An enormous living world, with diverse regions to explore. The story is B movie quality at best - yet it adds to the fun factor instead if getting in the way. Some basic mission types are repetitive, yet it's hard to avoid that in such a large game. And the physics... well, let's say it is there to enhance the fun instead of getting in the way. You kidnap a jet, fly a couple thousand miles in the air, jump out of it and you survive without ever opening a parachute. Why? Because 15 meters before the ground you use the grappling hook and grapple yourself to the ground. You the take a motorbike and go on a tour around the island. You go through deserts, forests, fields of flowers, and finally reach the snowy mountains. And of course you can climb the highest peak to get the achievement. Oh, and everything around you goes "kaboom!". The chaos of every enemy encounter is incredibly satisfying. The weapons of distruction are diverse and simply fun. The vehicles are well balanced. But the mentioned grappling hook is the star of the show. You could easilly make the best Spiderman game around this gameplay element alone. If you got bored by taking your cousin bowling in GTA IV this was the better game when it was released. And it still is. Pure "I don't give a fudge" camp fun.
To understand why I gave 4 starts to this game some context is needed. When Crime Cities was released, it had one real competitor (similar setting and the implementation of the mechanics) and it was G-Police. Both inspired by the likes of Descent and Forsaken, both set in a futuristic urban environment. Crime Cities however did so much more. The controls were great, the tone more mature, and the visuals dark yet vibrant (obviously inspired by the cities from "Blade Runner"). Sure, it sometimes did not manage to keep the pacing, at times the difficulty was all over the place, and some missions were just too simple, but for the ones that years earlier loved Decent and Forsaken, and were disappointed by G-Police, this was a pleasant surprise. It's not a perfect game and if you do not enjoy 6DoF games generally, this won't change your mind. However, if you are in fact one of the people this game was made for, give it a try. You will have some fun.
