Brave men fought under the blood red sky. On the second day, the great battle would be over for these liberators, but the battle would once again commence on the black plains to the west. Where the Phoenix would rise once more, two warriors will emerge to face this foe.
Urban Chaos is a 1999 Third-Person Shooter developed by Mucky Foot Productions and released by Eidos Interactive.
The story begins with Nubian rookie D'arci Stern, the protagonist, joining the Union City Police Department. Much of her time is spent dealing with the Wildcats, a gang that is getting increasingly bold in their criminal activity. With the help of a vigilante named Roper, D'arci begins to believe that the Wildcats plan to take over Union City. As the Wildcats grow ever bolder, D'arci discovers that the gang is led by Mack Bane, a candidate for mayor of Union City, who claims to be an immortal sorcerer with connections to Hell itself. It is up to Stern and Roper to stop him before he plays out the end of his prophecy.
As of 2013, the game is available on Steam but can do with some modding to run properly on modern computers.
Completely unrelated to the later Rocksteady developed Urban Chaos: Riot Response, despite both being published by Eidos.
Urban Chaos provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Stern.
- All There in the Manual: The game's manual gives a bit of backstory to both Stern and Roper, none of which is mentioned in the game itself.
- Always Night: All of the levels take place between evening and night time.
- Averted in the Estate of Emergency level, which takes place during the day.
- Antagonistic Governor: Mayor Bane.
- Apathetic Citizens: The citizens of Union City happen to be this. It's even lampshaded by a police officer in the level "The Fallen".Sgt. Estevez: How the hell is it that some poor schmuck gets ripped up by 100 bullets, an' NOBODY sees a DAMN THING?
- Bad Cop/Incompetent Cop: As revealed when one of D'arci's colleagues is in cahoots with the Wildcats.
- Also in the Transmission Terminated level, a fellow officer will pursue D'arci and attempt to trip her over. If he is successful, he will then arrest D'arci and result in a Level Failed screen. Though this could also be down to a
Good Bad Bug.
- Also in the Transmission Terminated level, a fellow officer will pursue D'arci and attempt to trip her over. If he is successful, he will then arrest D'arci and result in a Level Failed screen. Though this could also be down to a
- Batter Up!
- Beware the Nice Ones: On the very first level, as soon as D'arci leaves the police station, there's a pedestrian stood just outside the parking lot. Speaking to him will prompt him to greet D'arci before running away. If you apprehend him, he will drop a knife.
- Big Bad: Mack Bane is the leader of the Wildcats gang who plans to become the tyrannical mayor of Union City.
- Big "NO!": On the level Stern Revenge this is what Roper exclaims if D'arci gets killed.
- Bane also does this at the end, right before he blows up.
- Cool Car: D'arci eventually gets to ride around in a squad car and even a squad van.
- Crapsack World: Union City.
- Deadpan Snarker: Stern.
- Do Not Drop Your Weapon: Anyone carrying a weapon will drop it after they are killed or are arrested.
- Devil in Plain Sight: Mayor Bane, literally.
- Driven to Suicide: One civilian on the level The Jump because he was rejected by the Union City Fire Department
- Eldritch Abomination: In the penultimate level, D'arci has to take down a demon monster that's twice the size of any normal civilian. Really.
- Elite Mooks: The Fallen, who carry handheld miniguns(which cannot be used), have a lot of hitpoints, and levitate and explode when they are killed.
- Enemy-Detecting Radar: Indicated by blinking red dots on the grid. White dots indicate the Fallen.
- Et Tu, Brute?: A police officer is revealed to be working for the Wildcats on one level.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: That one Wildcat in Transmission Terminated who can be seen talking to his mother.
- Evil Laugh: One of The Fallen.
- Flat "What": Uttered by D'arci many times.
- Forced Tutorial: While the Combat and Driving training levels are optional, you have to complete the assault course trial before you can even play the first level.
- Genre Shift: Urban Chaos starts off as an Action-Adventure game centered around a police officer fighting crime. Halfway through, the game becomes Urban Fantasy when Big Bad Mack Bane reveals himself to be a one-thousand-year-old ancient warlock with magical powers.
