He had just stepped off the plane, and already the police officers from Los Santos were confronting him, secretly threatening him to work for them?
This was damn it too dark!
After a brief grumble inwardly, Zhang Yi shifted his attention to the game's map.
He had played quite a few open-world games before.
Various themes, but not many set in modern cities.
After all, compared to other game types, creating an open-world game with a modern urban setting was extremely difficult.
Just in terms of materials, most game developers wouldn't be able to pull it off.
The game's background was set in the 90s, so the buildings in the alleys still carried a distinct sense of the era.
But the thing that intrigued Zhang Yi the most was the bicycle.
"This little bike is pretty interesting!" Zhang Yi controlled Carl riding the bicycle, his face full of surprise.
The speed wasn't slow, but it certainly wasn't as fast as a car.
The main thing was, this little bike could perform all sorts of stunts.
Lifting the front wheel, balancing on the rear wheel, or even jumping—performing these stunts in the game made it very easy to fall flat on your face.
Soon, Zhang Yi guided Carl to the mission location.
Parking the bike at the entrance, Carl pushed the door open and walked inside, glancing around the modest room.
A big butt TV, a sofa and coffee table, a game console on the floor, and a photo frame.
'Stop it! What are you doing? Carl, Brian, stop it!'
'Mom will hear!'
'Mom, they're trying to do something bad!'
Carl, his face filled with sorrow, placed the photo frame on the table, his mind flashing back to memories of his family from years ago.
But just then, a middle-aged man with a beard, wearing green clothes and a green hat, emerged from the kitchen, brandishing a baseball bat and shouting fiercely, "You've got the wrong place, kid!"
Seeing the bearded man charging at him with the bat, Carl quickly stepped back, yelling in panic, "Big Smoke! It's me, Carl! Calm down, calm down!"
"CJ? Man! What are you doing here? Hey, bro, you alright?"
The bearded man, known as Big Smoke, now recognized Carl.
They had been childhood friends, and their reunion brought genuine joy, dispelling the sadness in Carl's heart.
Then, Big Smoke led Carl to the cemetery. Through brief exchanges, Zhang Yi learned about the game's background.
Carl was born in this Black neighborhood of Los Santos, growing up fatherless under the care of his mother and older brother, with a younger brother and sister below him.
His brother Sweet was the leader of Grove Street, and the gang members, all native residents, used green as their mark—wearing green clothes, pants, and hats.
The Ballas gang from the neighboring community, dressed in purple, were their mortal enemies, and the two gangs lived in constant conflict, their lives filled with gunfire and explosions.
But when Carl was 19, his younger brother died on the streets due to gang conflict, a blow that deeply affected him, prompting him to temporarily leave the streets and move to Liberty City.
Now, he had returned because his mother had been killed.
But the current state of the community was far worse than when Carl had left. The Ballas gang from the neighboring community had grown stronger through drug dealing, while Sweet's gang, refusing to get involved in the drug trade, had become the weakest in all the communities, with virtually no influence.
Members either defected to the enemy as traitors or became drug-addled zombies.
Now, the only ones left beside Sweet were two loyal sidekicks: the bearded Big Smoke, and Ryder, who always wore dark sunglasses and had a cigarette in his mouth. Adding Carl, who had just returned, they totaled only four people.
"This damn starting point is too miserable!" Zhang Yi rode the bike, following Carl's older brother Sweet and Big Smoke as they weaved through the alleys of Los Santos.
Suddenly, gunshots rang out from behind, bullets striking the ground beside them with a sharp sound.
Turning around, he saw a car chasing them closely, two gang members leaning out of the open windows, firing submachine guns at Carl and the others.
Wearing green clothes and green hats—this was their gang's identifier, no need to mention.
After all, it seemed they didn't force him to change, so he kept his white shirt appearance.
But your gang is just too pathetic!
Including him, just four people, and at the funeral, the rival gang came and opened fire like crazy, and they had no weapons to fight back?
Of course, if that were all, he could still endure it.
But damn it, they're driving cars, and you're on bikes?
"With treatment like this, why are you even in a gang? Getting a job at an electronics factory would have better待遇 than this!" Riding the bike through the alleys, finally shaking off the pursuers, Zhang Yi couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
But in terms of the game's content, Zhang Yi felt a pleasant surprise.
The game's mode reminded him of an open-world game called Red Dead Redemption released years ago by Nebula Games.
Because there was a common characteristic in the game: once entering the main quest mode, it became strictly linear.
When not on a mission, players could freely explore the game world and do anything they wanted.
But Zhang Yi didn't immediately start exploring. He continued to follow the main story obediently.
The subsequent story was roughly about a Black guy from the lower class striving for the gang's resurgence.
Going with Ryder, who wore black sunglasses and clearly looked like a showing off type, to get a haircut, buying a pizza to eat, killing the pizza shop employees to grab a shotgun, then hiding and fleeing while wanted, Zhang Yi finally met his brother again and received the first important mission for the gang's rise.
"?????? You two are playing basketball here, and you want me to do the work? A gang of four, and I'm the only underling, while you're all leaders?"
Watching Sweet hand him the spray paint, telling him to reclaim their territory's markings, Zhang Yi was deeply puzzled.
In a gang of four, if the other three are all leaders, wouldn't all the dirty and exhausting work fall entirely on him?
Previous games at least pretended, saying I'm the big Hero, but now they're being straight up about it?
Zhang Yi grumbled inwardly, looking at the spray paint in his hand.
As the mission progressed, Zhang Yi quickly felt some of the game's characteristics. First, the NPCs in the game were very realistic, each with their own details and lives, though their intelligence was a bit on the dumb side.
But he didn't find this design strange or bad.
Because it made the game easier, and much more enjoyable.
Especially when driving, at first he thought about following traffic rules, stopping at red lights.
But soon he discarded that idea—restricted play wasn't as fun as unrestricted play?
Driving recklessly through the streets, if the car broke, just steal another one. The only thing to watch out for was avoiding police pursuit.
And unlike Red Dead Redemption, which had a bounty system, in Crime City, as long as you evaded the police, even if you walked right in front of an officer, they wouldn't care.
Unless you deliberately approached them.
Moreover, the game's missions were scattered across various corners of the city. Although the current storyline was unfolding,
the mission locations were still quite far apart. When speeding or driving to a location, you wouldn't go alone—there'd always be a Companion along, chatting to fill the otherwise boring travel time.
And the dialogue served to explain the game's background and related life experiences, with lines that were quite interesting.
The only downside was the constant swearing and foul language.
They'd constantly insult each other's families. Aside from that, there was one most direct feeling: life for overseas people was truly hellish!
Especially when Carl helped Sweet try to track down former gang members, only to find them all ruined by drugs, and finally storming the drug dealer's hideout, seeing their chaotic lives, Zhang Yi sighed with emotion.
Indeed, it's still better back home!
But setting all that aside, Zhang Yi had to admit that on this Crime City game, Nebula Games had truly gone all out.
So far, he'd only experienced a little over an hour of content, yet it already involved street gangs, shootings, and a series of other elements.
Combined with Crime City's contemporary setting, there were no scenes of blood splattering, yet it delivered an indescribable thrill.
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