Plot Summary
Marcus Reed is a gang member who inherited his incarcerated father's criminal empire in New York City. Several years later, Reed is betrayed by a friend and assumed dead after an ambush. Covered in blood and injured, Reed shows up unexpectedly at the betrayer's house to exact revenge. After a bloody, running gunfight with gang members, Reed corners the betrayer in a building basement and guns him down. Dropping his empty Uzi, Reed is almost shot and killed by another gang member, but an NYPD detective named Terry Higgins saves Reed.
Isaiah Reed (Marcus' father) and Higgins have been friends for a long time. Higgins tells Reed that he should be ashamed of the level he's sunk to. Although Reed willingly offers to allow Higgins to arrest him, Higgins refuses. He says that he's going to cover up Reed's involvement in the shoot-out, but this will be his final chance to clean up his act before he's left to the mercy of the NYPD. Reed agrees, and shuffles off to tend to his injuries. As he does so, Higgins sighs and says, "Merry Christmas."
Five years later, Marcus Reed is now an officer of the NYPD, having worked the beat for four years to become one of the precinct's best street cops with Higgins' mentoring and guidance. At the urging of Higgins, he applies to test for his detective's badge and a transfer to the Organized Crime Unit. After passing the test with flying colors, Reed is issued his badge and is now a part of the OCU as a plain-clothes detective. To celebrate, Higgins takes Reed out onto the streets to teach him some of the basics of his new job. After completing a few tasks and breaking up a bar fight, Reed and Higgins go to visit Reed's father in jail. The visit is cut short by a phone call to Higgins. A contact for a case he's working on has called a meeting in another part of town. Marcus Reed and Higgins hurry to the contact point. Before getting out of the car, Higgins instructs Reed to come in guns blazing if he's gone for too long. As Higgins walks into the building with a briefcase, Reed leans over to pick up some of Higgins' cigarettes that have fallen out of the glove box, and suddenly, a massive explosion sends the undercover squad car flying through the air.
Back at the precinct, a Reed is informed that Higgins was killed in the explosion. Due to his lack of experience, and with Higgins no longer there to help him out, Reed is transferred back to the Street Crime Unit under the command of Lieutenant Deena Dixon. She informs Marcus that he will be going back out on the street as a plainclothes cop while the department investigates Higgins' murder. As Reed resumes his duties, he is contacted by FBI agent Gabriel Whitting, who requests a meeting in a parking garage downtown. Whitting informs Reed that a member of the OCU is a mole and likely organized Higgins' death. Whitting does not know who but does know that the mole was working with four major crime syndicates: the Magdalena Cartel, the President's Club, the Palermo Mob, and the Shadow Tong. Whitting wants Reed to investigate these four crime groups to track down Higgins' killer. After being given a folder with information on the Magdalena Cartel, Reed sets off on his mission of revenge while attending to his street duties along the way.
Endings
Good Cop Ending Victor Navarro comes to Grand Central Station to find Marcus Reed and Gabriel Whitting waiting at his locker. Whitting tells Navarro that he has a warrant and tells him to open his locker. Navarro does so, revealing a clothes bag and some golf clubs. As Navarro taunts Reed, however, the bag falls down, revealing millions of dollars in cash. Whitting arrests Navarro on the spot. As Navarro is carted off, Whitting tells Reed to get some rest. Down in the subway station, however, Reed is greeted by the one person he least expects: Higgins, alive and well. Reed realizes the truth at last: Higgins was the mole. He knew Whitting was on to him, so he faked his death and framed Navarro for his crimes. When Reed arrested the crime heads, he had unwittingly protected Higgins from gang vengeance. Higgins attempts to get Reed to join him and enjoy the money in Mexico, but Reed is angry with Higgins for tricking him.
