As video games become more and more complex and realistic-looking, game developers are starting to look toward other media for inspiration. No longer is game creation as simple as inventing a character, creating a world, and plotting out a mess of sprites. With the increased power of today's platforms, game developers have to consider the best way to keep players immersed in a game's world--a process that touches everything from the gameplay to the graphics to the soundtrack.

This sort of suspension-of-disbelief approach to design is something that moviemakers cope with every day, so it's really only natural for game developers to, at least, glance in that direction for a pointer or two. Activision and Luxoflux did more than simply take a glance with their latest game, True Crime: Streets of LA. The game itself is merely a vehicle for a premise and a plot that could have--and practically has been--done as a modern day action movie, full of cliches, catchphrases, and leap-of-faith twists and turns. Unfortunately, the game's transition from console to PC wasn't handled as smoothly as you might have expected, thus leaving a game that was already a little uneven feeling a little broken in some spots.

Minimum Requirements
* 800MHz P3
128MB RAM
32MB 3D card
3.1GB hard drive space

Recommended Requirements
* 2.0GHz P4 or Athlon XP 2000+
512MB RAM
64MB 3D card