Urban Chaos
- October 15, 2013
- My Little Planet Ltd
Get on SteamIn Urban Chaos, players can choose to be a cop or vigilante, fighting to restore order in a crime-ridden city overrun by gangs. The game features a variety of missions, free-roaming exploration, and a range of weapons to combat enemies. With a focus on hand-to-hand combat and stealth, Urban Chaos offers a unique take on the traditional shooter genre.
PC
Windows
Dreamcast
PlayStation
Reviews
- Urban Chaos is a nostalgic classic that many players fondly remember from their childhood, offering a unique experience as a cop in a semi-open world.
- The game features a decent story, engaging missions, and a fun late 90s soundtrack that adds to its charm.
- Despite its flaws, many players find the game entertaining and appreciate its influence on later titles like GTA3.
- The game suffers from significant performance issues, including frequent crashes, freezing, and poor controls that make it frustrating to play on modern systems.
- There is a lack of mouse support and the controls are clunky, making it difficult for new players to adapt, especially when using a keyboard.
- The absence of mid-level saving means players must restart entire levels upon failure, which can lead to a frustrating experience.
- story100 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The story of the game revolves around rookie police officer D'Arci Stern as she navigates various missions in a quasi-open world setting, tackling issues from crime prevention to uncovering a mayoral candidate's shady dealings. While the narrative starts strong with a pseudo-noir atmosphere and engaging character interactions, it ultimately falters in the final act, leaving players with a less satisfying conclusion. Despite its shortcomings, the game is praised for its quirky charm and the fun of exploring its missions, even if the overarching plot lacks depth and suspense.
āIt has a great story and good gameplay, GTA style.ā
āIt has a mystery murder plot in it, nice pseudo-noir atmosphere.ā
āHowever, the game is fun, engaging, at times funny with pretty good voice acting and a quirky and unexpectedly weird story.ā
āThere is some overarching plot about the current mayoral candidate and his entanglement in mysterious government activities, but the story is anything but deep and suspenseful; it is just kind of there to maintain a very thin red thread during the game.ā
āThe story starts as a normal cop game, but then goes insane.ā
āAnd I say most kids nowadays will look at this and think it's trash because there is no online or graphics before storyline.ā
- gameplay34 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a gradual increase in difficulty, with players facing challenging mechanics that can lead to frustrating defeats, reminiscent of Dark Souls. While the game features good animations, level design, and a compelling story, it suffers from outdated controls, particularly in its Steam conversion, which can lead to crashes and gameplay interruptions. Despite these issues, the open-world exploration and engaging missions provide a fun experience, especially for those who appreciate classic titles.
āThe gameplay consists of exploring each map, investigating various cases, from simple in the first levels (save the suicide jumper from the top of the building) to more complex (infiltrate enemy swarming football stadia) later in the game.ā
āPlayed this decades ago... it's an appealing action game & you can get hundreds of hours of gameplay from it.ā
āKids buy, play, enjoy; screw graphics! The games with the most awful graphics 9 times out of 10 have the best storylines and gameplay, and this is one of them.ā
āThe game can either get stuck when a character is finishing up dialogue, or it will crash during gameplay.ā
āWhen it does crash during gameplay, you can't do anything else but close the entire game with task manager.ā
āA classic, way ahead of its time that didn't receive the attention it deserved, but possibly fairly attributed to mechanics that are occasionally a struggle to control.ā
- graphics32 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The graphics of "Urban Chaos," released in 1999, are widely regarded as dated and limited by modern standards, with many reviewers noting issues like poor draw distance and pixelated visuals. However, despite these shortcomings, some players appreciate the game's nostalgic charm and find the visuals acceptable for its time, emphasizing that the gameplay and storyline can outweigh the graphical limitations. Overall, while the graphics may not impress contemporary audiences, they do not detract significantly from the enjoyment of the game.
āVoice acting is good and the visuals are pretty crisp for the age.ā
āAside from the negatives, there are positives such as the loading times, missions, challenges, and the graphics for its time.ā
āThe graphics are extremely dated, but by no means are they ugly.ā
āSince most missions are pretty short and wouldn't be that hard at all if it weren't for the awful controls and limited graphics and draw distance of the PlayStation in my case, Urban Chaos is a neat little 'pick-up-and-play-for-an-hour-before-you-go-to-sleep' kinda game... if you can get it to run on your system or otherwise bother enough to bear the pixel-puke visuals and clumsy controls of the PS1.ā
āThis came out in '99 so obviously the graphics are dated and reflect that time.ā
āIf you don't mind the bad graphics compared to modern games or fancy playing an old console title, then it's worth getting in a sale or if it's just cheap.ā
- optimization12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with users noting that while increasing the FPS cap can help achieve smoother performance, significant issues persist, including crashes, stuttering, and sound distortion. Many players feel the game struggles to perform well above 60 FPS, which is problematic since it was originally designed for 30 FPS, leading to an overall frustrating experience despite its potential.
