What if someone took those flying cars from Blade Runner and turned it into a open world sandbox game?
That is Crime Cities. But saying this is similar to Blade Runner doesn’t even scratch the surface.
In terms of gameplay, Crime Cities is like a cross between Descent and Grand Theft Auto. You’re in a flying car, cruising a crime-infested city, looking for random missions to earn money.
These missions vary considerably. One one mission, you make a delivery. On another, you’re taxing someone to a strip club. Yet on another mission, you act as a bounty hunter and must gun some criminals down.
The story is pretty fantastic too. You’re on a literal prison planet, trying to infiltrate a criminal organization, trying to stop a potential terrorists. Or at least, that’s what your handlers say. It all gets very murky quickly.
What especially makes this stand out, though, is the aesthetic. Oh yes, you have the art deco stylings of Blade Runner. But because this game came out in 2000, there’s lots of Y2K stuff going on too. One of the NPCs is actually called CyberDog (like the Apple web browser), and he’s wearing an ocular device similar to the R-Zone.
It just amazes me too that, back in 2000, email was seen as the height of futurism. They really thought that, in terms of communication, things wouldn’t get better than receiving electronic text. And perhaps they had a point because email has not been replaced as the primary communications platform for 50 years, so maybe we will be using it in the faraway future. I’m nevertheless impressed.
Techland made this game. They’re famous for the Dying Light and Dead Island series. But they also made one of my favourite Western FPS games of all time, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. That company is one of the reasons I watch game development in Poland so much.
If you plan on getting this game, I have some advice. First of all, restart your computer after installing – otherwise the menus will have excruciating lag. Also, do not run this game with a 16:9 or 16:10 ratio because your HUD will be cut off. Be sure to keep this at 4:3.
Once you get past those hiccups, this is quite fun! Nothing is quite like cruising around a cyberpunk landscape in your flying car. That, right there, makes it worth it.
Currently, GOG.com has this available for a -79% off its regular price of C$4.65. It’s selling for C$0.99. If you’re looking for a novel experience, this is a killer deal.
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