Urban Chaos

About

In 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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

64%

Audience ScoreBased on 111 reviews

story12 positive mentions

stability6 negative mentions

Urban Chaos is a nostalgic gem that was ahead of its time, offering a unique gameplay experience as a cop in a semi-open world environment.
The game features a fun and engaging story with decent voice acting and a memorable soundtrack that captures the late 90s vibe.
Despite its flaws, many players find the game entertaining and enjoyable, especially for those who appreciate classic titles from the era.

The game suffers from significant performance issues, including frequent crashes, freezing, and poor compatibility with modern systems, making it frustrating to play.
Controls are often described as clunky and unresponsive, with many players struggling to adapt to the keyboard-only setup and experiencing difficulties with vehicle handling.
The lack of mid-mission saving and the need to restart entire levels upon failure adds to the frustration, especially given the game's dated mechanics.

story
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
74%
5%
The story of "Urban Chaos" features a rookie police officer navigating a series of non-linear missions in a chaotic urban environment, with an overarching plot involving a mayoral candidate's dubious activities. While the narrative offers a quirky, 90s vibe and some engaging character interactions, it ultimately lacks depth and a satisfying conclusion, leaving players with a sense of frustration due to its execution and the game's technical issues. Despite these shortcomings, the missions provide a fun, exploratory experience reminiscent of early open-world games.
- “It has a great story and good gameplay, GTA style.”
- “However, the game is fun, engaging, at times funny with pretty good voice acting and a quirky and unexpectedly weird story.”
- “While 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.”
- “There 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.”
- “The story starts as a normal cop game, but then goes insane.”
- “Also be warned there are no in-mission saves; if you die near the end of a level, then you need to replay the entire level from the start.”
graphics
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
70%
15%
The graphics of the game are widely regarded as dated, reflecting the standards of its 1999 release, with many reviewers noting that they may not appeal to modern players accustomed to contemporary visuals. Despite the limitations in draw distance and pixelation, some players appreciate the nostalgic charm and overall enjoyment of the gameplay, emphasizing that the graphics do not detract significantly from the experience. While the visuals may not impress by today's standards, they are considered acceptable for the time and contribute to the game's unique atmosphere.
- “Voice acting is good and the visuals are pretty crisp for the age.”
- “Aside from the negatives, there are positives such as the loading times, missions, challenges, and the graphics for its time.”
- “The graphics are extremely dated, but by no means are they ugly.”
- “Since 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' kind of game... if you can get it to run on your system or otherwise bother enough to bear the pixelated visuals and clumsy controls of the PS1.”
- “This came out in '99, so obviously the graphics are dated and reflect that time.”
- “So if you are expecting a comparison to modern games in terms of graphics or gameplay, then I don't know what to tell you.”
gameplay
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
50%
17%
The gameplay is characterized by a steep difficulty curve, with early missions being straightforward but later encounters becoming frustratingly challenging, reminiscent of Dark Souls. While the game features good animations and level design, and offers a fun open-world experience, it suffers from outdated controls, particularly on modern platforms, which can lead to crashes and hinder the overall experience. Despite these issues, the game is praised for its engaging story and mechanics, making it a classic that still holds appeal for players seeking depth and variety in gameplay.
- “The 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.”
- “The action and gameplay is pretty decent considering when it was made.”
- “Played this decades ago... it's an appealing action game & you can get hundreds of hours of gameplay from it.”
- “The gameplay starts off easy but the difficulty escalates to the point where you'll lose long missions, getting stomped to death by a simple level 1 enemy, much like in Dark Souls.”
- “The game can either get stuck when a character is finishing up dialogue, or it will crash during gameplay.”
- “A 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.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players managing to increase the FPS cap to achieve smoother performance, while others report significant issues such as crashes, stuttering, and sound distortion. Overall, the game struggles with performance stability, particularly for those attempting to play above the intended 30 FPS.
- “Increase the FPS cap in the config file located in the game folder to achieve 60+ FPS and counter any performance issues.”
- “Game performance and stability are commendable.”
- “There are some performance issues that need addressing.”
- “Note: 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.”
- “Good game but terrible performance issues.”
- “Was probably great back when it was current, the controls and performance were just terrible for me.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting frequent bugs, glitches, and random freezes occurring every few minutes. Many players note that the game is not optimized for modern systems, leading to crashes and frame rate issues, which detracts significantly from the overall experience.
- “Was really excited to play this game just to feel my childhood again, but the game literally freezes for me every 5-10 minutes.”
- “You 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.”
- “Doesn't work after many reinstalls and going through all the usual troubleshooting advice; don't waste your money.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game's music features a nostalgic late 90s/early 00s trip-hop soundtrack that many players find memorable and enjoyable, often listening to it long after playing. While the voice acting is considered decent, the overall gameplay experience is marred by frustrating controls that detract from the enjoyment of the music.
- “The voice acting isn't bad and the game has a very cool late 90s / early 00s trip-hop soundtrack full of nostalgia.”
- “So nostalgic, I listen to the soundtrack to this day.”
- “Awesome soundtrack, brilliant game.”
- “Terrible 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.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
Overall, the game exhibits high replayability, with many users noting its strong replay value. While some players mention only moderate replayability, the general consensus leans towards a positive experience that encourages multiple playthroughs.
- “🎲 - The replayability of this game is outstanding, offering new experiences with each playthrough.”
- “🔲 - This game has high replay value, making it a worthwhile investment for players who love to explore different strategies.”
- “✅ - There is some replayability, as the choices you make can lead to different outcomes and experiences.”
- “The game lacks significant replayability, making it feel repetitive after just a few playthroughs.”
- “Once you've completed the main story, there's little incentive to return, as the replay value is quite low.”
- “While there are some elements that encourage replayability, they don't offer enough variety to keep players engaged.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The game is praised for its captivating 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 of interacting with the game world. Overall, the atmosphere is described as both engaging and impenetrable, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
- “It has a mystery murder plot in it, nice pseudo-noir atmosphere.”
- “While 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.”
- “Impenetrable atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere feels impenetrable, making it hard to engage with the game.”
- “The overall ambiance is lacking, leaving the world feeling empty and uninspired.”
- “There's a distinct absence of tension or excitement in the atmosphere, which detracts from the experience.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor evolves from a slow start to a darkly surreal and engaging experience, featuring witty dialogues and quirky storytelling. Players appreciate the fun and unexpected twists, complemented by strong voice acting that enhances the comedic elements.
- “The plot starts really lame, but things get real, dark, and hilariously surreal later.”
- “However, the game is fun, engaging, and at times funny, with pretty good voice acting and a quirky, unexpectedly weird story.”
- “The dialogues are funny.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is negatively impacted by clunky controls, tedious combat, uninspired AI, and numerous bugs, making the experience frustrating and unappealing, especially for newcomers.
- “The clunky controls, tedious combat, dull AI, and the overwhelming number of bugs make this game not worth exploring for those unfamiliar with it.”
- “Grinding feels like an endless chore, with little reward for the time invested.”
- “The repetitive nature of grinding quickly becomes exhausting and detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is highlighted as a strong point, with users praising the engaging story and the depth of interactions with other characters, contributing to a rich atmosphere within the game world.
- “While it was released before GTA 3, it offers a great story, character development, and atmosphere through the interactions you have with people and the actions you can take in the world.”