25 To Life

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25 To Life
25 To Life game cover (PlayStation 2; PAL)
Developer(s) Avalanche Software
Ritual Entertainment (Multiplayer)
Publisher(s) Eidos Interactive
Release date(s) January 17, 2006 (NA)
Genre(s) Third-person shooter
Mode(s) Single player,
Online multiplayer
Rating(s) BBFC: 18
ESRB: Mature (17+)
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows
Media DVD (1)

25 To Life is a third-person shooter video game for Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox released in 2006. The game was developed by Avalanche Software and Ritual Entertainment, and was published by Eidos Interactive.

Set in a modern environment, the game allows the player to play as both a police officer and a gangster, at different times, in a "cops and robbers" style game. The game can be played online with up to 16 players using the network adaptor for the PS2 and through Xbox Live for Microsoft's Xbox, and there is online play for the PC version as well. In addition, the game features a variety of hip hop songs played during the game.

The name of the game comes from a typical "indeterminate life sentence" that is often given in the United States upon a defendant's conviction for a violent felony. See the article on parole for more information.

Contents

[edit] Weapons

[edit] Thump 'Em, Stick 'Em, Shock 'Em (Melee)

[edit] Handguns

[edit] Rifles, shotguns and automatic weapons

[edit] Bombs

[edit] Soundtrack

This Isnt' The Complete Soundtrack

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The game is about an African American man named 'Freeze', his friend Sean, and a Police Officer, Officer Williams. The main protagonist being Freeze, the story is focused around him, despite the ability to be all three of the characters at at least one point throughout the game. Freeze commits crimes with Sean to get money, which he promptly spends for his family. Though, one night upon returning home, his wife confronts him about it.

Saying his actions are a bad influence to their son, she wants him to stop. After an argument, he finally agrees to do this. The next day, he meets Sean, and tells him he wants out of the game. Sean seems upset about this, and his intentions are clear when he aims a gun at the retreating Freeze. But, before Freeze can leave the game, he has to do one last "job". When he arrives at the scene where he's supposed to give illegal narcotics to some Latino gang members, he finds them all dead, and in their place a female police officer, Maria Mendosa.

He flees, with the police in hot pursuit, and then calls Sean to notify him that the deal went wrong. Eventually, Freeze finds out that the entire deal was a set-up beetween Sean and Mendosa, with Mendosa getting a cut of the money, and Sean getting silence from Freeze. The rest of the game entails Sean setting up a small empire in Mexico, and Freeze chasing him down, finally killing him off, while saying, "We used to be best friends, until you sold me out. Now, it's nothin' but flowers and a funeral for you, home boy.", and then he steps on Sean's throat until he suffocates and dies.

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Criticism

25 to Life has drawn criticism from American politicians, particularly several in the state of New York and Delaware, for a feature which allows the player to grab nearby non-player characters and use them as human shields. After being released, contrary to hype, it has received very poor reviews - not for the content, but for being a poorly-made game. [1]

[edit] Jack Thompson's involvement

On January 12, 2006, outspoken anti-video game advocate Jack Thompson wrote a letter to California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, where he strongly urged the Justice Department to prevent the game from being released, under California's public nuisance law. Failing that, he offered a justification for California police officers to steal copies of 25 To Life from stores.

Quoting Thompson, "Additionally, please know that California Civil Code Section 3495 enables and authorizes each and every law enforcement officer to walk into any video game store, without a court order, to seize and destroy each and every copy of 25 To Life. California law treats this as acceptable 'abatement' of a public nuisance by parties particularly endangered by such a nuisance."

An anonymous GamePolitics.com poster, saying that he was an attorney, posted the following rebuttal[citation needed]:

I research things before I make patently false or misleading statements. For your edification, Jack, I submit the following: Although California Civil Code does permit a person to abate a public nuisance, the remedy available for private individuals is by way of civil action. Private persons are not empowered to self-help. (See Miller & Starr California Real Estate (2005 3d Ed.) 8 Cal.Real Est. § 22:26.) When they choose self-help, they do so at their own peril. (Hill v. City of Oxnard (App. 3 Dist. 1920) 46 Cal.App. 624.) In addition, one is empowered to abate a private nuisance only when to do so would not result in a breach of the peace. (People v. Overacker (App. 1911) 15 Cal.App. 1620.)

As for a public agency's right to abate a nuisance, such an agency has 3 options: 1) a criminal proceeding, 2) a civil action for injunction, abatement, etc or 3) abatement. Where there are constitutional considerations, however, such as purported obscenity or matters which may implicate free speech rights (such as video games) the public agency may not act without a prior judicial determination. (Id. § 22:28.)(Internal citations omitted.)

It is believed that Attorney General Lockyer disregarded the letter, and no actions were taken.

[edit] P. Frank Williams's change of heart

According to a post on Opposable Thumbs, an Ars Technica blog, "apparently P. Frank Williams, the writer of 25 to Life and 'hip hop journalist' had some moral issues when he was working on the game," referring to an article in The London Free Press.

[edit] National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund boycott

CNN's Showbiz Tonight reported on the controversy surrounding 25 To Life, including the involvement of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which demanded that people boycott the game.

[edit] Reaction

25 to Life was received poorly by critics, who lambasted it as a "GTA clone" [2], and the game sold rather poorly, despite the attention brought to it by critics such as Jack Thompson.

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] Trivia

  • Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
    The room that you face Shaun Calerdon in the mansion in the last level is similar to the main mansion room that Scarface lived in.
  • A Lot of Posters have Lil' Jon and The Eastside Boys Crunk Juice Album.

[edit] The Glitch

Erased At User's Will

(D=Destroya)

How to glitch:

  • On PS2 you have to hold the analog stick to the direction you want to glitch.While you are keep holding onto the analog stick you push the d-pad to the opposite direction,then let go of the d-pad.
  • You cannot glitch with a Zapper on law-enforcement

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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