State of Emergency

by Rockstar Games

Product Features

• Amazing number of characters onscreen simultaneously
• Simple beat-'em-up gameplay
• A vast arsenal with which to inflict damage

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005UNWB
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 18, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (286 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,675 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The publishers of Grand Theft Auto III are back with another game geared towards a mature audience. But fans of GTA III should note that while State of Emergency contains adult themes and extremely violent gameplay, that's pretty much where the similarities end. Whereas GTA III was about creating a deep experience unlike any other video game, SOE is a throwback to arcade beat-'em-ups like Smash TV and Double Dragon. However, the game takes the genre to a new level with mind-blowing graphics.

In State of Emergency, you play as one of five selectable characters that's going up against the Corporation--a tyrannical group that has the city in an iron grip. The city is in a state of disarray and the citizens are rebelling. Amazingly, up to 250 characters can riot onscreen at once. It's shocking that the developers were able to render so many moving characters while keeping a smooth frame rate. Basic gameplay consists of picking up numerous weapons and objects to cause as much damage as humanly possible. Providing context to the mindless violence are the revolution and chaos modes. The former is the game's story mode and features more than 175 missions, while the latter is a single-session mode with a few variations.

For the most part, the game is an enjoyable cacophony of senseless violence, but there are some flaws. Although the revolution mode boasts an impressive number of missions, they do get repetitive. The game screams for a multiplayer mode, but it's strictly one player. In spite of these flaws, the game remains addictive and fun. It bears repeating that gamers looking for another GTA III will not find it here: this game provides an arcadelike experience that's excellent, but in a very different way. Parents should note that this game carries a Mature rating for its blood, violence, and gore. --Raymond M. Padilla

Pros:

• Amazing number of characters onscreen simultaneously
• Simple beat-'em-up gameplay
• A vast arsenal with which to inflict damage

Cons:

• Missions get repetitive
• No multiplayer mode
• Bland soundtrack

Product Description

The American Trade Organization has declared a State of Emergency. You join an underground crew to put this organization out of business. This is where you come in to be one of the bad guys to tear everything up. You are allowed to play one character out of five different ones who have their own unique backgrounds. State of Emergency is an urban riot action game.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been a lot better, March 18, 2002

By 

"solidussnake256" (Seattle WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: State of Emergency (Video Game)

I bought this game thinking it would be GTA3 minus the cars. Wrong. The game is about taking the role of one of five freedom fighters to fight the corporation that has taken over the country by having security keep all citizens in line. The citizens are looting/running everywhere in protest. The game is similar to GTA in that you do "jobs" for different freedom fighters. But that's where it ends. The missions are to protect freedom's members and escort them to safety/steal plans and to eliminate corporation members using your fists or the wide variety of weapons available. The 4 levels include mall, China town, East side and corporation headquarters. End the levels by blowing up key buildings to topple the corporations plans and liberate the city. The corporation forces are made up of low level mall cops to military and super soldiers as you progress through the game. Windows can be smashed with items such as trash cans, signs,benches and certain weapons. The weapons include uzis, flamethrowers, hatchets, M16's and rocket launchers. You can only carry 1 weapon at a time. If it is a weapon that needs ammo, once you run out it will dissappear and you will have to get another one lying on the ground or off of an enemy. The game is very violent and has over the top cartoon imagery(beheadings, exploding bodies). There is a chaos mode that is about scoring points by smashing windows, blowing up cars, and killing gang members/ corporation members.

