Crime Boss: Rockay City
OpenCritic Rating
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Crime Boss: Rockay City Trailers
Crime Boss: Rockay City | Epic Games Launch Trailer [ESRB M]
Crime Boss: Rockay City Announcement Trailer [ESRB 4K]
Critic Reviews for Crime Boss: Rockay City
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.
There’s very little you could get out of Crime Boss that you couldn’t get out of Payday 2 next time it comes around in a Steam sale. And besides, I think those masks that “are for pussies” are actually really cool.
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
INGAME STUDIOS should be commended for trying something different as they've previously worked on the Mafia series amongst other titles.
