Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: State of Emergency

Written by Chris Reiter on February 22, 2002

Full Review: Lots of people mean lots of deaths.

If Grand Theft Auto 3 wasn't enough of a bloodletting and disturbing game for you, then Rockstar has a new breed of killer that's fun for the whole family (an insane family, anyway). Combining forms of Grand Theft Auto 3, and classic arcade style beat-'em-ups, State of Emergency is the new, hipster image of what pounding it into enemy, civilian, or whatever kind of forces you want looks like. Published by Rockstar Games and developed by Vis, State of Emergency is one game that can be classified under the list of which games should be banned. So initiate the uproar, and endure countless deaths other than your own. After all, you are the freedom fighter.

A city on the brink of madness -- where the Corporation, a specialized police force that's creating a society in their own image, one that pertains to obedience to them -- is falling apart. The Corporation has gone too far, and now the city's civilians are taking matters into their own hands, to rebel against this corrupt new order of police. Particularly, you have just joined the ranks as one of the Freedom fighters, a special team of underground operatives specifically targeting the Corporation by any means possible. Whether it is through death, murder, or simply taking away their lives, you name it; you've got to do it to wipe them out, and to help Freedom retain the ball through this game of mayhem.

Unlike Grand Theft Auto 3, State of Emergency is divided into separate gameplay modes in which you can choose from to wreak the joys of carnage. The two primary modes of the game are called Chaos and Revolution. Both of these modes share different values, and you'll most likely find yourself either venturing into one or the other, since they both share their ups and downs which regulate the course of the game's extremity. The first mode, Chaos, focuses on more of arcade like action. Throughout, an announcer brings up specific goals in which you can choose to complete before the overall time limit is up. By finishing the tasks throughout this mode, whether it be taking out an entire fleet of gang members, blowing up cars, or breaking windows to shops open for extra points, in the end, the main focus is to score points, that can later be saved in the game's ranking list. Obtaining a high score grants the player passage to the further levels in the game that once couldn't be opened in this mode. I should also note that civilian kills affect your score, so attempting to avoid killing people -- unless they're part of scoring points -- is one specific strategy in Chaos.

What's so great about Chaos however is that you have access to any of the game's weapons. Amongst a large list of guns, like an Uzi, shotgun, or even a bazooka, State of Emergency also wallops in just about any ordinary weapon you can think of. A sword, a flamethrower, grenades, and even a hatchet are amongst these. But, ordinary objects, such as park benches, trash cans, and street cones can be used too for an overall chaotic time of bliss.

But, the gameplay doesn't stop there, however. The fun continues with Revolution. In this mode, basically, the same rules pertain to your character. You need to run around and destroy things, only this time you have to follow the rules of each separate mission. Revolution spans across four levels (Capitol City Mall, China Town, Eastside, and Corporation Central) of 175 various missions, competing against the Corporation, killing the Corporation, stealing from the Corporation, and even sometimes helping the Corporation (variation does have its disadvantages). Most of the time, though, the missions do tread on with repetition. For example, since there's only so many different ways to operate in State of Emergency, you'll either be defending the outside of a building while fighting off herds of AI clones from entering, leading an AI ally from one location to another while at the same time protecting them from another set of AI clones, carrying a box from one spot to the next without dying, and sometimes intentionally killing other people without them escaping the perimeter. Of course, there are other types of missions with different goals and different operation patterns that can take you a few tries to just to finish, or even once. But overall, Revolution mode is bogged down with only so much variety and boundaries, making this particular mode entertaining, but also not as freely open as the Chaos mode is.

Being in control of your character is entertaining at its best. Through Revolution mode, you can unlock 3 hidden characters, and start out with two. Each of the 5 playable game characters have a distinct attitude and ability, and also a background that pertains to why they're teamed up with Freedom. Any of which characters you choose all differ in special abilities too. For instance, while unarmed, you can fight on screen with a small number of hand-to-hand combos. Primarily, kicks and punches are what you can mainly accomplish. But, by combining these, you can chain together a number a larger scale of kicks or punches, and even grab characters in a special move. A good example is how the female character, Libra, can jump on another character's shoulder, wrapping her legs around another's neck, and breaking it. If an entire fleet of computer AI has you surrounded, you can also take them all out at once by using a special power each of the playable characters have access to. There's also a dash feature, in which you can use to run faster for a limited time until your character slows down, and while dashing, you also have the option to chain together a knockout power. Combining a kick and dash grants access to special flips, slides, or even forward rolls that instantly cripple the enemy ahead. Experimentation while unarmed in the game is a fun experience, and likely one of the better parts of the game.

There is something in particular about State of Emergency that's quite impressive. The way that VIS was able to capture so many hundreds of computer clones on screen at once is quite profound. Literally, State of Emergency's visuals aren't outstanding, what, with games like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X to make up for that. But, what this game can do is a whole lot others can't. You'll notice that the first thing in State of Emergency that's hard to ignore is that everywhere you look, there's tons and tons of individual computerized models scattering about the game's locales, and at the same time, with explosions, gunshots, and massive brawls are taking place, the game continues to remain at a clean cut 60 frames per second. Wow.

On screen, however, the character models appear in a sort of cartoon fashion. Really, it's hard to see it at first, but the animated world of the game really blends in well with everything else that's occurring. Though, not everything is perfect. Each character model on screen has somewhat of a blocky build to them. Up close, buildings, cars, and everything else are blurred and sometimes even pixilated. Fortunately, these graphical trimmings don't take away from the amazing lighting and shadow effects that come out too well almost. Running in any direction, you can notice the shift between lightened and darkened areas with how the lights that shine on one large section of the floor will darken behind you as you pass by. The environments are large, in that you can be standing on a platform high above the ground, look below from where you're standing, move into that spot below you were previously gazing at, and from both perspectives the screen looks crystal clear in visual delight. How a game like State of Emergency packs so much information on screen at once is unbelievable.

Another great part of the visuals is the character animations. As I've mentioned, there are tons of AI models scurrying across the screen at once. Each of the people on screen continues to move their arms, legs, and even heads as if they were in a massive scale of a rioting environment (even though they are). For example, there'll be multiple persons carrying stolen objects, and others carrying nothing. If you were to take action, and engage in fighting these computer people, blood will splatter from their body (you can enter the gore feature to turn the game's blood on or off) and they'll cower, or fall to the ground, and then get up and run away with their head down. Even the many other crowds of other bystanders will cower on screen and proceed to run away, as anyone not looking for a fight will be scared of you and your bad habits.

Within the game's background, music becomes one with the game, to key on the emotion you'll feel when beating hundreds senseless. State of Emergency's music and sounds don't work too great, though. Techno, rap, and hard beats fill in for the score that makes up the musical rhythm. Not that the music's bad, but it kind of doesn't work when you're killing a ton of people. In Grand Theft Auto 3, you didn't have to listen to any music while taking out countless others (unless you were hitting them with your car). Technically, the funky, fresh sounds just don't feel right for a killing spree title.

Elsewhere it's the in-game sounds that do a better job in the listening department. Walking, running, shooting, explosions, etc.: they all sound great and do the game good to have them all in there. The grudge I have with the sounds are how when exploring the open areas of each level, you'll constantly hear the same screaming sounds, the same Corporation dialogue enforcing the law, and the same announcer voices that aren't that great to begin with. Really, the dialogue gets overused too fast, and begins to get annoying after a time being.