Crime Boss: Rockay City

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Buy Crime Boss: Rockay City on PlayStation Store. A '90s-inspired organized crime game starring some of the biggest names of the era.

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Play Modes

Reviews

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 4,624 reviews

story226 positive mentions

optimization122 negative mentions

Fun and addicting gameplay with a unique roguelite campaign.
Better AI companions compared to previous heist games, able to loot and assist during missions.
Great voice acting from a star-studded cast, adding a humorous charm to the game.

Frequent bugs and crashes, including issues with AI pathfinding and mission failures.
Lack of weapon customization and meaningful progression, leading to repetitive gameplay.
Poor optimization resulting in performance issues, even on high-end PCs.

story
1,688 mentions
13 % positive mentions
82 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The story in "Crime Boss: Rockay City" is often described as simplistic and cheesy, with many reviewers noting that it feels like a B-movie narrative filled with poorly delivered dialogue and disjointed cutscenes. While the game features a roguelite campaign that allows for varied missions and character interactions, the overall plot lacks depth and coherence, leading to a mixed reception regarding its storytelling quality. Players generally agree that the focus is more on gameplay mechanics and mission variety rather than a compelling narrative.
- “The story is well done, simple, a bit tongue-in-cheek, and with some easy-to-recognize characters that don't take themselves too seriously.”
- “The roguelite campaign is a mix of different types of missions and gameplay, combined with having to manage your gang, team, and finances in order to complete your ultimate goal.”
- “The gameplay and story keep you intrigued, and you just want to keep going.”
- “No consistency, trash writing/story to top it all off.”
- “There’s barely any story, and if there is, it’s buried under poorly voice-acted cutscenes and must be further in the game, because the cut scenes so far are nothing like what they are showing in their videos to sell the game.”
- “The story, acting, and writing are all terrible, the game is a mess, but it's actually fun, and good for turning your brain off.”
gameplay
938 mentions
28 % positive mentions
65 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Crime Boss: Rockay City" is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating its fun mechanics and engaging heist elements reminiscent of the "Payday" series, while others criticize its repetitiveness and technical issues. The game features a roguelite campaign that adds depth through resource management and character progression, but suffers from bugs and optimization problems that detract from the overall experience. While some find the gameplay enjoyable and innovative, particularly in its approach to stealth and combat, others feel it lacks the polish and complexity of its predecessors, leading to a somewhat shallow experience.
- “The roguelite gameplay mode is actually really well done, and as someone who doesn't like people, it works well as a solo experience.”
- “It captures the heist experience with style, offering more mechanics and a polished gameplay loop.”
- “The gameplay loop is fun and satisfying, feeling like an evolution of the heist game genre while not having eyes bigger than its stomach in terms of what they could accomplish with their budget, the gunplay is snappy and fantastic.”
- “Runs really poorly, the game is always kind of blurry for some reason and the gameplay feels like a discount PS2 game.”
- “I was bored within 30 minutes because it’s just the same repetitive gameplay.”
- “The gameplay loop is boring and not fun at all.”
optimization
396 mentions
11 % positive mentions
58 % neutral mentions
31 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with many players reporting severe performance issues such as constant stuttering, frame drops, and lag, even on high-end systems. While some users noted improvements after updates, the overall consensus is that the game requires significant optimization to provide a smoother experience, particularly in multiplayer modes. Despite its fun gameplay and engaging mechanics, the poor optimization detracts from the overall enjoyment, making it a frustrating experience for many players.
- “The game's optimization is commendable, delivering stable fps with high-quality graphics in single-player mode.”
- “While the single-player experience is robust and engaging, multiplayer optimization needs improvement.”
- “The updates have fixed performance issues, eliminated bugs, and added fresh content.”
- “Completely unplayable due to constant stuttering.”
- “Never met a game so horribly optimized before (my PC can run all games I played so far on ultra presets).”
- “The only reason I'm writing a negative review is because of the poor optimization.”
graphics
236 mentions
36 % positive mentions
58 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the vibrant visuals and detailed environments, while others criticize the poor optimization and frequent performance issues, such as stuttering and long loading times. Many comparisons are made to other titles like "Payday," with some feeling that the graphics do not justify the game's performance problems. Overall, while there are moments of impressive aesthetics, the inconsistent quality and technical issues detract from the overall experience.
