember: We are the good guys." The game starts with undercover cop Wei Shen, a newly assigned member of the Triads, having to "do whatever it takes to stay undetected and survive, balancing his moral duty as a cop with the objectives of the assignment."
It seems that staying true to the moral code of a police officer will be a rather flexible objective, as there is a lot of violence in the trailer, but most of it is hand-to-hand combat, so we don't have to decimate the city's population just to get from point A to B. The combat mechanic seems to be rather well done, and it's not just punch, kick and repeat until the target turns to soft mush. There are a lot of grabs, parries and variations in the attacks, so we might end up spending more time cracking knuckles than firing guns.
As for the rest, the trailer shows Shen riding a bike, in true Chow Yun Fat style. Whether he's pulling a wheelie and using an incoming car as a ramp, or jumping off in mid-flight and using the bike as a gasoline projectile, the game showcases some very dynamic mechanics. Another very cool feature that's part of the trailer is an in-transit hijack of another car, Shen jumping from his bike and breaking through the car's window to take control. All in all, it looks like we can write this on the board as another great title unveiled at the VGA.
You can view the trailer for yourselves below.