25 to Life

The Good
There's quite a fair bit of content, admittedly. There's a gaggle of weapons to utilize, and some of them can be pretty fun to use. Multiplayer, even if I'm unable to play it, actually sounded pretty sweet, playing as either a armored cop or ragtag gangbanger.

The Bad
25 to Life has so much flaws admist some coherent ideas thrown into it. It's controversial premise was comical at best; and most people would've realized it was just a silly video game that attempted to capture the Hollywoodized take of cops and criminals duking it out in a ghetto somewhere in Detroit.

The gameplay is repetitious, clunky and overtly simple. It has been compared to SOCOM by the shouty blurbs on the back of the box, but really, the SOCOM games are much harder and require lots of strategy. There's more tactical planning and thinking with Navy SEALS than there is with the average, gun-toting hoodlum who shoots and enjoys the occasional human shield. The devs cut corners everywhere in the game, with short levels and single player length. Side objectives are used to unlock new bits and bobs for multiplayer, but they can't be used because the multiplayer is probably dead on PS2, though do correct me if I'm wrong here. The game is just so simple and easy, it makes the SOCOM games look like kid's fare. Controls, while competent, are confusing, but fortunately they're the least worrying aspect.

Graphics are as average as a piece of pie. Cutscenes are detailed, but that's about it. Particle effects, such as blood, look hilariously cartoonish, and blood pools look like big splotches of bright red paint.

25's worst aspects come from it's plot and audio. It tries to be a hard-hitting drama, focusing on a gang member who wants out, his best friend, and a cop stuck in between. Too bad they're barely given any competent development or writing. Profanity is all over the place too; and the clumsy voice acting makes it even more funnier, especially if you take in account that the cop character sounds like Ice Cube trying to impersonate Homer Simpson. The music is nothing but third-rate gangsta rap tracks, and some are so inappropriately used that it's hard not to crack a laugh as a dramatic cutscene uses DMX'S "Where the Hood At" as background music.

The Bottom Line
25 to Life, out of all games that I played that I think were abjectly awful, had some decent ideas. The idea of trying to make a game that was clearly a tribute to John Singleton's works has been done before, like San Andreas, and 25 would be no different.

Even with the controversy it made, 25 is a pretty bad game. It's unintentionally hilarious, repetitiously simple and probably insulting to my general intelligence. If you're curious, go for it...but if not, go play something like San Andreas, which a far better game than 25 to Life ever will be.