Gary Oldman and Christopher Walken

Gary Oldman voices two very different characters, and with neither of them would you be able to tell that it’s him. Gary Oldman does what he does best, and that’s to become a total chameleon. How often does this guy even act in his native English accent?

The vocal highlight to True Crime: Streets of LA is Christopher Walken, who plays George, an old-timer cop and semi-father figure to Nick Kang. George opens and closes the story with narration, and provides both positive and negative comments when in a training facility getting upgrades. Walken’s delivery of his lines is perfect, and often hilarious. If laying the smackdown on strippers is the unforgettable gameplay moment, then Christopher Walken owns the most unforgettable quote in the game:

“Treat your gun like a woman – hold it firmly in your hands; take aim at what you want, and then… fire off a few rounds into your target.”

Yup, they have those

Sound effects? With such great talent behind the soundtrack and voice acting, the sound effects have a lot to live up to, and for the most part, they’re more than adequate. Punches, kicks, and gunshots are all delivered with a subtle kick from your subwoofer (crank it up for less subtlety).

The graphics of True Crime have a hard time keeping up with the effort put into the soundtrack and shows obvious signs of being held back by multiplatformitis. The outdoor environments bear a resemblance to what you’ve seen in Grand Theft Auto III, and the shooting/action sequences look similar to those in Dead to Rights. While the textures may be acceptable on the PlayStation 2, they are on the bland side considering what the GameCube and Xbox are capable of producing.

The Dogg Father

Just prior to the release of True Crime, Activision announced that Snoop Dogg is an unlockable, playable character. videogame. After collecting all the Dogg Bones in LA (or entering in a simple code), Dogg Patrol mode opens up where you can play as Snoop rolling through the streets in a custom convertible, complete with hydraulics, while looking for criminals to take down. Snoop doesn’t get his own story mode, but it is still a neat easter egg.