āIncrease the FPS cap in the config file in the game folder to achieve 60+ FPS and counter any performance issues.ā
āGame performance and stability are commendable.ā
āWhile there are some performance issues, the overall optimization is satisfactory.ā
āNote: can't play above 60 fps and that already brings issues because it was built with 30 fps in mind, some crashes, some stuttering here and there, sound distortion as well.ā
āGood game but terrible performance issues.ā
āWas probably great back when it was current, the controls and performance were just terrible for me.ā
- stability12 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting frequent freezes, crashes, and various bugs, particularly on modern machines. Many players express frustration over the game's lack of optimization for contemporary hardware, leading to a poor overall experience. Despite nostalgia, the technical issues significantly detract from gameplay enjoyment.
āWas really excited to play this game just to feel my childhood again, but the game literally freezes for me every 5-10 minutes.ā
āYou need to remember that this is a 20-year-old game; it isn't made or optimized for modern machines. Expect glitches, crashes, frame rate issues, and bugs to happen.ā
āDoesn't work after many reinstalls and going through all the usual troubleshooting advice; don't waste your money.ā
- music8 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's music, featuring a nostalgic late 90s/early 00s trip-hop soundtrack, has received high praise from users, with many expressing their continued enjoyment of it. While the voice acting is considered decent, the overall gameplay experience is marred by frustrating controls that make executing combos challenging. Despite the gameplay issues, the soundtrack stands out as a highlight, contributing to the game's charm.
āThe voice acting isn't bad and the game has a very cool late 90s / early 00s trip-hop soundtrack full of nostalgia.ā
āSo nostalgic, I listen to the soundtrack to this day.ā
āAwesome soundtrack, brilliant game.ā
āTerrible controls, can't make a basic combo. I mean, you can, but it's really hard to get the timing right. The animation is horrendous, so you can't count on it showing you when to click. Unless you're a professional musician who can always click in the right tempo to milliseconds, you won't be making basic combos like in any normal game; rather, you'll be doing it out of pure luck.ā
- replayability8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game exhibits high replayability, with many users noting its strong replay value. While some players mention only moderate replayability, the consensus leans towards a robust experience that encourages multiple playthroughs.
āš² - The game offers incredible replayability, with multiple paths and choices that keep each playthrough fresh.ā
āš² - This game has high replay value, making it a joy to return to time and again.ā
āā - There is some replayability, as different strategies can lead to unique experiences.ā
āThe replayability is severely lacking, making it hard to justify multiple playthroughs.ā
āOnce you've completed the game, there's little incentive to return for another run.ā
āThe lack of meaningful choices and consequences diminishes the replay value significantly.ā
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its compelling atmosphere, characterized by a mysterious murder plot and a pseudo-noir aesthetic. Reviewers highlight the strong story and character development, which enhance the immersive experience through engaging interactions within the game world. Overall, the atmosphere is described as both captivating and impenetrable.
āIt has a mystery murder plot in it, nice pseudo-noir atmosphere.ā
āWhile it has been released before GTA 3, it does make up for a great story, character development, and atmosphere among the interactions you have with people and what you can do in the world.ā
āImpenetrable atmosphere.ā
āImpenetrable atmosphere.ā
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game evolves from a lackluster beginning to a darkly surreal and engaging experience, featuring quirky storytelling and strong voice acting that enhances its comedic elements. Players find it fun and unexpectedly funny as the plot develops.
āThe game is fun, engaging, and at times funny, with pretty good voice acting and a quirky, unexpectedly weird story.ā
āThe plot starts off really lame, but things get real, dark, and hilariously surreal later.ā
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be frustrating due to clunky controls, tedious combat, uninspired AI, and numerous bugs, making it unappealing for newcomers.
āThe clunky controls, tedious combat, dull AI, and the overwhelming number of bugs make this game not worth exploring for those unfamiliar with it.ā
āThe grinding feels excessively repetitive and lacks any meaningful rewards, making it a chore rather than an enjoyable experience.ā
āI found the grinding to be mind-numbing, with little variation in tasks and no real sense of progression.ā
- character development2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its strong character development, offering a compelling story and rich interactions that enhance the overall atmosphere. Players appreciate how these elements contribute to a more immersive experience in the game world.
āWhile it was released before GTA 3, it offers a great story, character development, and a rich atmosphere through the interactions you have with people and the activities available in the world.ā
