25 to Life

Last updated
25 to Life
25 To Life Coverart.png
North American PlayStation 2 box art
Developer(s) Avalanche Software
Ritual Entertainment
Publisher(s) Eidos Interactive
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows
Release
  • NA: January 17, 2006
  • EU: June 1, 2007 (PS2)
  • AU: June 7, 2007 (PS2)
Genre(s) Third-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

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

Contents

Set in a modern environment, the game allows the player to play as both a cop 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 Xbox, and there is online play for the Windows version as well. On purchasing the Windows version, customers would also obtain a free, "Street Warriors" playing card which included a featured character from the game itself. These playing cards were exclusive, in which they were only included in the PC copies.

Plot

The game is about a man named Freeze, his friend Shaun Calderon, and police officer Lester Williams in the fictional city of Las Ruinas. Freeze commits crimes with Shaun to get money, which he spends for his family, while Williams is trying to stop the organized crime and across the city.

One night upon returning home, his wife confronts him about these actions. Saying they are a bad influence to their son, she wants him to stop. After an argument, he agrees. The next day, he tells Shaun he wants out of the game. Shaun levels a gun on Freeze, informing him that he must do one last job, a narcotics trade.

At the deal, Freeze finds the Colombian gang members dead and police officer Maria Mendoza waiting. Freeze flees with the police in pursuit and loses them. The 2nd Street D-Boys realize Freeze wants out of the gang and he has to avoid both his former gang and the police. Later, he robs a bank. After a gun fight against the police, he reaches his getaway car, only to be arrested after being hit by a nightstick.

Meanwhile, Mendoza informs Williams of Shaun. They look for Shaun in his house, but get caught in a gun fight. Williams finds evidence and goes to a club to find Shaun, chasing him to the subway. The chase ends with Williams arresting Shaun, but Mendoza kills him and tells Shaun to leave for Mexico.

Shaun goes to Tijuana and fights his way to a local club called "The Curtains Club". He robs a casino, fights security, and goes to a wealthy man named Saragosa in his penthouse, who he kills.

Freeze breaks out of jail and gets new clothes at the mall while being chased by the police. He kills Mendoza in the mall and hunts down Shaun, now a wealthy drug kingpin, eventually stepping on Shaun's neck until he suffocates. The final scene shows Freeze telling Darnell, "From now on, it's just you and me against the world. Now let's do this", as a large number of police officers arrive, with Freeze picking up a gun and pointing it at the police.

Reception

25 to Life received "unfavorable" reviews on all platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. [1] [3] [2]

Hyper's Maurice Branscombe commented that the game's soundtrack was okay only "if you like rap." However, he criticised the game as "absolutely unadulterated bullshit." [19]

USA Today gave the game a score of four stars out of ten and stated that its only strong quality "is a decent multiplayer mode. Most of the action is team-based, allowing you to choose between police or thugs. Players can choose to rob a location and return the stash to their home turf, raid a criminal hangout, or engage in an all-out deathmatch. Freeze's goal at the start of this story was to get out of the "game." Five minutes slogging through this shooter will have players wanting the same." [18] The A.V. Club gave it a D+ and called it "a half-baked copy of someone's urban nightmare." [20] Detroit Free Press gave the PS2 version one star out of four and stated that it "lacks everything that would make it new, innovative or just plain fun. The graphics are really muddy and sub-par. The controls seem to be a bit confusing." [17]

Related Research Articles

<i>Madden NFL 2004</i> 2003 video game

Madden NFL 2004 is the 15th installment of the Madden NFL series of American football video games. Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is on the cover.

<i>Madden NFL 2003</i> 2002 video game

Madden NFL 2003 is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon and Budcat Creations and published by EA Sports. The 14th installment of the Madden NFL series, the game features former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk on the cover. This edition of Madden was the first to have EA Trax, the Mini Camp mode, and to feature Al Michaels as play-by-play announcer, who took over for Pat Summerall. Although it featured the expansion Houston Texans and the relocation of the Seattle Seahawks to the NFC, it was actually the second to do so. The game was released on August 12, 2002 for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The PlayStation version also includes the Sega Genesis version of John Madden Football 93.

