State of Emergency

Heh, this looks like fun!

State of Emergency is the ultimate in antisocial anarchy—similar to the way Loaded on the PlayStation gleefully broke all the rules with a coy smile. As one of five citizens under the oppressive heel of a sinister government controlled by big business, you must single-handedly make things right in four different locales and several missions. Playing from a behind-the-thug view, your tasks read like “Revolution for Dummies”: escort and protect hackers, destroy buildings, and assassinate high-ranking officials. In addition to your fists, there’s a nice and sometimes gruesome variety of weapons, including baseball bats, machine guns, and even severed heads.
State’s most noteworthy element is the visual presentation. Accompanied by a striking audio track, the screen is completely packed with riot-like activity—gang bangers, citizens, Corporation officers (the bad guys), and frenzied crowds that react to explosions and gunfire. Some of the details, though, have been skimped on, such as the featureless citizens.

Yet the game’s play engine wears thin too soon. Missions grow tiresome from their own repetition, and the four locales lack visual and structural diversity. The controls, though, remain firm throughout, although constantly having to manually change the camera angle can become wearisome.

Despite its quickly worn welcome State of Emergency’s worth a play if you’re in the mood to inflict some serious virtual mass destruction. It’s also the kind of game you’ll truly enjoy if you’ve ever been wrongly awarded a speeding ticket, victimized by the IRS, or told to stop running by a mall cop.


People everywhere! State’s screen is packed to the rim with activity—explosions, blood, and acts of mayhem. Various citizens look like faceless masses, and there’s occasional slowdown. If your television supports it, play the game in widescreen mode!


The sound effects have a creepy realistic quality akin to riot footage that you’d see on the nightly TV news. The low-key ’70s-ish music score goes perfectly with the onscreen mayhem—but if you listen closely, you can hear the same pieces played repeatedly.


The simple control scheme is hampered by the constant need to re-center the camera. Lack of a custom configuration also hurts the score.


State of Emergency is a very fun game whose premise wears thin a bit too fast. However, you’ll have a blast with it before you reach the saturation point. You’ll probably never feel so good about being so bad.


Thanks to Gamepro for this review

I used to own it, was fun for maybe 2 hours then I never played it again because I found it too repetitive

now it is at a friends house where it is loved much more he says it is one of his favs (y I am not sure) but I guess it all depends on the person

i hated this game, sorry

Its ok, I have never played it, it just sounded like fun