Annoyed by Reed's self-righteous attitude, Higgins produces a folder filled with pictures of Reed's rampage five years ago, threatening him with them if he ever thinks of revealing Higgins' actions. Reed defiantly replies that he would "do my time standing up, just like my pops" and orders Higgins to surrender. Higgins runs onto a subway car as Reed follows in hot pursuit. Higgins unhooks the cars and starts to make his getaway. Angry, Reed shoots wildly at the train car, striking one of the wheels and causing it to flip over. The rest of the subway train collides with the overturned train car, with Reed running desperately toward the back of the train, barely escaping the huge explosion. Later, Reed talks with Whitting and Dixon as Higgins' dead body is pushed away on a stretcher. In return for catching Higgins, Whitting promises to give Reed's father another chance with the D.A. Reed walks out of the station, wondering if he did the right thing. Marcus's father meanwhile, narrates the end of the story in the background, saying how much he is proud to see that his son stayed in the way of honor despite the fact that there were two bad examples in front of him. (King and Higgins)
Bad Cop Ending Victor Navarro comes to Grand Central Station to find Marcus and Gabriel Whitting waiting at his locker. Whitting tells Navarro that he has a warrant and tells him to open his locker. Navarro does so, revealing a clothes bag and some golf clubs. As Navarro taunts Reed, however, the bag falls down, revealing millions of dollars in cash. Whitting arrests Navarro on the spot. As Navarro is carted off, Marcus taunts Navarro, saying, "Don't drop the soap." Infuriated, Navarro grabs a gun from one of the officer and shoots Whitting, killing him. Marcus chases Navarro onto a run-away subway train. After a brief gunfight, Navarro ambushes Reed and knocks his gun off the train. Reed and Navarro have a fistfight, and Reed wins by throwing Navarro off the train. As Navarro's body is carted off, Dixon comments that she never would have pegged him a dirty cop. She tells Reed to get some rest.
As Reed sits on the bench, Higgins shows up. Reed reveals that he's known the mole was Higgins since he took down the last crime syndicate. Higgins asks him why he killed Navarro. Reed replies that he simply hated Navarro. Higgins congratulates Reed, saying that they are alike, and tells Reed to come with him to Mexico. Reed, however, is furious at Higgins for using him. Higgins hands Reed a bag full of cash, but Reed shoots Higgins for his treachery. Reed starts to walk away with the cash, but stops and sits back down on the bench, staring at his badge with shame.
Features
New York City
Times Square as depicted in True Crime: NYCTrue Crime: New York City features a GPS street-accurate recreation of the New York City borough of Manhattan and its many landmarks.
A major difference from previous free roaming games is that many buildings are accessible to the player besides just the locations related to the game's story. These include restaurants, hotels, apartment buildings, pharmacies, clothing shops, car dealers, dojos, record stores, and more. Besides shopping opportunities at some locations, the random streets crimes found in the first game now can and often occur within building interiors as well. Players can also purchase food (which increases health) from New York City's many hot dog stands.
The Flatiron Building
Bridges such as the Brooklyn Bridge that lead off the island are present but blocked off. Parks such as Washington Square Park and Central Park are accessible; the Statue of Liberty is not but can be seen from Battery Park. Using the debug menu to access the debug camera reveals that the statue's tablet bears the same inscription as in real life.
Times Square features the familiar bright neon lights, and the Naked Cowboy can be found playing his guitar. There is also a replica of the TKTS booth Grand Central Terminal is the only major landmark that can be entered any time by the player, but the actual subway stop there is inaccessible for most of the game. In the game's story, the other major landmark that is featured as a setting is the American Museum of Natural History.
Other landmark buildings such as the Empire State Building, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the United Nations headquarters, St. Patrick's Cathedral,Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building are present but cannot be entered, and a few areas, particularly in northern Manhattan (such as the Columbia University campus), are not recreated exactly as in real life. The Guggenheim Museum, the Manhattan Municipal Building, The Met-Life Building, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Citigroup Center, the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle feature accuratly in the game, as well as Belvedere castle and the The Victor Prevost Terrace in central park are all present. The World Trade Center site is depicted in its 2005 condition: cleaned up and closed off.
Transportation
At West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen. (Note the street signs with actual street names)
Besides traveling on foot or taking vehicles as in the first True Crime game, the player now has the ability to use the extensive and accurately recreated New York City subway system. Though both the Brady Games strategy guide's subway map and the printed map that comes with the collector's edition show the various subway lines using different colors as in real life, the player does not need to transfer to different lines in the game to get to the various stations.
The stations themselves are all presented in the same basic set-up, but the signage at each station does change to reflect whichever station it is supposed to represent. The station at Grand Central Terminal is inaccessible during most of the game (although it can be seen past the gates that block the stairs), but it is featured as a prominent setting for the game's finale. Unfortunately, Manhattan's high population density is not recreated in the game, and this extends to the subway stations and subway trains, which are completely empty except for the final train mission at Grand Central.
Players can also get a ride from the iconic yellow NYC taxicabs that drive around the island (the taxis can still be commandeered like other vehicles if the player scares off or incapacitates the driver).
Both new modes of transportation require a minimal in-game fee.
