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Developer: Avalanche Software
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Genre: Action
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 17 Jan 06
User Rating
9.6 (10 votes) -
- After being delayed, Eidos finally outs their GTA-inspired actioner. We say don't bother as it is plagued by sloppy controls, disjointed plot and dull visuals.
More Screens (10 total)
Overview
Controversy has been a part of the video game industry since it all began. I can remember the major talks on the media regarding Mortal Kombat, made famous or infamous by its controversial gore factor. Since then we have of course had the pleasure of Grand Theft Auto, which of course spawned the now legendary Hot Coffee scandal. This again puts the industry in such an unfavorable light. The game we are discussing today has been one billed by politicians and media as being a bad "cop killing" game. Putting the controversy aside, can Eidos and Avalanche Software manage to make 25 to Life a great game? Read our full review to find out!
Gameplay
The storyline behind 25 to Life has been one of the big areas of controversy for the game, as it places you as multiple roles. This includes Freeze a gangster who has one last task he has to do, a cop, and a gang leader who is out in Mexico. I could go into further detail about the story, but suffice to say it tries too hard to make the disjointed stories connect that it only succeeded it making it even more convoluted. It's not so much that the stories themselves don't make sense, but the fact that you have no idea exactly which side you should be taking, nor sadly why you should even care. The concept is similar to something like the movie "Crash", but has nowhere near the polish or the development in the game. The story towards the end becomes a jumbled mess and you are just left dazed and confused.
25 to Life on paper sounds like Grand Theft Auto with a bit of a twist, being that you are playing as multiple characters. With that being said, I must commend the developers for at least going for a lot in 25 to Life. Besides commending them for their ambitious goals with the game, the final product is just a complete disaster. I should start with the controls, which just feel awful. The controls feel extremely loose and sloppy, and this creates problems in terms of gameplay, as playing the game right away feels like a chore. To me, I just sit back and wonder what the game testers were thinking, because in my eyes the controls felt like something in the early stages in development and frankly needs more polish.
Sometimes the controls don't have to be great as the gameplay stands up for the problematic control scheme, but let me tell you the gameplay mechanics in 25 to Life is just a disaster as well. One thing the gameplay fails to do is make an accessible control scheme, which makes the shooting in the game feel problematic and unsatisfying. The game is played in the third person perspective, and this once again gives the game a very GTA style, but the actual action in the game is a bit on the stealth side. The game doesn't really take place in huge battles, but instead goes from corridor to corridor, or street to street, while managing to keep things as simplistic as they could. There are not many times when the game throws a ton of enemies out at you, but when the game does that, it really starts to drag down and the gameplay suffers accordingly.
The single player portion of the game is just not overly exciting. First off, it offers a bland experience that is plagued by terrible controls and just lackluster gameplay. The single player just never makes you want to continue playing, and so many of the game's attributes are so bland and poorly developed that at times the game is just laughable.
The multiplayer end of things doesn't fair much better then the single player in the fact that has four modes to choose from all of which are pretty standard for typical multiplayer operations. I have to say that 25 to Life manage to pit the cops against the criminals, which is a pretty controversial topic. The multiplayer seems to work pretty well, but a lot of the problems found in the single player sadly carries over to the multiplayer. In the end, I just can't find many positive things to say about the gameplay.
Graphics
Visually 25 to Life is just an awful looking game. In fact, there are some things that look like PlayStation-standard graphics, and that's me being kind. Being this late into the console's lifespan, I have to say that I wanted to see a lot more from this game. 25 to Life has some of the most bland and ugly environments I have seen in a game in a long time. I should also mention that the frame-rate is like a roller coaster and manages to go up and down constantly. Similar to the gameplay, there is not a whole lot to say in a positive nature in regards to 25 to Life.
Fun Factor
25 to Life is a game that had a ton of controversy surrounding it, but it all became a non-issue because of how bad the gameplay and graphics are for the game. While playing this game, I just felt like the experience was so bad that at times I just wanted to throw the game out the window. 25 to Life has the potential to be something great, but in essence everything that could have made this game good was done in terrible fashion. The gameplay is sloppy, frustrating, and just poorly developed, which makes for a very boring experience.
Overall
I really do not know how to describe just how bad 25 to Life is as a video game. To say that this game has problems is an understatement. If you were even thinking of picking up this game, don't waste you time or money on this game. It doesn't manage to do anything it set out to do, and in the end the whole 25 to Life experience was just one unfortunate mess.
- Gameplay
4.0 - Graphics
4.0 - Fun Factor
3.0 - Overall
4.0