Now for my complaints about the game. The graphics are ok, but are cartoony and make the game look silly with all the violence. There are many civilians/looters on the screen, hundreds, but they are all running non stop and if hit will not fight back. Every level is made up of you and the crowd running all around you at all times as you carry out your missions. At least in GTA citizens would fight back most of the time. Even the prostitutes! One of the big deals about this game was supposed to be all the gang members you could interact with. You can have a large gang after you but once they are taken out, you can walk past members of the same gang later and they will not even come after you unless you attack them. In GTA once on the gang members turf such as Diablos/Triads, any one of them would come right after you if you were spotted. Here it's like they never saw you before. Also,your character cannot jump and there is no lock on feature using any of the weapons. So all attacks must be aimed manually. With all the enemies coming at you at once it makes it difficult to target them. Another big complaint is that you are stuck in each level for the whole time that you are doing missions until they are completed. You cannot run freely from town to town like in GTA. I would have liked to at least have rode a subway to the connecting towns. When you are not on a mission there is not really any fun in exploring a town, because there is nothing to do but smash windows,pick up objects and attack people. There is also no time change. It is always light, never night time, which could have allowed for some interesting things with all the different gang turfs in the game. Another complaint is that even if you shoot hundreds of people in the game your wanted level will not go up at all. So only whatever security happens to be in the area you are near will come running for you, no backup is sent out. The more trouble you get in, the more higher level security should be coming after you to stop you! There are no bosses to fight except for the Mallrats leader. With all those weapons it would have made for some great boss battles. There is also no cinematic dialogue at any time, which makes your missions very boring and just has you looking at a screen full of words all the time when the missions are given. As for the replay value of the game, the missions are so repetitive and frustrating that it isn't fun going through them again. Chaos mode allows for random mayhem with a variety of weapons with just destroying things in a certain amount of time which allows for stress relieving no-thinking fun. So, in all it looks like the makers used the weapons,violence factor and on foot missions of GTA but forgot to add all the things that made that game so fun.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars RIOT!!!!, March 5, 2002

By 

Chris Peters (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: State of Emergency (Video Game)

You will never have so much fun [ticking] off your parents as when playing this game.

Chaos mode is SoE's cream of the crop - no definite goals or objectives, you just run around blowing up cars and throwing grenades into buildings. Throwing a molotov cocktail into a building and watching it explode while people scream and run in all directions is definitely alot of fun. Chaos mode sometimes gives you little goals, like a short time period where breaking windows is worth double points, or a time limit on blowing up all the cop cars in the level, but mostly you are free to do what you want. The weapons are awesome, fun to use, and each has its place and function. Rocket and Grenade Launchers are good for some vehicular destruction, and when the cops come after you, there is a good assortment of machine guns, shotguns, flame throwers, and even pepper spray. These shoot-outs with the law are great - cops and soldiers swarm you, and you must retreat to a safe distance and then mow 'em all down (and usually a few civilians, too, cause they can't help but get in the way). This inforces a style of play in which you run frantically from corner to corner, causing as much destruction as you can with whatever you can get your hands on. Each area has local gangs, too, and if you attack them accidentally or on purpose, you will envoke their wrath and they'll be after you. Chaos mode also has a "Last Clone Standing" varient, in which the only people out are bad guys, and you must empty the streets of them. This is fun, as the bodies so start to pile up...

And yet all this fun is about as deep as an arcade game. At it's heart, State of Emergency is a simple beat-em-up, kinda like the old Double Dragon, except taken to a grand scale. The crowds are neat and give a real sense of a riot going on, but there is very little you can actually DO with those people. The camera is very difficult to work, especially since enemies tend to collect in your blind spots. The story mode ("Revolution") is pretty boring, with endless missions that never seem to end. Lastly, the game only has 4 levels, and of these, I only liked 2 of the levels. Not much there. These levels aren't anything like the cities in GTA3 - there is no "breathing city" theme - not much is going on, and after a while you'll feel like you've "been there, done that".

Maybe rent this game first, see what you think.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Extremely disappointed..., February 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: State of Emergency (Video Game)

If you're expecting this game to be like Grand Theft Auto 3, you will be very disappointed. I pre-ordered the game and once I started playing it, it got boring fast.

No doubt it will entertain many gamers, but for a seasoned gamer it's a waste of time. The games graphics are great, the music isn't bad, the story line is pretty good, but over-all game play and replay stinks. Basically, all you do is go around different areas beating up people (not as good as GTA3) picking up weapons that don't last long and like GTA3 you have missions to complete. You can break glass, store fronts, etc. but you can't steal cars or drive around or anything (as far as I have gotten, maybe it changes). It's more of an action arcade/fighting game and it isn't impressive. You can however pick up items, like tables, and things that have been looted from the stores, but all you can do is throw it at people.

Don't believe the hype, it is NOT as great as people who haven't even played it make it seem. It's violent, but nothing you wouldn't see on television daily.

There isn't a lot of depth to this game, and I may be biased, but I expected so much more from the makers of Grand Theft Auto 3!