The presence of well-known faces in video games is an increasingly common practice and is no longer limited to triple A productions. In fact, we are increasingly seeing the debut of games that boast an entire cast made up of famous performers, who lend features and voice to the characters involved in the narrative plot. In addition to Death Stranding 2 (have you read our preview of Death Stranding 2?), among the games that show off a similar feature shown on stage at The Game Awards 2022 we also find the irreverent Crime Boss: Rockay City, a shooter in subjective view that seems to rely heavily on its stellar cast. Let’s not go further and find out all the details on the project.
The glorious 90s
Just look at a few moments of the Crime Boss announcement trailer to be enveloped in the typical atmosphere of 90s action films and to complete the picture some of the most prominent actors of the films of that period think about it.
In a certain sense, the title under development at Ingame Studios does not differ much from the concept of the “Expendables” film series, because it is based on the reunion of legendary faces. The difference is that in this case there is not a clear and classic opposition to the forces of the bad guys: the characters are in fact immersed in a criminal context and have very little “good”.
The boss of Rockay City has disappeared and his vacant throne attracts the attention of the local gangs, who begin to fight for control of the territory. The lively metropolis, which in style and colors closely resembles the Vice City of GTA, is the backdrop for a fierce fight that takes place not only on the streets. To wage war on the other hand you need generous amounts of money and the quickest way to get it is to engage in spectacular heists.
And it is precisely on the thefts that the game is focused, since we will play the role of a group of criminals who will do the dirty work on behalf of Travis Baker (the Michael Madsen known for playing Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs and Budd in Kill Bill) and his henchmen, among whom we find Touchdown (Michael Rooker), Casey (Kim Basinger), Gloves (Danny Glover) and Nasara (Damion Poitier).
If you think that the list of actors is already finished, know that you are very wrong, since the villains affiliated with rival criminal associations are also added to the list. We are talking about The Dragon (Danny Trejo) and Hielo (Vanilla Ice), not to mention the joker represented by the immortal Chuck Norris, who in this case plays the role of the sheriff.
In the current state of things, Crime Boss has everything to prove and the short trailer certainly cannot give us important reassurances on the quality of the narrative component or the characterization of the characters. At the same time it is clear that, if used correctly, such a cast could create a crackling adventure, capable of ensnaring fans of a certain type of cinema.
Rapine roguelike
If we are here to tell you about the game, it is because the development team didn’t limit itself to showing a short presentation trailer of the protagonists, but also revealed the gameplay of the first-person shooter through a long film that allows you to observe a entire mission.
The illegal activity at the heart of the video consists of the theft of precious jade statues and it all begins with the arrival of a quartet of criminals on the roof of a skyscraper to kick off the operation. The huge luxury structure is guarded by numerous security agents, but fortunately the criminal’s arsenal includes a silenced pistol with which to kill some overly curious vigilante. Then comes the time to rappel down inside the building and intervene on the PCs in the control room, a real eye that monitors the entire building via cameras scattered everywhere. Everything runs smoothly until the entrance to the underground vault, which takes place by sweeping away the first obstacle with an explosive charge and then activating a drill in a very similar way to what was seen in the first two Paydays, a series from which Crime Boss clearly draws inspiration. And just like Overkill’s first-person shooter, firing up the drill kicks things up a notch, and what used to be a smooth stealth infiltration becomes a ferocious gunfight against waves of well-equipped special forces that are harder to take down than mere overseers. met up to that point. From here on the action proceeds without particular twists, with the entrance to the warehouse and the following escort of the statues to the extraction point, all while a river of SWAT members face the group of criminals without too much luck .
As can be seen from the progress of the mission, the action on the screen is frenetic and spectacular, but the impression we got is that there is a certain underlying linearity. Unlike the aforementioned Payday, the possibility of choosing how to approach the goal seems to be completely missing. The same inventory of the protagonists seemed to us quite limited and seems to contain only the elements necessary for progression.
This possible linearity of the progression could clash with the intentions of the developers and the very nature of the production. On the other hand Crime Boss doesn’t want to offer a pre-determined campaign, precisely because it is based on roguelike elements. In experiences of this type it is often the variety that generates the fun, so we cannot exclude that the mission shown can also be completed in other ways. We look forward to finding out what random factors will affect the development of the robberies and how relevant they will be for replayability.
To raise some doubts are also the guns challenged by the criminals during the robbery. In fact, we hope that in addition to being able to apply silencers to weapons – there are in fact two different guns that use them – we will be allowed to fully customize them, with sights and other accessories capable of improving their effectiveness. In fact, shotguns and assault rifles seemed to us devoid of any additional component, which is why we hope to be proven wrong in the future.
Doubts and uncertainties
From a technical point of view, Crime Boss fails to amaze and it is difficult to understand the reasons behind the desire not to make it a cross-gen product. There are no elements on the screen that put the shooter on the same level as other latest generation projects, from the animations of the characters to the overall polygonal mass of the environments.
The lighting system and the artistic direction have their moments of brilliance, this must be recognized but, on the other hand, at the moment the possibilities of interacting with elements of the scenarios seemed practically absent to us. Instead, the fidelity of the faces of the actors involved in the project is more than appreciable, since the sequences shown in the reveal trailer (probably taken from the cutscenes) offer a superior attention to detail compared to the in-game sections.
In short, while not lacking in ambition, Crime Boss runs the risk of being a product that focuses entirely on form while neglecting substance. In any case, it may not be long before being able to touch a trial version of the game, given that its debut is not that far away: in fact, it will arrive on the Epic Games Store on March 28, 2023 and will be sold at the budget price of 39 .99 euros. Finally, it should be noted that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S versions have been officially confirmed, but will only hit the shelves at a later time.
