True Crime: Streets of L.A. is perhaps one of the most ambitious multiplatform titles of this generation. It aims to take the basic run-drive-shoot formula from Grand Theft Auto, add in a hand-to-hand fighting engine and well written storyline, and make the overall package work even better than Rockstar’s ubiquitous game. For the most part, all of these goals are met, sometimes with spectacular results.

True Crime’s story takes center stage early on. It’s not exactly literature, but it’s just as good as (and very much inspired by) a lot of classic action movie plots, like Big Trouble in Little China and Hard Boiled. The plot is clichéd but at least unpredictable, while the character definition is strong with plenty of back story to stand on, especially for protagonist Nick Kang. This combination is supplemented by excellent production values in both cut-scene scripting and voice acting. Infused in everything is a strong sense of local Los Angeles mythology, full of Triad and Russian gangs, crooked cops, and even some weird underground mysticism. It all comes together in an awfully slick package that elevates the story to being a critical part of the overall game experience.

The gameplay is divided into a few major types. Nick can jump into any car he sees, but he also has a default car with its own police siren. You can get better default cars over the course of the game, but they are all better than the majority of the cars you’ll commandeer from city folk. Although there aren’t very many car models to find, they all have drastically different performance. The driving engine and controls are very arcadey and fun, just as you’d expect from the developer of Vigilante 8. Driving figures into about half of the game’s missions, which involve driving to various locations, escaping assailants, and tailing a suspect. The driving upgrades are also the best in the game, as they give you a diverse set of special moves that let you play the driving portions much differently than you can without them. The other interesting aspect to driving is that you can manually aim while still retaining full control over the car, and the game slows down time while doing so to give you a fair shot at hitting something…a fugitive’s tires, for instance. Despite the simplicity of the driving mechanics, many of these missions are quite challenging and require a lot of skill to complete.

Fighting hand-to-hand is a significant trump over GTA, and it works well enough to be considered a valid part of the game. Kang’s moves are pretty simple; he can punch, kick, block, grapple, and jump-kick. There are also several combo moves and special grapples to be learned, but they don’t really deepen the combat system. One of the best parts of fighting is that nearby enemies will actually keep fighting you even if you aren’t facing them, so position becomes key to avoid being ganged up on. Most mission-based fights happen indoors with a lot of breakable items, which can affect the outcome to a small degree. Perhaps the biggest problem with the fighting system is that it’s just overused, so the moves feel stale and repetitive towards the end of the game. Otherwise, it’s a fun addition to a game already bubbling over with gameplay possibilities.

Easily the most polished and intense of True Crime’s gameplay styles is shooting. Every few missions, Nick will get involved in a lengthy shootout with an army of well-armed thugs. The hero can take cover behind obstacles and jump in bullet-time through the rain of projectiles. He can also temporarily replace his dual pistols (which have infinite ammo) with a variety of weapons picked up from slain enemies. With smooth controls and style to spare, these battles are some of the game’s most memorable sequences. They are fairly challenging and always satisfying to complete.

Other gameplay types are less prominent. A handful of stealth missions require Nick to sneak around indoor environments, quietly dispatching enemies in his path. The tactics required don’t approach the depth of a real stealth game, but they do work quite well as a way to break up more frantic missions. A good portion of the game is also spent just walking around the city, although it’s rarely a mandatory part of the missions. This on-foot gameplay is probably the least polished part of the game, mainly due to a sluggish camera and a sluggish running speed. A touch of the control pad lets you switch from this “normal” mode to fighting or shooting modes, but the game will also switch automatically if you press certain buttons or become involved in certain situations. The automatic transitions often cause minor annoyances, like when you’re trying to chase a perp but can’t run fast enough because the game still has you in fighting mode. It’s easy to fix once you realize that you’re in the wrong mode, but that process may cost several seconds in a life-or-death situation.

True Crime relies on a branching, but fundamentally linear mission structure. The missions are dealt out one after another, always with cut-scenes between. This design gives the game a straightforward, action movie feel that keeps things progressing forward. But some missions ask you to drive to some far-off location in the city, giving you unlimited time to roam around and do whatever you want. The actual options are limited to solving random street crimes, which earn you points that can be spent to upgrade your skills at certain locations. It takes several arrests to earn enough points for one of these attempts, and the upgrade challenges often take more than one try to successfully complete. And some missions are nearly impossible without a few upgrades. So, the gist of it is that, while the street-crawling is “optional” on your way to the next mission, in practice the game requires you to solve a great number of random crimes to earn at least a few upgrades. It’s an effective way to lengthen the game, and since the upgrades are usually interesting and useful, you’ll probably find yourself earning a lot more of them than is necessary to beat the game. Street crimes are easy to find, thanks to the police dispatcher, but they repeat often, and some types don’t yield very many points for the danger involved to attempt them. Luckily, you can ignore those and just do the easier types. You can also earn points during the missions if you perform well, which cuts down on the amount of micro-sleuthing necessary if you just want to blow straight through the missions.

Though there are definitely some unpolished areas, True Crime’s many gameplay styles converge pretty well into a cohesive game that offers a lot of fun and varied things to do. It’s a game that does a few things extremely well and a lot of things competently, but the fact that everything is so well integrated is probably the most impressive. True Crime doesn’t exactly replace or outdo Grand Theft Auto, because it ends up being a somewhat different experience that focuses heavily on action and doesn’t have nearly as much to do out in the living city. But if you just really need a GTA fix on your GameCube, this game is certainly close enough to do the job. More importantly, it’s fun and brilliantly produced, with plenty to do and see. I can easily recommend it to anyone looking for just that.