Urban Chaos

"Urban Chaos" is a pretty slick little title that most people don't know about. I used to play the mess out of it on the PSX back in the day, and the Playstation graphics were horrible! Luckily, the PC version is a lot more smooth and has WAYYYY better lighting and reflections, etc. I was SO happy GOG put it up! I had a copy of it on PC, but the controls were crap. The GOG version, while it is still clunky, is WAY smoother than the copy I had. I was SO happy to give this game some more money after all these years, as I wish D'arci Stern was still around! She was the first, and only, black female lead character. While I've always loved "Tomb Raider", I felt "Urban Chaos" offered a more enjoyable setting. From the script to the voice acting, this game is pretty solid, and Eidos def got the atmosphere right. I could go on for days about this game... If it has piqued any interest on your end, then I highly recommend you just play it. It's sweet! So glad to see, based on other reviews on here, I'm not the only person that loved this game. It's always been one of my top favorites.

Breakdown: Play mission-based mini-open world-type levels as a cop fighting crime. Some bonus missions involve driving cars, playing as a vigilante, and playing as the criminals instead. It's rough around the edges but still has a fair bit to offer, even in the modern day. Plus, it feels like a piece of gaming history that should not be overlooked. It innovated quite a bit and yet it receives extremely little recognition for this. PS: For those struggling with the controls = 1) Use a gamepad. 2) Only move your character forward with the Run button the vast majority of the time. 3) While on small ledges use the analog stick to rotate your character ONLY when standing still, then hold forward to walk in a straight line when it's time to move. For those struggling to get it to work with Windows 10 = 1) Install pretty much any other operating system, 10 has issues playing old games across the board. Sorry, but it's unfortunately true - you'll be hard-pressed to find a game that it does not have issues with.

This game is pure late 90s yank, of course graphics are dated, everything is a cube or a pyramid, the main character looks like a stick figure with noodle arms, story is full action hero silliness with the usual 2000 apócalypse (I love it), music is fitting for the era, draw distance is low and levels are semi open platformig challenges while you hunt for the objective and secret collectibles to improve your stats. Most of the ingredients to have fun are here, but then there are the controls. Oh dear gods, the controls are horrendous, stiff, unresponsive, with tank controls, and nonsensical button combinations for different commands. Saying it takes a while to get used to them is an understatement. Don't bother using a controller, even if you use a stick you are stuck with the tank scheme (no dualstick support) and the sideways rotation is too sensitive as it comes. I had to use a controller wrapper to emulate keyboard strokes with the controller to get a bearable turn speed. But it gets worse, controlling vehicles is a nightmare, you cannot speed up and turn at the same time, trying to drive around corners is a challenge all on itself and apparently cars are held together by their painting because they take damage by just grazing a wall or a fence. This is a game that deserves a modernization. it would be fun to play if the controls didn't get on the way of everything else. Also, it can be run on widescreen, but it requires a third party patch you can find in the pcgamingwiki.

Urban Chaos is a very well done free roaming action game mixed up with mythical elements. You play as officer D'arci Stern and fight against the street gang Wild Cats while the situation in the city becomes worse and worse. During the missions you can kick down you enemies and arrest them, shoot them or punch them to death, which gives you the choose which playstile you prefer. Aside from the main objectives you also can trigger some small side events when you explore the streets of the city, which makes them feel more alive in my opinion. The only bad side of the game is that you can barely drive any car, which is pretty sad, because of the free roaming aspect of the game, and there are no checkpoints inside the levels, which means if you die close to the end of a mission you have to do it all from the start again.

I never quite understood why this game didn't get more famous. Free-roaming exploration in a living, dynamic city, combined with specific mission levels, an awesome story that developed into something you totally didn't expect, and enjoyable and fluid gameplay- It was a better GTA3...before GTA3 ever even came out. Personally, I spent most of my time talking to random civilians before arresting them and making them get down on the ground, while I'd lord about above them!