Urban Chaos: Riot Response

The Good
Well, for starters, I love nothing more than a good brutal smash-fest game, and the riot shield alone provided more than enough entertainment for me. This game has somewhat decent visuals for the Xbox, and storyline is a bit thin, but able to be followed. A neat perk about it is that depending on how good you do in a mission [# of head-shots, non-lethal captures, etc...] you get more medals. More medals mean new and better versions of your current arsenal. A good feature is the ability to go back and re-play missions you didn't do so well on to earn more medals, so replay value is pretty darn good. The sounds are excellent, especially during head-shots and skull shatters. Urban Chaos is a definite buy on my list.

The Bad
Only a few things got me a little irked. For starters, there's not much for personalization in the story line. It's one simple path you must follow or you cannot continue. I also wish that multiplayer would allow bots for a little skull-shattering fun. The last thing which is not that big of an issue, but it gets slightly annoying is that when you're in front of a mob of bad guys in masks, they use the same little catchphrases sometimes. "C'mon Mason, you a chicken?" that sort of thing. It rarely happened, but it kind of threw me off every now and then. Other than that, not too bad at all.

The Bottom Line
Urban Chaos is the fulfillment of dreams you never knew you had. I love to watch a couple of riot videos and "Cops" before playing just to get into the mood. Hahaha!

The Good
+ Fun, violent and insane gameplay + Detailed graphics and animations + Lots of unlockable upgrades and replay value + A chaotic atmosphere

The Bad
- Hokey story and characters - Upgrades are tedious to unlock - Occasional trial and error moments - AI and audio can be real stupid at times - Multiplayer doesn't work anymore

The Bottom Line
Urban Chaos: Riot Responce is a doozy of a first person shooter, developed by Rocksteady, who we now know as the people behind the solid Batman Arkham games. Think of it this way: if you're too reckless to play SWAT or just like killing bad guys tormenting normal people and those we consider as heroes, Urban Chaos: Riot Response is the game for you.

The main plot of Urban Chaos is that you're Nick Mason, an officer recently placed into the "T-Zero" riot squad. A gang called the Burners, with a penchant for mass chaos, destruction and burning stuff, has taken over your city and is destroying it bit by bit. It's up to you to work with America's finest, by killing lots of gangsters and rescuing civilians and emergency personnel. It's simple, but it can be a little hokey at times with the semi-camp live action cutscenes that explain the game's next level.

Gameplay is a first person shooter with some tactical elements. Most of the time you will be completing objectives, leading and commanding emergency personnel or partaking in challenge levels. You are usually ordered to shoot to kill every gangster that comes your way, but you can take down enemies non-lethally with your taser (or you can burn them to a crisp by tasing them until they burst into flame). Most of the time, you have a riot shield which is easily triggered with the L1 button for PS2, or Left Trigger for Xbox, to deflect enemies' attacks or as a melee attack. You and your enemies do have a large amount of weapons to use, from assault rifles, pistols, dual Uzis, chainsaws, Molotov cocktails, shotguns and more. Each weapon sounds different and they all pack a serious punch, and often lead to lots of violent and bloody results. In each level, however, are various side tasks and challenges to complete, ranging from headshot counts, non lethal takedowns, collecting masks and not dying. Doing so earns you a medal, and after a few or so you can unlock new weapons, upgrades and more. The gameplay is usually fun and it does introduce some features that never appeared fully before, which is nice.

Graphically, the game is quite impressive for a PS2 and Xbox title. The Havok physics engine works to great detail here, and it looks rather realistic. Lots of details are put into Riot Response's graphics and animations: blood and bullet holes covering your riot shield, buildings burning on every corner, your hands being shown as you climb ladders. The game has a sense of chaos that most FPS games didn't have at the time. Audio wise, weapons are nasty and violent, the enemies often taunt you, and the voice acting is good for the most part. Writing is alright, but more detail could be put into it to make a more...atmospheric title, I guess?

Unfortunately, much as like this game, it's also flawed. You must gain medals on all difficulties too, including challenge missions, which can be quite annoying. Much the gameplay is also trial-and-error, especially in the later parts of the game, as well as being repetitious later on. The AI can be very dumb and all over the place, and the audio, especially the voice acting, can be rather childish, and some particle effects, like blood sprays, can look cartoonish (the meat cleaver is an example of that), and some lines in the game are really ridiculous and feel out of place, considering the game's chaotic nature. Level design can also be broken and inconsistent, and there's not a lot of checkpoints either. Lastly, the game's online servers work anymore on PS2 or Xbox, being a GameSpy title, which is a shame, but it's a given.

Nevertheless, Urban Chaos: Riot Response is a hell of a FPS title, and a sadly underrated title. It's great fun if you want to play something that's considered the anti-SWAT, or just want to see ragdolls get blown away with a shotgun blast to the chest. A definite reccomend.

The Good
I just want to start of by saying I love this game. I'm personally not a big fan of first person shooters, so when I first rented this game I was a little leery, but once I was finished, I went right out and bought this game.

The enemies are very demented, they almost remind you of Manhunt or almost like a bunch a Jason Vorhees clones running at you, plus the amount of them running around keeps you blasting away, almost like cockroaches, you shoot one and three swarm you.

The weaponry in the game is awesome, everything from the assault rifle to shotguns and even the dreaded mini-gun which you can unlock, which will let you wipe out everything in its path. Plus the shield they give you really helps out in tough situations.

The Havok physics engine really does the game justice, they fall and react almost like a real human being and the slow-motion kill cam really makes the game very fun and interesting.

Another plus is the fast loading times, restarting at a previous checkpoint is virtually instant, making it very fun if you like to go back and play around with a certain area (my personal favorite is in the City Hall mission, just before you go on the roof to deal with the hostage situation where the one Burner will jump down from the hatch, it's a blast to kill this guy over and over and over and....well you get the idea)

The Bad
There are a few things that bothered me with this game, one of which is the support units that follow you, don't get me wrong its nice to have a cop running with you helping you out, but at times they have been accidentally shot when you try to go after a Burner. Plus searching down a medic for a medi-pak instead of just carrying one around yourself is really annoying.

I do like the Burners in this game, but the problem is they all almost seem the same, making it very repetitive shooting them over and over, plus since there are only a few voices done for the hundreds of these guys.

There are two other things that bothered me, but wasn't that much of an issue. One of which is the rescue missions in the burning apartments, you have to use a thermal mask, making it look very disorienting, plus you can take it off without it being fatal so it can be a pain. The Havok engine is great, I just wish you can blow arms and legs off as well, would be kinda fun, but I guess it might be a good thing, since it would give the game a Soldier of Fortune feel.

The Bottom Line
All in all, this is a great game, The Burners are a blast to kill and the storyline is very well done, it almost gives it a Robocop feel, just without the metal half-robot, half-man running around. If you love first-person shooters and love a lot of gun violence this game is for you. But if your an anti-gun advocate, then keep on walking, this game will make you cringe when you pump some buckshot in the chest of a Burner. I just hope that make a sequel soon, just with a different variety of gangs this time. Still though, a very great game through and through.