Mark's Comments: The year could be
any year when we have shattered Einstein's theories and managed
to achieve faster-than-light travel. Now that distant solar systems
are just a short drive, we've revived the penal colony concept,
but with a twist. Instead of sending misfits to places like Australia
or Miami Beach, we send them to a distant solar system. But now
we've gotten wind of a possible attack on Earth being planned
by crimelords on these penal colonies. You, the player, are an
undercover agent sent to these flourishing crime cities to infiltrate
and thwart the plans of these unrepentant crime lords. That's
the setting that begins Crime Cities, a budget-priced game from
Eon Digital Entertainment and Techland.
Crime Cities can best be summed up as a "space
sim lite" that takes place on the surface of a planet instead
of in space. Essentially, you fly around in an air car that looks
like a 57' Thunderbird in one of several "crime cities"
and dogfight with criminals while you dodge traffic and skyscrapers.
It's got a real George Jetson meets Blade Runner feel about it.
I played about seven of the missions, several of
them two or three times each, and probably spent about eight hours
with the game. By no means did I get far into it, but I just lost
interest in the game.
The Missionary Position
Missions are at the heart of the gameplay in Crime
Cities. You never leave the cockpit during the game. You talk
to other characters through an on-board computer in your ship.
You also access available missions through this computer, and
every now and then you are especially urged to take a mission
that advances the storyline. It's a lot like Privateer in this
regard. Some missions are merely cash generators, while others
bump you further along in the story.
Mission types include attack and defend missions
and taxi missions — go pick up someone and take them to another
part of the city. You're always a beacon for enemy action as soon
as you accept a mission, so be prepared to move quickly. The missions
are different on the surface, but they all devolve into dogfights
with a group of enemies. It doesn't really matter if you're supposed
to attack an objective, defend a warehouse, or pick up a gangster
and drop him off at a whorehouse. You end up fighting a group
of generated opponents. All the missions seem the same as a result.
It's disappointing.
Again, like Privateer, when you complete a mission
you get paid. You can use your money or just let it sit in the
bank. If you want to spend it, you can recharge your shields,
upgrade your ship and weapons, etc.
Filing the flight plan
Crime Cities has virtually no flight model. The
only real semblance of one is that the ship will coast indefinitely
if you accelerate. While this hints at some Newtonian physics,
it doesn't really extend beyond coasting. There isn't any true
inertia; you can turn as fast as you can whip the mouse around.
This gives the game a real first-person shooter feel, and indeed
it was easy to play in this manner. I didn't try it with a joystick,
though the game supports that as well.
The cities are teeming with action, and it makes
for some interesting flying. The urban landscape has a very Blade
Runner-esque feel about them. The cities are punctuated with tall
skyscrapers and smaller refitting stations and other businesses.
You'll see animated billboards, bars, whorehouses, apartment buildings,
and more. There's even a floating billboard that travels around
the city. You'll never see any citizens, but if you look closely
at some apartment windows, you can see motionless silhouettes.
The game's graphics are nice enough, about at Quake II levels.
When you fire on a building it will leave a scorch mark, but that's
about the only damage skinning you'll see.
What really brings the cities to life is the traffic.
It's everywhere, cars flying at different levels, aeriel trucks
swinging wide to make turns, police, taxis, and more. The traffic
is so thick that you can't really avoid it, so you'll be dogfighting
and trying not to hit civilians as you swoop over, under, and
around traffic. Between the traffic and the clustered buildings,
you'll have some interesting flying to do. And if you accidentally
damage a police car, they'll hunt you down. It's pretty much mission
over if you get on the bad side of the law.
March 23, 2001