- Golden Snitch: Deeks
- Guide Dang It!: Players are mostly accustomed to D'arci climbing ladders and fences, or just standard jumping up and grabbing the ledge in order to get to a higher place. Good luck with the Transmission Terminated mission when you have to try to find a way up the building to blow up said transmitter. Who'd have thunk it, climbing onto those skips in the alleyways has a one-time use toward completing a level.
- To get to the distressed citizen in The Jump, there's a ladder leading up to where he is which will result in you failing the level objective if you climb it because there's a perfectly good wire for you to use to slide on, over on the opposite building.
- There are several cool combos you can do while fighting, but the game pretty much just tells you that they exist and if you perform them, it'll likely be by accident.
- Have We Met?: Upon their first meeting in Trouble in the Park, Stern asks Roper this when he mentions knowing her father.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: A random prostitute just happens to witness the theft of a squad car, and tells you as a reward for not arresting her.
- Though you could be a real jerk and arrest her after the cutscene finishes.
- Hostage Situation: A number of levels feature this scenario.
- Idle Animation: There are two levels which feature nightclubs that D'arci can enter. If the player leaves D'arci standing idly next to a dancing NPC for a few seconds, she will start copying the dance moves of said NPC.
- It's All Upstairs From Here: One of the level objectives in Transmission Terminated requires you to climb to the top of a broadcasting tower and destroy its satellite dish.
- Land Mine Goes "Click!": Scattered throughout many levels. More specifically, the mines in this game glow red and aren't even buried.
- Man on Fire: Having D'arci walk through an open flame will have her catch fire, and she WILL die within a few seconds.
- The Men in Black: The Fallen.
- Mini-Boss: Baalrog
- My Beloved Smother: There's one level mid-game where D'arci can trigger a cut-scene of a Wildcat thug speaking with his mother. His mother scolds him for being part of the group, when D'arci intercedes and sides with the mother.
- Mama Bear: The mother then screams at D'arci, and the Wildcat gang member attacks D'arci. As soon as this fight is over, his mother will then start attacking her too.
- Nature Tinkling: In the opening level RTA, you can arrest an NPC for urinating against a tree in a public park.
- Non-Standard Game Over: You will actually be forced to restart the game from scratch if you allow D'arci to enforce too much Police Brutality on innocent civilians.
- Outside-Context Problem: Roper's opening narrative in the final level mentions that Bane has revealed himself to be an ancient warlock.
- Outside-Genre Foe: The Baalrog. In a game centered around the police fighting crime, the last thing you'd expect to see is a giant demonic fire beast from Hell.
- The Fallen, to a certain extent. Whether it'd be their pocket-sized miniguns or the way they levitate and explode into lightning after their death.
- Police Are Useless: With the exception of D'arci, the rest of the police officers seen in the game are ineffective.
- Police Brutality: As well as arresting people, the player can opt to have D'arci kill them instead. Do this to too many civilians each level, though, and it won't go down well with the UCPD.
- The premise of the Gatecrasher level gives heavy suggestion of utilizing this, so long as you leave one of the targets alive.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Bane's eyes are seen glowing red at the end.
- Run, Don't Walk: Unless you're going backwards.
- Shotguns Are Just Better
- Sidequest Sidestory: There are three bonus levels in which you control a Wildcat ringleader.
- There are usually mini-events or optional objectives on a given level as well.
- Sunglasses at Night: The Fallen wear sunglasses as part of their uniform, even though all but one of the levels in the game take place during the night. Subverted in Estate of Emergency, the only level in the game that takes place during the day.
- Tagalong Reporter: Gordansky
- Terrorists Without a Cause: The Wildcats start off as a street gang, but increasingly become a terrorist organization as they make use of land mines, blow up buildings, take hostages, and even attempt to launch missiles at Union City. At the end, they support Bane in fulfilling his doomsday prophecy.
- The Prophecy: As mentioned in the opening cinematics. Bane tries to fulfill this prophecy later in the game.
- Throw Down the Bomblet
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: There's really nothing stopping you from administering Police Brutality to the random NPC characters walking the streets in each level, even going as far as becoming a Killer Cop...
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: If you do this one too many times, however, you're rewarded with a Non-Standard Game Over
- Walk on Water: Averted completely. D'arci can't even walk across a small puddle.
