25 to Life Review (no fat)

Game Description

25 to life pits the criminals against the cops, in an exciting fight for supremacy. Through the struggles of the three main characters, you will eventually learn your place in a world where the law rules.

25 to Life Gameplay

The game is split between a story based single player mode, and a full on 16 player slugfest. The single player campaign revolves around the lifestyles of Shaun Calderon, Andre Freeze Francis, and Lester Williams.

Although each character has his own role (Detective, Gangster) they will usually end up along the same path, as far as their target goes. Taking a more direct approach, there is more focus on action than strategy.

This becomes clearly evident with the lack of defensive moves, and usefulness of melee weapons. Long range combat is a must in this game, and forced - which in itself is a shame, with an off targeting system. Head shots are not realistic, as it takes multiple to bring bare-headed enemies down. And since you have to plug an enemy ten to twenty times before they even go down, it becomes a bit of a chore in firefights.

25 to Life - Run Right Through

The story mode is not on par with recent titles, therefore it can be summed up with ‘cops and robbers’. Depending on who you are playing as, whether it is to get out of the thug life or get into it, you will still eventually end up doing a lot of killing.

Stages in the game are easily laid out and simple to follow through, there is never a doubt of if you will get lost in a puzzle. The simplicity of the stages may turn off some, but surprisingly there is enough variety in the murky environments to make it worth playing through.

Enemies will come at you from all angles, in a very nonchalant ‘this is what I was programmed to do’ way. The personality in many (if not all) of the enemy characters is lacking tremendously, with some questionable A.I. and graphical glitches to round out the finished product.

Controls are easy to master, but since it is a shoot and run game then it is pointless to mull over extras. Even the lean moves are downplayed to nothing more but tedium, which slows down your progress. Health packs are extremely plentiful, downplaying any challenge for a seasoned gamer.

25 to Life Graphics

The graphics are decent, but catch a mighty blow from one too many glitches. To begin with there is the - ever so popular - characters falling through solid objects, which is acceptable in some cases but happens much too often.

An unforgiving camera angle in a third person shooter can render any title useless, and 25 to Life is no exception. With the use of seemingly psychic powers, the A. I. knows the camera angles are designed poorly, and thus uses it to its own advantage.

Cool special effects are also watered down, almost as if they are a recycled process.

25 to Life Sound

This is one of the best soundtracks in a game, especially with the key points in which some of the songs start. It will disappoint some that the hopping tracks in the game are missing from the musical collaboration that comes with it, but royalty caps can be a pain.

All can’t be golden, for it is unfortunate that the sound effects did not receive similar attention. The voice-overs are excellent, with the tendency towards bad language being overplayed by some media outlets.

The title is gritty, therefore the language fits well and the dialogue is just above average, but not enough to move along the lackluster story.

25 to Life Summing up

Just say yes to multiplayer. Sporting 16 simultaneous players online, with a still growing fan base for this genre, 25 to life shines as an emerging multiplayer phenomena. The same pains that plague single player mode are less evident against similarly handicapped human players.

Overall the multiplayer modes can be a fun thing to play, with fun alternatives to the usual ‘capture the flag’. (Tag in particular is a fun graffiti mode for Jet Grind radio fans) Even progression through the single player mode results in unlocking multiplayer items.

Read between the lines gamers, 25 to life wreaks as a single player game, rocks as a multiplayer getaway.

25 to Life Cost

The game retails for $33.99, at the time of writing.