I prefer these to the GTA series, but overall, the content is probably worse. Constant explicit unprovoked swearing immediately are a negative. However, the map is massive, and you have the ability to actually explore indoor areas like nightclubs and supermarkets. Not for kids.
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True Crime: New York City
(2006, Video Games - Action/Adventure, Rated M, Play it on: Xbox)
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Is it age appropriate?
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Not age appropriate for kids under 17, age appropriate for kids over 18; suggested age 17. -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Gritty tale of crime and redemption -- adults only.
Why We Rated This 
The good stuff
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Educational value:
What to watch out for
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Violence:
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What Parents Need to Know
This review of True Crime: New York City was written by Aaron Lazenby
Parents need to know that this game is in a league with the Grand Theft Auto series when it comes to virtual brutality and vice. The narrative is in the gutter: Pimps beat prostitutes, and are later cut in half in gruesome car accidents. A drug lord uses inmates at an insane asylum to do her killing. Illegal sweatshops serve as way stations for human trafficking, and pornographic evidence reveals their darker utility.
Families Can Talk About
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- Families can talk about the mature material. Does the violence and sex serve the story, or does it cross the line to become gratuitous? Is it more fun to play by the book, or dabble in evidence tampering, extortion, and excessive force? Do you think doing "bad things" in a video game can be a healthy release -- or can it lead to real life bad behavior?
More on True Crime: New York City
What’s the Story?
In the second entry in this mission-based, cops and robbers game, True Crime continues to revel in graphic violence, explicit drug culture, tawdry sex, and a slippery moral terrain. Players control Marcus Reed, a murderous ex-gang member who was saved from the streets by the tough love of a caring cop. When his mentor is ambushed and killed, Marcus (now also a police officer) is enlisted by the FBI to crush the crime syndicates running New York and help get to the bottom of his advisor's murder. Armed with an arsenal of heavy weaponry, Marcus cracks down on street crime -- he also runs errands for his gang lord father, does favors for informants, and tries to determine whether he's a good cop with a criminal past or an undercover thug with a badge.
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Is It Any Good?
Players' decisions earn points that determine their prevailing tendencies toward good or bad. Unfortunately, these choices don't do much to alter gameplay. The game misses a great opportunity to explore the complicated moral world of law enforcement, basically throwing out the good cop/bad cop classifications as soon as gameplay starts.
While the game includes meticulously reproduced streets of New York, gameplay can be very frustrating. Common technical glitches mean cars will at times float in the air, or sound effects will get caught in annoying loops. Graphics are fuzzy and frame rate is slow. All in all, skip this title.
ClosePublisher’s Details
Released on 1/30/2006, price $49.99, not online enabled
ESRB rating: M (for Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs, Intense Violence)
ESRB rating: M (for Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs, Intense Violence)
Our Members Say
See all 13 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
- I rate this title off for age 14 and give itMy concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- My highlights are:
- Easy to play
- I rate this title iffy for age 15 and give it
uhhu
Okay you can't protect them forever. Especially if you go to public school. I did. I hated it.
- I rate this title on for age 2 and give it
- I rate this title on for age 2 and give it
I would like to take my time here to absolutely discrace this website. The people who created this site are right wing fanactics that care about their children at a very disturbing level. My opinion, they will learn about all the obsenities that you want to protect them from starting in the 7th grade. Lets be real, can you protect them forever??
- I rate this title on for age 2 and give it
this cool to play between ages 12 & up
Some kids don't really pay attention to what is going on, they just want to be able to have fun and enjoy the game. Half the time they don't even notice or they don't evn know what it means.
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