American Fugitive: First impressions - One of the best indie releases this year

American Fugitive is an ode to old school Grand Theft Auto games and especially GTA Chinatown Wars which was released on PSP.

The game follows Will Riley who gets wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of his father, after being in the wrong place at the wrong time, with police finding him at the scene of the murder. Riley breaks out of prison in a classic story of revenge. The game is set in the sandbox of Redrock Country, the USA in the '80s.

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The story and setting

I haven't finished the full game yet. At about halfway through, the story has been compelling and is faced perfectly. Side missions haven't felt like they're just side quests either, always affording the opportunity to learn a little more about Red Rock County.

Driving down the narrow country lanes of Red Rock County immediately gave me flashbacks to the first time I played GTA Chinatown Wars on the PSP, a little under a decade ago, despite the setting being so different of the cramped urban lanes of Chinatown Wars' rendition of Liberty City. In that way, the map feels a lot closer to Blaine County from GTA V in it's aesthetic.

The player can break into most of the houses in the map, preferably after looking through the window to see if anyone's inside. If you're spotted while committing a crime, rest assured some good samaritan will report you to the cops in seconds. It's much easier to escape the cops here than in most GTA games though.

Gameplay and controls

The game has you follow a series of main missions and side missions as you uncover the truth of who murdered Will's dad.

One negative I had about the games are the way the dialogues are delivered between Will and the people he meets. They're delivered in dialogue bubbles and some of the writing here leaves a little more to be desired.

The controls are pretty tight on the PS4 and the driving feels pretty good too, despite being a little harder to control with the faster cars (which I'd put down to my own lack of ability).

Graphics and sound

The game looks gorgeous on a PS4 and the best part about it is how the graphics and sound come together to help Red Rock County come alive. I especially loved the game's soundtrack which reminded me of the soundtrack from parts of the Red Dead Redemption series.

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To buy or not to buy?

If you love old school top-down action games and the classic GTA games, this one's definitely for you.

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