True Crime: New York City Visits Nolita

Gothamist is not the biggest video game freak, but we have to admit, we're pretty interested in the new Activision game, True Crime: New York City. The game's description reads, "Wield the ultimate power as a rogue street cop in New York City. You are Marcus Reed, a former criminal turned cop, using and abusing your authority to hunt down the murderer of your mentor while cleaning up the 'hoods of New York City, from Harlem to Chinatown." Oh, yeah! Gothamist checked out screenshots of True Crime: NYC, and not only does he go to Kenmare Street (checking out 1 Kenmare Square? Going to La Esquina?), he also puts a guy's head on a hot stove, has an incident under elevated trains uptown, and stands in a moodily lit Times Square. Some more features:

Street Cop Life: Bust criminals, take down foreign and local gangs, search and seize, extort, interrogate, and dispense justice your way - by the book or indulge in the temptations of the job.

Rule New York City: Free-roaming authentic neighborhoods, GPS-accurate streets and subways, landmark buildings, and countless interiors.

Dynamic Environments: Unprecedented environmental gameplay - use ovens, stoves, machines, coolers, pots, pans, chairs or anything else you can grab to pound enemies. Virtually every aspect of each city block - including people, streets, and buildings - reacts and changes based on your "law enforcement" decisions and ability to combat crime.

Clearly, Gothamist needs to buy this as "research." Game Daily notes that the "character concentrations specific to each neighborhood. For example, the player will find a plethora of tourists amidst the lights and large buildings of Times Square, but predominantly locals near the brownstones of Harlem." Ha! So, when Marcus Reed goes to Alphabet City, it's a bunch of Murray Hill kids "slumming it"?

True Crime: NYC will be out November 15, but there is True Crime: LA. And stay tuned for Mayor Bloomberg's and Senator Clinton's protest against the game.