- “The graphics are gorgeous and vibrant, the gameplay is simple and the guns are stupidly addictive to shoot.”
- “The visuals are beautiful and appealing, worthy of a modern game.”
- “Great graphics, sound, 4k glory 130 fps max settings blows payday out of the water!”
- “Some areas are barely one building and a couple of streets, and the graphics aren't special enough to justify the loading times, to be honest.”
- “Even on the lowest graphical settings, I'm met with constant stuttering, long loading times, and huge FPS drops whenever I pull out a weapon.”
- “Cutscenes often play with multiple voice tracks overlapping each other, and the graphics look extremely muddy - overall, it just has a very cheap feel to it.”
humor
188 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its intentionally cheesy and often awkward voice acting, which many players find hilariously bad, reminiscent of 80s and 90s action films. While some criticize the performances as phoned-in, this contributes to a charm that makes the game entertaining, with players frequently laughing at the absurdity of the dialogue and character interactions. Overall, the humor is a mix of intentional comedy and unintentional hilarity, making it a defining aspect of the gameplay experience.
- “It's funny, it's probably worse than Payday 3 but it's cheap and gives you the DLC instead of gouging you for it so people are way more positive towards it.”
- “The writing and voice acting are simply hilarious and it’s clearly intentional, the whole thing feels like someone watched an 80/90s action movie while high on something strong and turned it into a game.”
- “The cutscenes with their voice acting delivery, odd animations, and batshit dialogue have me laughing often.”
stability
178 mentions
8 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
92 % negative mentions
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and performance issues that significantly detract from the overall experience. Players frequently encounter problems such as freezing, stuttering, and AI malfunctions, leading to frustrating gameplay moments. While some users find the game somewhat playable despite these issues, many recommend avoiding it until substantial patches are released to address the myriad of technical shortcomings.
- “Crime Boss seems almost entirely bug-free and it has great performance and stability.”
- “This game blends different elements from different genres really well, and the experience is mostly bug-free.”
- “Game feels great, runs great, story/acting is okay but it's a blast!”
- “Naw, it's a buggy mess of a game that people with no self-respect need to feel important by overcoming.”
- “The game is too buggy to recommend, and the difficulty is poorly judged.”
- “That said, the game's lack of technical polish is the most important issue it's been suffering from since its release, as it still features occasional performance hiccups, long loading times, plenty of annoying bugs, and severe showstoppers.”
replayability
154 mentions
22 % positive mentions
75 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The game features a highly replayable singleplayer roguelike campaign with persistent progression and randomized elements, ensuring that each heist feels unique. Players appreciate the variety in missions and the engaging mechanics, although some express concerns about the long-term replayability of larger heists and the multiplayer experience. Overall, the combination of roguelite elements and diverse scenarios contributes to a significant replay value, making it a compelling choice for fans of the genre.
- “The roguelite setup is a neat concept to justify the crimes in the campaign, as well as giving it some replay value along with the rewards for beating it multiple times.”
- “The game also has a ton of variety and replayability, with tons of different variations to each mission and some random events here and there.”
- “The replayability is awesome - when you come back to a heist, you can notice objective location changes and new interiors!”
- “Simply put, this game just doesn't have that replayability factor it was going for because the core combat of the game is tedious, slow-paced, and just all around not satisfying.”
- “Large heists were a bit disappointing; objectives generally felt too simplistic from the ones I played, and the random variation seemed much lower than the variation found in the smaller heists, so I'm doubtful about their long-term replayability.”
- “But I sadly can only recommend it for the campaign of this game, because the multiplayer isn't that great for long-term gaming, since it lacks a lot of customization and replayability.”
music
124 mentions
29 % positive mentions
63 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some praising the nostalgic licensed tracks and original soundtracks that reflect a 90s vibe, while others find it mediocre and forgettable. Many players express a preference for the iconic soundtrack of Payday 2, noting that the current game's music lacks the immersive quality and excitement expected in heist scenarios. Overall, while there are standout tracks, the general consensus is that the music could benefit from improvement and a more memorable selection.
