Crime Boss: Rockay City Reviews
Crime Boss: Rockay City is an overly ambitious air ball on all fronts, from its sloppy moment-to-moment gameplay to its largely abysmal voice acting – the worst of which sound like single takes spliced in with mistakes intact. There’s an earnestness with which Crime Boss has been put together that I do admire – as a kind of direct-to-VHS knockoff of Payday on a promising ’90s backdrop – and there is an inescapable novelty in seeing these de-aged Hollywood stars steering the story here. Unfortunately, the hokey charm on display is nowhere near strong enough to offset the repetitive and regularly frustrating mission design, its roguelike single-player rapidly becomes a total chore, and its co-op juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. Sadly, Crime Boss: Rockay City’s coked-up ego has been writing cheques its budget-priced body couldn’t cash.
An unlikeable, repetitive, and blandly designed clone of Payday that wastes its celebrity filled cast on an equally substandard script.
Crime Boss: Rockay City is proof that star power isn’t everything. In fact, it’s a reminder that a celebrity cast does nothing for a game when it’s void of anything interesting or fun to support it. When run-ending bugs appear, Crime Boss is miserable, but even when I’m running a mission bug-free, I lay witness to a painfully dull take on organized crime. At its best, Crime Boss functions – I can shoot weapons at enemies, empty bank vaults and warehouses for loot, watch cutscenes with recognizable faces and voices, and grow my empire – but it never captures my attention in a meaningful or memorable way. Instead, it pushes me further and further away, leaving me with no desire to ever return to Rockay City.
I really wanted to like Crime Boss: Rockay City, but it just feels like it was haphazardly thrown together, and the result is a game that feels like a bad copy of a popular franchise, with the tired actors, awful dialogue and repetitive gameplay really putting the boot in.
It’s a massive swing and a big miss, with enough force to crack the sound barrier while the ball stays in the catcher’s mitt. It’s neither a cynical corporate cringe like Sharknado, nor is it a low-budget dud you’d expect to see a crew of robot puppets heckle. It’s weird, loud and uncanny. Frankly I’m surprised Christopher Walken didn’t show up.
If you're looking for something similar to Payday 2 as a shooting experience to be played in a GTA-style metropolitan setting with some micro-management elements, Crime Boss: Rockay City might give you some satisfaction.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Crime Boss: Rockay City's execution isn't revolutionary or exceptional, but its shot at an innovative roguelike campaign is a praiseworthy proof of concept. It might not have the most versatile activities, best gunplay, or first-class writing, but Crime Boss: Rockay City does provide an interesting experience that, like a cheap B-movie, has that certain kind of charm you can't help but enjoy.
A sloppy, buggy Payday pretender whose USP of using 90s movie stars is probably the worst thing about it.
Overall, Crime Boss: Rockay City offers so many conceptually interesting gameplay mechanics that could work well together, but either doesn't give the player enough opportunities to use them, or fails to tie them into other aspects of the game. There is some minor depth to the game, but it's overshadowed by what could have been. On top of that, too many elements feel like they're out of the players hands, and lead to cheap deaths. If you simply need to play Crime Boss: Rockay City, then you'll be pleased to hear that it's only $40, and even less if you wait for a sale.
Crime Boss could have been a nice experience, especially since there is no 400 Payday-like. There was clearly a niche to be taken while surfing on that nice cast of actors, but nothing was done. Minimal service, failed service with this. Since between the bad ideas of gamedesign, the absent direction, the failed dubbing and the far from great graphics, it's hard to recommend it. Especially since for less than twenty euros, Payday 2 does a better job, despite its age.
Review in French | Read full review
Crime Boss Rockay City is a production with several critical issues, both on the purely technical front and on the situational variety offered by the package.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Crime Boss Rockay City has many flaws – but here’s the thing – I’ve had a blast playing it regardless. It’s clearly been made on a modest budget, and its celebrity cast feels largely like a pointless distraction, but the core design of its criminal empire simulation is really damn compelling. Every time I failed a run I wanted to immediately dive into a new one, which I think is a sign that it’s doing the roguelike thing very well on at least some lizard-brain level.
I'm really enjoying Crime Boss Rockay City and highly recommend it! If you have a soft spot for the cast then that's a good draw card… but if you have a big ol' spot of nostalgia for music of the 90's… it will be hard to suppress the smile as you enter a shopping mall only to hear Freestyler playing. If you want a great heist game that involves a bit more thinking and planning than GTA or even Payday… grab a copy!
Crime Boss: Rockay City's heist gameplay is squandered by a myriad of bugs, mindless, boring gameplay, and a severe lack of fun despite its best attempts to have the presence of GTA and the mechanics of Payday, both of which are much better games.
Despite its many flaws, Crime Boss Rockay City is often fun and will make you wonder what would have happened if you decided to approach things differently. Unfortunately, the game feels not-so-polished and, apart from some technical issues on PC, its structure doesn't give enough credit to some of its good design idea.
Review in Italian | Read full review
INGAME STUDIOS should be commended for trying something different as they've previously worked on the Mafia series amongst other titles.
Crime Boss: Rockay City is a pleasant surprise considering all of the aspects that make its foundations usually crumble from the weight. Just get ready to die, try and die again until you take the throne.
Crime Boss wants to be majestic, but the game doesn't do it very well. It's not exactly bad, but despite all the effort to be pompous, it feels very cheap. The idea is good, but the execution is poor. On the other hand, the game is suitable for beginners in the cooperative action genre.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Here's why your summer vacation in Rockay City is a bad idea. Or maybe a good one, depending on how you feel about street wars with '90s rappers.
Crime Boss: Rockay City is a game with big ambitions, but it fails to deliver on most fronts