One thing the creators fail to incorporate into the game is making the motor vehicles abide by proper New York state driving laws. For instance, when the autonomous vehicles make a left turn they would occasionally bump each other on the side because the car on the right and left lane both turned simultaneously. According to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Drivers Manual, drivers [who intend on making a left turn] should “prepare to turn by getting into the left lane or the left side of a single lane, as close as possible to the left curb or edge of the road. If the road you enter has two lanes, you must enter into its left lane.” (Pg.53)
Bonus Game
Like the previous game, this game features a bonus round after the game is all completed 100%. This time, instead of getting 1 hour (game time, not real life) to arrest perps, you must escape Manhattan. The city is in a riot against you (i.e. Redman). You have 4 minutes to escape from lower Manhattan to Hell's Kitchen but you can add more time by killing the civilians to add 5 seconds per civilian, and you have a surprise blocking your way: Beetlejuice. Also, killing civilians earns more health (some health boxes are available on the street as well) since the riot involves SMG's, assault rifles, rocket launchers, pistols, etc. Civilian AI has also improved, they pick up weapons instead of shocking you or spraying pepper in your eyes.
You have help by having random guns scattered through out Manhattan. Your only transportation is the enemy's cars and Redman's Hummer H1, but you cannot repair the car if they shoot at it. Some problems include not being able to carry a gun while driving, and having poor shooting accuracy, meaning it takes several rounds of bullets to kill one civilian.
Differences from True Crime: Streets of LA
The New York Stock Exchange
True Crime: New York City includes all of the features of the previous game, namely a "sandbox"-style of gameplay, option to fight crime, the choice to be a good cop (fight crime, take down perps non-lethally, etc.) or a bad cop (kill innocents and fellow officers, using lethal force, damaging property, accepting bribes, and causing chaos in general), and different endings (though simplified to either a good cop or bad cop ending instead of the previous game's branching storyline). Also, instead of allowing the player to proceed down a different mission path upon mission failure, they have the option of doing an informant mission to get back on track with the main storyline.
The game is also said to have upgraded old features and added new features, along with better graphics and sound including the use of motorcycles and new weapons. The player can no longer dual wield assault rifles and shotguns, but the game has a much improved aiming and auto targeting system. Additionally, players are now able to customize their own arsenal of melee weapons and firearms, instead of being limited to a single, upgradeable pair of pistols.
Also the main character is allowed to buy civilian cars that resemble real life cars (i.e. Lamborghini, the Cadillac CTS, etc.) and turn them into police cars. Also they are allowed into several buildings like eateries, hotels and clothing shops and much more.
True Crime: New York City also has noticeably more blood and gore than the first title. For example, the player can take a Katana and completely dismember an innocent civilian on the street. The civilian screams horrifically and, armless and legless, falls to the ground bleeding excessively. The limbs will still sit on the ground bleeding and the player can pick them up and use them as weapons, with blood still spouting out the top. The player can also completely decapitate people and use their skull as a weapon, or slice the top half of their head off and visibly see the brain inside. Also the player can zoom with his/her shotgun and literally blow someone's head into pieces. Even the eyes are visible.
The game also features much more profanity (especially from civilians) than Streets of LA.
References to popular culture
When Reed is chasing a mobster and the mobster phones for help, he tells the person on the phone to bring everyone and shouts "Everyone!" another time - a reference to Norman Stansfield, a corrupt DEA officer played by Gary Oldman in the 1994 movie Léon.
In one mission, while Reed is driving a cab, the passenger he's carrying gets a phone call from "Paris" who informs him about "another tape" - a reference to Paris Hilton's famous sex tape, 1 Night in Paris.
The Pappa Pia! posters and billboards which can be seen throughout Times Square are a parody of the musical Mamma Mia!
When you first meet the taxi driver and start his mission, Reed will remark "Next thing you know I will be driving remote controlled cars and shit" - a reference to the series Grand Theft Auto where the player was able to attempt side missions that involved driving R/C cars strapped with explosives around to destroy enemies.
The Motorola logos can be seen as graffiti or on billboards in various parts of the city and on Reed's police uniform radio. The Hello Moto ringtone can be heard when cell phones ring in the game.
In the last mini-game (when you complete 100%), near the end you can see some terrorists from Iraq and that one guy(Beetlejuice as Zeke) you saved from the hospital holding a rocket launcher.
Like many other games, Activision did not have the rights to car manufacturers, so they created their own, based on real cars, most notably a Toyota Supra and a Nissan Skyline GT-R, which, in the game, if the player goes behind the car and goes into precision aim, can clearly see that it reads "Skylime GT-Z".
Crimes also occur in places of New York like terrorists destroying a gasoline truck at the Lincoln Tunnel or a shootout at the fictional Times Square nightclub where music mobile Puff Doggy and actress Joe Lolita escape in an SUV.
