Imagine a future where a modern city becomes a hotbed for terrorist acts and rioting of gangs. Police and civilians are under threat and pressure whilst politicians are powerless to do anything. The streets are owned by the gangs and news bulletins are filled with stories of murder, panic and lawlessness. Is this some sort of Armageddon? Well no its not and is in fact the premise behind Eidos’ Urban Chaos. Now before you ponder, yes there was an Urban chaos game on PS2 and Dreamcast if my memory serves me well and although the two games share similar themes, they are not the same. For starters in this Urban Chaos, you play as T-Zero member Nick Mason. T-Zero is the government’s controversial anti- terrorist unit which has been given the task of cleaning up the city. As Mason your job is to get deep into the thick of urban combat as you do battle in first person shooter style against the various gangs and thugs. It’s a tall order and yet someone has to rise to the challenge and so Mason is the man for the job and that’s where you come in as you assume his role.

Gameplay

Urban Chaos as mentioned earlier is a first person shooter however the game is broken down into specific hotspots within the city. Players are able to progress through each hotspot but also revisit completed hotspots for an even greater challenge. Urban Chaos has its roots firmly fixed into the arcade side of gaming and to be blunt it works very well in its favour. What this translates to in gaming terms are hectic levels filled with various gang types but also objectives that need completing as well as addition optional bonus objectives to aim for. Players can quite happily wade through the game’s standard levels and encounter various situations such as hostage situations, rescuing civilians, helping law enforcement officers, riding gun in choppers and generally being kick ass. However on top of these objectives players can strive to complete bonus objectives such as getting a set number of headshots or perhaps whipping out the Tazer and incapacitating a set number of gang members. Completing optional objectives nets you some medals for your efforts which in turn grant the player some additional weapons and upgrades. Incapacitating gang leaders unlocks bonus missions which again offer more chances to unlock stuff.

There are plenty of weapons in Urban Chaos and I guess most of them you will expect from a shooter. However there are some neat additions to the weaponry such as the aforementioned tazer and things like a chainsaw and cleavers. I think what is really neat is the addition of a riot shield which very quickly becomes your best friend. Not only does it do a good job of deflecting projectiles but also acts as a handy melee weapon. The way in which the level design has been constructed means that there are plenty of moments where players will have to use the riot shield.

Another neat feature of Urban Chaos is the way in which Mason interacts with the game’s characters. Most often players will be joined by a fireman or medic and sometimes fellow law enforcement officers. Mason has some control over them and can give simple commands such as wait, follow, heal and things like opening doors and extinguishing flames. This adds an extra element to the gameplay as players will need to protect these characters if they are to succeed. During the game’s story players will come across familiar faces that they have met in earlier missions and I think the way this was implemented is very good.

With a control scheme that feels just like any other first person shooter, Urban Chaos is very easy to get into. Combat feels very solid and the aiming is a breeze especially when trying for those all important headshots. Nothing feels too complicated in Urban Chaos and I guess this is why it is such fun to play. The enemies are a little unusual in their behaviour and tend to come from all directions with suicidal tendencies. However I think in a game like Urban Chaos it works well and keeps the action fast paced.

Graphics

After playing hours on my Xbox 360 and then going back to Xbox is almost shocking when comparing the two formats and so one has to be reasonable that Xbox is Xbox and cant really compare. Having said that, Urban Chaos looks below par for an Xbox game and when compared to its contemporise is not really going to offer any wow factor. In its defence, Urban Chaos is full of, well, chaos and this aspect of the game is portrayed very well as there is never a dull moment. There’s plenty of blood and some clever slow motion effects used when certain kills are performed. There is definitely heaps of atmosphere here and when combined with the cool rag doll physics means that most players should be having too much fun blasting than complaining about the graphics.

Sound

Urban Chaos has some excellent presentation both visual and aurally as the game has a news program interlude between missions. The news reel is acted very well and comes across quite convincing as it uses real world footage and actors. There are also reports during the games mission stats screen which also sounds very convincing. It’s obvious that the team have used high production values for the audio/visual element here its just a shame that the actual game’s graphics are not as polished.

Urban Chaos features plenty of adult language and so I wouldn’t recommend this to the younger players. It seems that Mason is a popular guy amongst the gangs as they all seem to know his name and face resulting in them shouting obscenities at him. The best way to deal with this is with a short sharp dose of gunfire which sounds great and meaty enough to pop heads.

Longevity

Urban Chaos has 17 missions although some of these are unlocked by completing bonus objectives. Playing through normally will probably take most gamers a few days of solid playing however with the extras available means that it will take a lot longer to beat and unlock all the goodies. In this respect Urban Chaos offers plenty of replay value and remains very much a rewarding experience on subsequent plays. For the connected there are multiplayer modes to mess around with via Live or System link. Again these modes are attack and defend type scenarios in a similar style to Counterstrike and are pretty fun when a full room is found.

Overall

Urban Chaos is a very solid title despite its rather lacking looks. The overall presentation is good and it features plenty of cool ideas that seem to work very well in general. The style and pacing of the game is very much arcade and will no doubt please trigger happy fans looking for a blast. I certainly had a blast playing and will no doubt return again to grabs some more medals. If you are into first person shooters, plenty of action and of course blood then Urban Chaos is well worth a look especially if you are after something new. It might not be the longest of games but the fun factor is definitely there and I assume we could well be in for a sequel if it sells well. Urban Chaos is a very good game for shooting fans; just don’t be too put off by the graphics. As they say never judge a book by its cover as the game play is where it counts and Urban Chaos offers plenty.