#Crime boss rockay city review series#

There's nothing more homogenous in video gaming than shooting guns, and it's a real problem for the core of the experience when it just doesn't feel fun to trade lead with rival gangs and the police. It's hard to feel the impact on your end either, as guns have barely any kick and feel floaty to control. The worst offender is how enemies react to being shot, with most of them shaking it off as if they got hit by a tennis ball instead of a sharp piece of metal being propelled at the speed of sound. However, the disappointing gunplay here makes any mission that focuses on combat a dull time.Ĭrime Boss' gunplay feels a decade old, lacking the necessary impact you need when focusing a game largely around the act of shooting other people. Going in loud is also an option, and on some missions where you'll ambush rival gangs at their safehouses or warehouses, it's the only choice you have to kick things off, before quickly grabbing any valuables and getting away. This means a failed stealth attempt is a failed stealth attempt, and you're forced to adapt quickly if you will want to complete the mission objectives and get enough loot to make the planning cost worthwhile. The stakes are high, as whenever Baker is on a mission, death spells the end of your campaign, and with no option to save manually, you can't 'save scum' your way down the optimal path. A somewhat interesting feature is the wanted level, which sees waves of more heavily armed police come in as you commit more crimes and murder cops, but even this is easy to bypass, as you can just run to the van and leave the second things get a bit tougher. The stealth is all quite shallow though there's no real depth of choice in how you proceed, and it's the same loop of killing the cameras and making sure no one runs away every time. After this, you can signal any AI companions you bring to start the heist and begin filling bags with valuables, drugs, or money to then load into the van. Most missions will involve you pulling up to a warehouse, mini-mall, or jewellery store to make money by robbing the place, and while there's some variety to situations here, they largely play out the same.įor example, when robbing a store of any kind, you start by sneaking into the nearest security room, binding the guard, and then killing the camera feed. No Payday to be foundĬrime Boss plays a lot like Payday, but it lacks the depth, flair, and excitement of that series. It becomes evident quite quickly that these modes don't have a lot going on for them, and they're more like shallow additions to try and justify the game's price point.

#Crime boss rockay city review series#

Crime Time sees you complete an array of contracts and jobs on a similar map of the city, but without the narrative and stakes of permadeath tying it together on the other hand, Urban Legends features a series of mini-campaigns where you'll take part in some small missions with AI or other players as cutscenes fill the story in between. The other two modes feel much more tacked on in comparison. The developers obviously had grand aims for the Baker's Battle mode, and it does come across due to the ideas in place, but even the meta-progression systems can't save Crime Boss from its own gameplay. There's some replayability to this mode too, as most of the goals you have can be completed in the order you want, and you can make choices which result in some different gameplay scenarios.

Most of this will manifest in Payday-like heists on jewellery stores and warehouses, all the way up to casinos and art galleries as you progress, along with short TDM matches when you send soldiers to take over rival turf. In this mode, your goal is to build up your money by taking jobs, claiming turf, and defeating the other crime bosses trying to control the city. It's by far the most fleshed-out of the experiences and has some really interesting concepts, like the roguelike permadeath mechanic which can see you fail the campaign and need to restart if Baker dies. Here you'll control Baker, played by Michael Madsen (one of the few actors to actually give a performance here that feels like a real effort was made), as you try to take over Rockay City during a power struggle and stake your claim as king of the city and its criminal underworld. The main game comes with three modes where you'll do some version of this: Baker's Battle, Crime Time, and Urban Legends.īaker's Battle is the biggest selling point of the three modes, acting as the single-player campaign that ties everything together. Crime Boss Rockay City is a first-person shooter that's most closely comparable to the Payday franchise, being that's a crime shooter that focuses on heists and completing jobs for money.