INGAME Studios has been hard at work since Crime Boss: Rockay City was released in March 2023. The game reviewed rather poorly during its 2023 debut and you can tell INGAME took the player and reviewer criticisms to heart. Since that release, the studio has released several major updates for Crime Boss ahead of its June 18, 2024 release on Steam.
Crime Boss initially appears to outsiders as a game much akin to the Payday titles. That is, you would think that it's a game where you pull off these elaborate heists with a squad of either AI or human partners, all in an effort to attain more and more money and become the crème de la crème of criminal masterminds. Instead, Crime Boss is more like a territorial control action title with some roguelite elements thrown in for good measure. Instead of focusing purely on heisting, Crime Boss tasks you with taking over rival gang territories within Rockay City to be the only gang and gang leader remaining.
This whole gang warfare component is the crux of the game's weakest component: The single player campaign. It's a story headlined by a bunch of B-list celebrities like Michael Madsen, Chuck Norris, Kim Basinger, and Vanilla Ice, all of whom are long past their prime. While these actors may be serviceable in live-action rolls, their lackluster acting in Crime Boss does the campaign no favors.
The campaign basically throws you right into the fray. You begin by taking control over a small group of gang members robbing a jewelry store. You learn the basics of threatening guards and civilians and tying their hands so that they don't cause trouble. You learn about taking out surveillance cameras and picking locks. Then you learn about how to fill up bags full of valuables and make it safely to the getaway vehicle. This is basically the core component for most of the campaign missions, though they will often end with shootouts with security, the police, or other armed forces if you aren't stealthy enough.
During the campaign you can opt to bring Madsen's character, Travis Baker, along as part of the heisting crew. The problem here is that should Baker die during the mission, the current run will completely end and you will have to redo the entire thing. Not only that, but the character's stats and special perks will be rerolled for the next attempt. The no-name gang members you can take with you are far less important and their deaths will not reset mission progress.
The campaign does include a few additional gameplay mechanics outside of the whole heisting aspect. You will recruit groups of people to join your gang, who will then be sent out on missions to try to seize territory from rival gangs. Sometimes, you will have to help these generic gang members in a shootout against rival gangs. This is an exceptionally mindless mission type, which serves only to satiate those looking to break up the stealth focused heists with a bit of action. The AI does not utilize tactics such as flanking, nor do they take cover all that often, which means you have to try extremely hard to lose these fights.
I almost get the feeling like INGAME knows that the campaign isn't where people will be spending most of their time, because they did little to transform the campaign experience since release. There was a bit of additional story added as part of a broader DLC release. There were also the expected bug fixes. Beyond that, nearly all of the improvements made to the game over the past year were made to the multiplayer component of Crime Boss.
Taking a cue from the Payday franchise, multiplayer in Crime Boss: Rockay City is almost purely about the heisting. These heists usually have multiple objectives that are varied enough to keep the experience feeling fresh for players. In one mission, you could be tasked with breaking on to a yacht and stealing drugs. The next mission might find you repelling down the side of a bank, quietly infiltrating, finding access keys, disabling security systems, drilling into vaults, and absconding with valuable statues that are air lifted out via helicopter.
These heists can often be attempted with a stealthy approach, but a mistake here or there will result in the authorities showing up and all hell breaking loose. This leads to rather frantic gun battles against waves of well armed forces as you try to complete your objectives and make it out alive. There are some mission types that immediately start you off in the alert phase with the authorities trying to take you out. These tend to be shorter missions but are great for those need a crave pure action while still attempting to complete a robbery.
In multiplayer, you get to build up your arsenal with different weapons, different skins, and perks. You steadily gain access to these more powerful items and perks as you carry out more multiplayer heists, which can then be purchased and upgraded with the money you earned during successful outings. I do wish there was a deeper and far less random customization system for both characters and weapons. New gear, including skins, are offered at the end of missions and out of the three (seemingly) random options offered, you can pick only one to unlock each time. This may mean deciding between unlocking access to a shiny new weapon, a new character skin, or some other important piece of kit.
Multiplayer is infinitely more enjoyable with friends as the companion AI is basic at best and borderline annoying at worst. The AI can be ordered to perform simple tasks such as picking up bags or tying up civilians which can be handy in a pinch. Sadly, unless they are specifically ordered to do something during stealth segments, they are completely useless. That said, I was actually amazed to have an AI companion pick me up from a downed state during a mission, which is more than I can say for many other games out there that feature AI partners or companions.
Since its debut on the Epic Games Store last year, Crime Boss: Rockay City has expanded with four notable content expansions. Two of them, the Tactical Weapon Pack and Heavy Hitters Pack, add additional weapons to the arsenal. The other two, Dragon's Gold Cup and Cagnali's Order, add several new heists, new weapons, new enemies, and more. All expansions are free for everyone to keep when purchasing the game through Steam until July 11, 2024.
Outside of seeing the initial review scores, I have no personal idea of just how bad that 2023 release was. However, with an introductory price on Steam of just $15.99 (regularly $19.99) and with all the DLC included, Crime Boss makes a very compelling argument in its favor. Is the game perfect now? No, not by any stretch of the imagination. The single player may as well not even exist and is good for maybe a brief look out of morbid curiosity. The online multiplayer, on the other hand, is very fun. That is provided you are playing with some friends and don't take things too seriously. The entire game seems to be free of any game breaking bugs (an NPC standing on a counter is the worst bug I saw), it doesn't really take itself too seriously, and offers more than enough content to give you your money's worth and then some. Developer INGAME has done an admirable job supporting Crime Boss for the past year despite the initial launch, and have already outlined no fewer than four major updates and new content to come in the months ahead.
Score
Additional Information
- Crime Boss: Rockay City
- Developed by: INGAME Studios
- Published by: 505 Games
- Price: Starting at $15.99 (USD) (Steam launch discount, includes all released DLC; Normally $19.99 without DLC)
- Platform reviewed on: PC via Steam (Also available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S)
- Release Date: March 28, 2023 (Steam release on June 18, 2024)
- ESRB: M for Mature 17+ (Blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, suggestive themes, use of drugs)
- This game was provided to Total Gaming Network for review purposes.