<i>Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004</i> 2003 video game

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is a sports video game developed by EA Redwood Shores for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, Headgate Studios for the Microsoft Windows version, and Backbone Emeryville for the Game Boy Advance and N-Gage versions, and published by EA Sports for GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and N-Gage.

<i>Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood</i> 2005 video game

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, Xbox and PlayStation 2. It was ported to the Wii in 2008 as a part of the Brothers in Arms: Double Time compilation.

<i>Evil Dead: Regeneration</i> 2005 video game

Evil Dead: Regeneration is an action hack and slash video game developed by American studio Cranky Pants Games, published by THQ, and released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is based on The Evil Dead series. It is unconnected to the previous video game Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick. The game takes place in an alternate reality from the original trilogy where the film Army of Darkness never took place, depicting what would have happened if Ash did not get sent back in time at the end of the film Evil Dead II.

<i>Batman: Vengeance</i> 2001 video game

Batman: Vengeance is a 2001 action-adventure video game based on the fictional superhero of the same name. It was released for PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. The game was developed and published by Ubi Soft in conjunction with Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

<i>Bad Boys: Miami Takedown</i> 2004 video game

Bad Boys: Miami Takedown, also known as Bad Boys II in Europe, is a video game released in 2004 based on the action-comedy film Bad Boys II. It was released in early 2004 after the film's DVD and VHS release in 2003.

<i>FlatOut 2</i> 2006 video game

FlatOut 2 is a 2006 action racing video game developed by Bugbear Entertainment and published by Empire Interactive in Europe and Vivendi Universal Games in North America. It is the sequel to the 2004 game FlatOut.

<i>NBA Live 06</i> 2005 video game

NBA Live 06 is a 2005 installment of the NBA Live series released on the Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 and Mobile. It was developed by EA Sports. The game features several game modes, including Dynasty, Season, Playoffs, or Free Play. It features Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat on the cover. This was the last NBA Live game on the GameCube and it also was the first NBA Live game on the Xbox 360 as a launch title and on the PlayStation Portable.

<i>Crime Life: Gang Wars</i> 2005 video game

Crime Life: Gang Wars is an action video game developed by Hothouse Creations and published by Konami. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. There are various methods of earning money, ranging from mugging to burglary. The soundtrack of the game is mostly provided by UK Hip Hop artists and features one exclusive song by the hip-hop group D12, who also contributed their likenesses and voices for some of the game's key characters.

<i>NHL 2K6</i> 2005 video game

NHL 2K6 is an ice hockey simulation made by 2K, and published on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Xbox 360 consoles. It features goaltender Marty Turco on the cover of games sold in the United States, and forward Mats Sundin on the cover of games sold in Canada and Europe.

<i>Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06</i> 2005 video game

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 is a sports video game developed by EA Redwood Shores for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 versions, Headgate Studios for the Microsoft Windows version, and Team Fusion for the PlayStation Portable version, and published by EA Sports for GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, and Xbox 360.

<i>TOCA Race Driver 3</i> 2006 video game

TOCA Race Driver 3, TOCA Race Driver 3 Challenge in the PlayStation Portable version and Race Driver: Create & Race in the Nintendo DS version is a racing video game developed and published by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable and OS X. It is the sixth game in the TOCA series. The game features several fully licensed championships, including the DTM series and V8 Supercar championship. This is the last in the series to have TOCA in its title as following on from this TOCA was dropped in favour of just Race Driver. Despite featuring the name TOCA in its title, the game did not feature the British Touring Car Championship. The game received positive reviews, frequently being compared favourably to Gran Turismo 4 and Forza Motorsport, in the aspects of cars on track, collision and wear damage.

<i>Street Racing Syndicate</i> 2004 video game

Street Racing Syndicate is an open world multiplatform racing video game produced by Eutechnyx, and released by Namco on August 31, 2004, for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Windows-based personal computers. The game was also released for the Game Boy Advance on October 4, 2005. During its release, it was meant to compete against Need for Speed: Underground 2, the sequel to the critically acclaimed first game released in 2003.

