You look at a blockbuster game like Grand Theft Auto and make a similar game but ten times bigger and with the promise of a gripping storyline. After having released a pretty decent console version (see our PS2 review) you try to make some more money by making a PC version which includes multiplayer. Sounds like a guaranteed formula of success, but is it ? Read on.

You're Nick Kang, an ex-E.O.D. (Elite Operations Division) member who had to leave the division due to reckless behaviour. However, since you were the only one capable of solving difficult cases it doesn't take long before the E.O.D. calls you back in to take on a new assignment.
First you need to do some training where the basics get explained to you. A kind of tutorial so to speak.
Then it's time to take your gun and you're ready to start, or as Nick states it : "Time to hit the road Jack.. eh... Nick.". Nick is clearly not an intellectual as he doesn't know many lines and you'll soon be bored by his ever-repeated annoying sentences.

You can go through the storyline as you want. If you have to face a gang of punks and get beaten up you can choose to either restart the mission in an attempt to teach those guys a lesson, or you can just continue the story with a possibility to meet the same guys again later on in the story.
In the menu where you need to click for the next mission you'll notice splits after a while so you don't need to do exactly the same thing if you replay the game.

You can also choose how to complete your missions. If you constantly shoot your enemies in the legs or you manage to cuff them without injuries, you'll be a Good Cop. Shooting them in the head all the time will give you the title of Bad Cop and if you get too bad, the police will came after you aswell.
Doing some extra missions like solving little riots or stopping a speeding car will make your balance go more towards the "good" side.

Activision certainly didn't lie about the size of the city. The city of Angels, Los Angeles, is trule gigantic. 240 square mile of the original city has been recreated for the virtual version and all important buildings have also been integrated. Going from North to South will easily take you five minutes. Luckily you can also take the highway and you'll cross suburbs like Bel Air and West Side of LA at high speed. Just take the correct exit and you're where you need to be.

You'll have to go through town with all possible weapons including your own fists and here's where the first problem appears: you'll immediately notice this is just a complete port of the console version ! The controls are truly awful, to beat someone you'll have to start bashing your mouse buttons like a raving lunatic and control over the direction of your hits is almost zero.
You can also use the numeric keypad for blowing but I most certainly wouldn't recommend it.
You can alter the basic configuration to your needs but even then it keeps the awful feeling of console controls and the only solution in my opinion seems to be a gamepad.
Add to this a truly horrific camera viewpoint and things are complete(ly ruined).

Of course a whole arsenal of cars is at your disposal and they're really nicely modelled. When they're occupied you can "friendly" drag the driver out of his car and start fighting crime with it in the name of the city of LA.
You can also shoot the driver and have his body fall out of the seat.
Personally I has most fun with the latter; taking a dive in slow-motion and shooting through the window and maybe even through the seats.
Before too long my Good/Bad Cop meter was hitting -33 which of course isn't all too good...

LA has been beautifully reproduced. Everywhere you'll see people strawling around, the streets are overwhelmed by cars, ... everything looks very vivid like a real city. However, while the cars look really nice, the buildings are simple and dull square blocks. This concerns the unimportant houses though, the big important buildings in town have plenty of detail.
I also find it a pitty that everything has been portrayed dark and grey but it will probably be standing for all the violence...

During your trip through LA you'll be accompanied by popular music. 50 original songs of Snoop Dogg, Westside Connection, Coolio, etc... are pounding through your speakers. I was rejoiced to not only hear the (to me) rather stupid "Yo, I'm cruising through the Wet side"-rap music but also some rock songs.
The voice acting is also very well done and only Nick Kang's annoying lines are, well... annoying.

Then we get to the point of thé addition of the PC version in comparison with the console one: the multiplayer mode.
I'll cut to the chase: what a disappointment ! With a maximum of 4 gamers you'll be able to play on a server and I didn't even have much choice as only 2 servers were online. And I even understand why.
On these servers you could only play Dojo Master, Battle Master and Street Racing. The Beat and Police Chase were (unfortunately ?) not available for testing.
In Dojo Master you need to bash each other in a confined room without weapons except for some sticks or knives.
Battle Master lets you do the same with weapons in the same small places.
Street Racing is just plain old racing and you'd do better to buy a racing game for that instead of an action game.
In The Beat you need to solve crimes and become a really good cop (as good as possible) and in Police Chase one person is a suspect and the others need to get him.

They've quite ruined the game. It has potential to be good with the storyline and the huge city, but the awful controls make fighting with your fists a pain and knowing that there's a lot of fighting necessary only makes you frustrated. The multiplayer mode is extremely overhyped and in fact sucks big time.
Too bad, a lot of potential has gone to waste...