First Impressions:

Graphics:

You won't be disappointed with the graphics, they were stunning. The shadows were impressive, especially when you are climbing ladders on the sides of a building. The lighting and textures in Urban Chaos blew away their competitors. Visually, it is a beautiful game.

The only thing that I thought was a bit overdone was the excess of leaves flying around in the city. I've never been to a city with quite THAT many leaves, and it just didn't seem convincing.

Sound/Music:

The sounds were fairly average. I would have liked to hear more ambient city sounds. The ambient sounds that were there didn't change depending on your position and seemed to loop over and over again. I would have like a larger variety of noises.

Darci goes into an action beat when she begins to sprint, adding to the mood of the game. The music (in general) resembled something I might hear out of a car racing simulation game. I rather liked it.

Gameplay:

The controls are a bit goofy. You can't use a mouse in the game, and you can't strafe. As frustrating as this was, I can see why they didn't put in these features. Urban Chaos has a really complex fighting system and I'm not sure how they would have designed a mouse to work with it. It takes some getting used to, but after a while you get the hang of it. The controls for the game would work perfectly for a console system though, I wonder if a port is being planned.

I'm reluctant to call Urban Chaos a "3D shooter" because it plays more like a hand-to-hand combat game with the freedom of running around in a large world. The combat system is very complex, but not all that difficult to pick up. Although, I'm sure I still haven't found all the possible combat combo moves yet. You are also capable of driving around in the world.

Unlike some other 3D shooter games, killing is not the objective. Let me just say, it's a lot easier to kill baddies that to arrest them. I liked the added challenge of that, although at times, arresting them can be impossible.

Besides that, I wish they had given the gamer the option to turn up or turn down the difficulty of the game. The game was a bit too easy for my taste.

Enjoyment:

I had a lot of fun playing this game, but I would have had a lot more fun had the controls been a little more natural. I felt like I was playing with a crutch because of it. Putting that aside, the mix of different styles made the game a unique and enjoyable experience. There are so many things you can do, from chasing down baddies in a cop car to talking crazy people out of jumping off a building. It definitely keeps you interested in the next mission.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer might have been interesting had they offered it. Unfortunately they don't.

Overall Impression:

It's a good game, although there are some things they could have done to make it better. The storyline had a good pace and the characters seemed to develop nicely around each other. The atmosphere of Urban Chaos was entertaining change from the more serious action games on the market. I half expect to see Urban Chaos the comic hit the shelves.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

Urban Chaos's box and advertisements are covered with the image of the main character, Darci Stern, an American-Jamaican female cop. I will go into further detail on Darci Stern in the Digital Women section of WomenGamers.Com soon.

In general, once this game came out on the shelves I really haven't seen much marketing for it. It's a pity. Urban Chaos is well worth it.

Cheats, Hints, & URLs:

In the market for a great cheat book? We highly recommend Urban Chaos: Prima's Official Strategy Guide. Usually ships within 24 hours.