<i>TOCA Race Driver</i> 2002 video game

TOCA Race Driver is a 2002 racing video game developed and published by Codemasters for PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows and Xbox. It is the fourth game in the TOCA series. The racing elements of the game continued to receive positive reviews and the game went straight to number one in the UK game charts. Xbox and PC conversions followed in March 2003, with a further Xbox version released several months later at budget price adding Xbox Live support.

<i>Madden NFL 07</i> 2006 American football video game

Madden NFL 07 is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the first in the video game series to debut for the PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles as launch titles and the last Madden game to be released on the Game Boy Advance. Former Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander is on the cover.

<i>Just Cause</i> (video game) 2006 action-adventure game

Just Cause is a 2006 third-person action-adventure game set in an open world environment. It is developed by Swedish developer Avalanche Studios and published by Eidos Interactive, and is the first game in the Just Cause series. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Xbox 360. The area explored during the game is described as being over 1,024 km2 (395 sq mi) in size, with 21 story missions and over 300 side missions to complete.

<i>NHL 07</i> 2006 video game

NHL 07 is an ice hockey video game, which was released in 2006. The game improved the series' gameplay with more realistic features, such as stickhandling and a wider variety of controller schemes. As NHL 07 was released on the Xbox 360, this is the first game in the NHL series to be released on a seventh generation console. It was also the last NHL game to be released on the Xbox and the only installment to be released on the PlayStation Portable.

<i>NBA Live 07</i> 2006 basketball video game

NBA Live 07 is the 2006 installment of the NBA Live series by EA Sports. It was released on Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Windows.

<i>Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray</i> 2003 video game

Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray is an extreme sports video game developed by Shaba Games, Small Rockets and Beenox, and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label and Aspyr for Game Boy Advance, Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox and mobile phones in 2003. It features wakeboarder Shaun Murray.

References

  1. 1 2 "25 to Life for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "25 to Life for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 11, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  3. 1 2 "25 to Life for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Pfister, Andrew (January 18, 2006). "25 to Life (PS2, Xbox)". 1UP.com . Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Edge staff (March 2006). "25 to Life". Edge . No. 160. p. 89.
  6. 1 2 Helgeson, Matt (March 2006). "25 to Life (PS2, Xbox)". Game Informer . No. 155. p. 100. Archived from the original on August 14, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  7. ↑ Gerstmann, Jeff (January 19, 2006). "25 to Life Review (PC)". GameSpot . Archived from the original on May 16, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Gerstmann, Jeff (January 19, 2006). "25 to Life Review (PS2, Xbox)". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 14, 2018. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Vasconcellos, Eduardo (February 14, 2006). "GameSpy: 25 to Life (PS2, Xbox)". GameSpy . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  10. ↑ Giacobbi, Kevin "BIFF" (February 12, 2006). "25 to Life - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 29, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  11. ↑ Onyett, Charles (January 17, 2006). "25 to Life (PC)". IGN . Archived from the original on January 10, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  12. ↑ Onyett, Charles (January 17, 2006). "25 to Life (PS2)". IGN. Archived from the original on December 31, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  13. ↑ Onyett, Charles (January 17, 2006). "25 to Life (Xbox)". IGN. Archived from the original on May 28, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  14. ↑ "25 to Life". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine . April 2006. p. 82.
  15. ↑ McCaffrey, Ryan (March 2006). "25 to Life". Official Xbox Magazine . No. 55. p. 82.
  16. ↑ "25 to Life". PC Gamer : 51. April 2006.
  17. 1 2 Rucker, Rashaun (February 19, 2006). "'25 to Life' (PS2)". Detroit Free Press . Archived from the original on September 5, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Molina, Brett (February 6, 2006). "'25 to Life' isn't punishment enough for awful shooter". USA Today . Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  19. ↑ Branscombe, Maurice (September 2007). "25 to Life". Hyper . Next Media (167): 66. ISSN   1320-7458.
  20. ↑ Dahlen, Chris (February 15, 2006). "25 To Life". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on February 17, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.