A Sound Effort

Videogames are getting some very impressive soundtracks these days, and True Crime is one of those games leading the way. Not content with just using licensed tracks, Activision managed to more than 50 original music tracks performed by such renowned West Coast rap artists as Snoop Dogg, Westside Connection (Ice Cube, Mac 10, WC), E40, KAM, Caviar, Easy-E Jr., Lil ½ Dead, Bad Azz, Damizza, Young Billionaires, Sly Boogy, KoKain and Jay-O-Felony. The music to True Crime is undoubtedly ruled by hip-hop and rap, though there are the odd rock/metal tracks by Megadeth, I Mother Earth, and The Deftones.

“Bring me everyone.”

Equaling the effort put into the soundtrack talent is the crew of professional actors providing the voices for True Crime. Just look at this stacked roster:

• Christopher Walken (The Rundown, Catch Me If You Can, Sleepy Hollow)
  
• Gary Oldman (Air Force One, The Fifth Element, Léon)
  
• Michael Madsen (Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs, Grand Theft Auto III)
  
• Russell Wong (Romeo Must Die)
  
• Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil, SWAT)
  
• Ron Perlman (Star Trek: Nemesis, Blade II)
  
• CCH Pounder (ER, The Shield)
  
• James Hong (Art of War, Blade Runner)
  
• Mako (Pearl Harbor, Bulletproof Monk, Rising Sun)
  
• Keone Young (Legally Blonde 2, Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven)

Russell Wong does a good job of portraying Nick Kang as a cocky, smart-ass cop typically found in bad police movies. It’s not fault of Russell Wong’s but the script presents Nick Kang as a pure videogame character. It’s not a bad thing though, as we are graced with such corny lines as “Oh shit! It’s dim sum time!”

Yes, there’s profanity in True Crime: Streets of LA, but it’s nothing new to anyone who has played any of the other games similar to this one.