Developer: INGAME STUDIOS
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Genre: Action, FPS
Publisher: 505 Games
Crime Boss: Rockay City is a first-person shooter game. This game was developed by INGAME STUDIOS and published by 505 Games. A game that is quite similar to Crime Boss would be the Payday series. This review was done on the PC, but the game is also available for PlayStation and Xbox.
Crime Boss: Rockay City is a single-player/multiplayer game where you assemble a team of criminals and undergo missions where you need to bring back a sufficient stack of money. The missions revolve around you infiltrating areas without getting detected and others where you have to defend yourself from enemies. The game consists of multiple campaigns/missions where you can work with a team to loot as much money as possible. The shooting aspect of the game comes from fending off SWAT teams, police officers and civilians.
Multiplayer for this game can be played up to a squad of 4 (or bots), and in quick match lobbies, the squad tends to get pretty filled. Something I did not quite like was that you could not start a match right away, even when the party was full. There seemed to be no match-making errors, and plenty of people were playing the game, making it so that joining other lobbies was very easy to do. Myself and my duo tested this game together even before the game had launched and found that it worked pretty smoothly. The performance of the game is a bit on the high end, so we had to turn the graphics to the lowest setting, but the game still worked really well. The game is fun both when playing by yourself or with others, as there are dedicated modes to the game. The game offers a single-player campaign mode (Baker’s Battle) and two co-op modes.
The controls for the game are very straightforward when playing on the PC. You pretty much use your keyboard and mouse. The controls for items that you pick up are shown through interaction, and other controls are shown on the screen. The game goes through a separate dedicated tutorial to get players to familiarise themselves with the mechanics. The game is very easy to pick up on, and like most shooter games, it plays similarly.
The visuals of the game are pretty crisp and clear. They have an extremely realistic feel to them with the character design and detail in the mission locations. The visuals do seem similar to games like Payday and Grand Theft Auto, having this realistic comic style. I love the detail that went into creating the various locations, as they feel extremely real and vibrant and have dynamic lighting. The game also offers a selection of characters to choose from, your ‘Crime Boss’, which can further be unlocked by gaining money through the missions. Customization for these characters includes their perks, weapons and more. Some of the characters were actual ‘Crime Bosses’, which was nice to see the game does feature a highly recognizable cast. Besides the visuals, the game featured a really good soundtrack, which gets you into the heist mood. It is amped up, funky and has a really good beat. On top of that, the sound effects are immersive, especially when using guns, because they provide such a good bass. The soundtrack works well with the environment of the game to create chaotic atmospheres for you to complete missions in.
In the single-player campaign, there are a lot of cutscenes that are featured, and something that was a bit off was the voice syncing to the voice lines. I liked the voice acting in those cutscenes, but it threw off the visuals a bit. The cutscenes did feel wonky and out of place, which would be a downside to the game. Whilst playing the game in quick matches, another thing that was a bit annoying was the thrown-out voice lines that would randomly say something out of nowhere. Some of the voice lines seemed to have no correlation to what was actually being done, and at times, multiple would bombard you. We found that the co-op modes were more fun than the single-player campaign because they were quick and more run and gun-focused.
There is quite a bit that this game offers, from its multiple game modes to the upgrading system. Most of the gameplay consists of you running in with your team, either guns blazing or sneakily into facilities to grab loot. In these scenarios, you can have bonus tasks which give you more rewards if completely accurately. I like that the pace and instructions for the objectives are clear and easygoing. The game also offers a selection of guns, each feeling different from the other. What I did find interesting was that a headshot with a pistol did ‘supposedly’ more damage than using the chopper. The game is fun for a while, but then it gets to a point where it just needs a bit more. I would say one of the major downsides to this game would have to be that the missions were very similar to one another, which, after a couple of sessions, got boring to play. I wish more variety was added besides the different locations. All you really do in the co-op modes is grab loot, throw a duffle bag into a van, shoot enemies and escape. Some matches can even last less than five minutes if you know (exactly) what you are doing.
As for the solo campaign, it seems like it is meant to be a roguelike where you have to capture all the territories of Rockay City, which is done by defeating waves of enemies of the allocated turfs. I found the solo campaign to be a good pass time as you can complete it in almost 3 hours if you sit down and really play it; just it does play almost the same in each turf location. I do want to say that I wish the cutscenes and story of this specific mode were fleshed out a bit better, as it would make the gameplay experience more exciting. Overall, the game is decent and can easily be played with friends if you’re looking for something quick and easy. There is not much difficulty to the game making, and missions are very easy to accomplish, which takes away from the gameplay, too. If you are looking for a heist-themed first-person shooter, then this game is just for you. It offers modes that you can play either by yourself or with others that captivate a true team of criminals collecting large sums of money/loot. The game has a highly recognizable cast, an amazing soundtrack and decent visuals that will captivate the player. So, be sure to check out Crime Boss: Rockay City!
Overall: 6/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