- “Payday 2 has a lot going for it: years worth of content updates, a compelling story, interesting characters, probably one of my favorite progression systems in a video game, satisfying combat, an incredible soundtrack, fun heists; the list goes on.”
- “The actors are simply legends, the music hits the nostalgia.”
- “When all is said and done, Crime Boss: Rockay City feels like a very polished product with a great soundtrack, some fantastic appearances from actors such as Norris, Glover, and Trejo along with some incredibly fun gameplay that can be enjoyed both solo and in co-op.”
- “The game lacks any immersive soundscape, and the music is subpar.”
- “The music in the game does not slap and a lot of sound effects are very unsatisfying such as hitting enemies and looting.”
- “The music is very mediocre and generic; they are pretty short loops and aren't all that interesting.”
grinding
66 mentions
2 % positive mentions
8 % neutral mentions
91 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly in multiplayer modes where rewards are minimal compared to the effort required. While some enjoy the single-player campaign for its content and variation, many feel that the grind detracts from the overall experience, making it less enjoyable over time. Despite some positive remarks about the game's fast-paced action and mechanics, the consensus leans towards it being overly grindy without sufficient incentive for replayability.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “I find the roguelite mode infinitely frustrating, tedious, and just generally unfun - it's boring, it's slow, the turf wars suck, the heists are dull, and the permadeath mechanic is unfun and makes the experience a poor one.”
- “Single player portion of the game is very well-rounded and has enough content and variation to keep you going without too much grind, but then they made the multiplayer portion so grindy it's not even fun, making it a very sad experience if you want to grind for all of it.”
- “The missions and campaign and gameplay are simply not interesting enough to warrant me grinding through this artificial 'replayability' roguelite attempt to get to a point where I can outpace that meter.”
monetization
44 mentions
7 % positive mentions
30 % neutral mentions
64 % negative mentions
The monetization model of the game has received mixed feedback, with many players appreciating the absence of microtransactions and the ability to unlock all content through gameplay, which they find refreshing in contrast to modern gaming trends. However, some users initially perceived the game as a cash grab, although they later acknowledged its depth and potential as a passion project. Overall, the fair pricing and lack of paid microtransactions are highlighted as significant positives.
- “Fair pricing: no microtransactions and a reasonable price point.”
- “Unlocking stuff ranging from weapons to cosmetics without microtransactions is a breath of fresh air within the stink of modern gaming.”
- “No paid microtransactions; you earn everything by playing the game and unlocking the stuff!”
- “Said it was a goofy cash grab, and why would I play it when Payday 3 is coming out.”
- “At this point, it still feels like a total cash grab by Starbreeze/Deep Silver to bankroll their next game.”
- “Next we will get a sequel to this game with live service because Gen Z loves to throw money away on nonsense like microtransactions.”
atmosphere
10 mentions
60 % positive mentions
20 % neutral mentions
20 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is frequently praised for its immersive and captivating qualities, evoking the tension and style of classic crime dramas. While some reviewers note it may not be groundbreaking, the combination of strong performances, engaging gunplay, and diverse missions contributes to a rich and character-filled environment that keeps players returning.
- “[i] Immersive atmosphere - captivating environment.”
- “The atmosphere is thick with tension and style, reminiscent of classic crime dramas.”
- “The atmosphere, the actors, the gunplay, and the variety in missions create a game full of character that keeps me coming back for more.”
emotional
8 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight a significant lack of emotional depth in the game's voice acting, with many feeling the performances come off as flat and uninspired. Despite this, some users note a generally wholesome community surrounding the game, contrasting with their frustrations regarding gameplay issues. Overall, the emotional engagement appears to be a major drawback for players.
character development
4 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted by unique and fantastic character designs that stand out, particularly within the detailed mission areas. However, the overall environmental quality outside these areas is criticized, detracting from the immersive experience. The gameplay features, such as mission variety and a roguelike mode, complement the character design but do not significantly enhance character development itself.
- “The character designs are quite unique, and the stealth is forgiving but not easy, which adds depth to the gameplay.”
- “The character design is simply fantastic, showcasing a high level of detail and creativity.”