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25 to Life xbx Game Reviews
25 to Life
Critic Score
Metascore: 41 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.3 out of 10
based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this game

25 to Life is the game the streets have been waiting for. Play as either cops or gangsters in this urban third person shooter. The game delivers intense Online gameplay for up to 16 players, as well as a rich single player experience. Set in the heart of today's cities, experience the gritty lifestyles of police task forces or as a gangster survive the local neighborhood thugs while fighting your way up the inner sanctum of the drug lord's mansion, your knowledge of the streets will be put to the test because...25 to Life IS the streets! [Eidos Interactive]

PUBLISHER: Eidos Interactive
DEVELOPER: Avalanche Software
GENRE(S): Third-Person Shooter
PLAYERS: 16
ESRB RATING: M (Mature)
RELEASE DATE: January 17, 2006

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

66
Cheat Code Central
The online portion of 25 To Life isn't bad; it's not deep by any stretch nor does it look particularly wonderful, but you and your pals can run around the city and shoot each other online and I bet some of you will really like it.
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65
eToychest
It's not completely without merit, especially if you are able to find a few friends online to play with.
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64
VGPub
If you have Live, this can be an incredibly enjoyable game once you get used to the profane and immature nature of players that frequent the lobbies.
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60
GamerFeed
Boring, boring, boring. It's like a life sentence unto itself...only you can control when it ends by hitting the power button.
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58
Game Informer
You know the drill: extremely linear level designs that stitch together corridors, open areas, and dull objectives with all the refinement and subltlety of a drunken quilting circle. [Mar 2006, p.100]
57
GameSpot
25 to Life is a lifelessly generic shooter that, at times, feels like "Max Payne" without the fun.
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45
Extreme Gamer
Sadly, besides the online portion 25 to Life is a dated effort that seems too generic, and overall dull.
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45
Loaded Inc
The linear gameplay and the poor shooting mechanics prevent it from getting anywhere close to being fun or interesting.
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41
Gamer 2.0
The boring graphics, the (mostly) garbage sound, and the obscenely boring story will leave you in a non-marijuana induced daze.
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40
Worth Playing
25 to Life is the kind of hideous trash that damages gaming's reputation, resulting in the genesis of the Jack Thompsons of the world. I need to go play Pokemon or something, to get this awful taste out of my mouth.
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38
Gamers' Temple
25 to Life just doesn’t have anything going for it that warrants a look at the game unless you’re gangsta obsessed or bored out of your mind after playing every other available Xbox game out there. Save yourself the frustration and spend your gaming dollars elsewhere.
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35
Team Xbox
It’s not that 25 to Life is bad, it’s actually just awful. Terrible in fact. There is not a single aspect of the game, less the soundtrack and Xbox Live play, which should be copied by another game.
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33
The Onion (A.V. Club)
You have to struggle with touchy controls and flaws in the game logic. For example, if you hang onto a human shield for too long, the cops will just shoot your hostage to get him out of the way. How is that fair to anybody?
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31
IGN
The single player is boring, arrestingly conventional and entirely forgettable. The multiplayer is slightly better, though mostly because of its options and not because of its gameplay.
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30
1UP
Pandering to every college student and aspiring rap artist's deep-seated "Scarface" fantasies, 25 to Life is a 3D action-shooter that not only fails to innovate on any level, but rolls back design and technological advancements to the early PSone era.
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30
GameSpy
25 to Life is almost like a dirty joke -- You're laughing at how bad it is and feeling guilty at the same time. Don't waste your time or money on this game, it'll make your think-bone hurt.
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30
Digital Entertainment News
The only slightly redeeming qualities of 25 to Life are the soundtrack and game play over Xbox Live.
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25
ZTGameDomain
The controls are busted, the AI is pathetic, and even with online play you will grow tired of it within an hour of game time.
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20
Edge Magazine
If there’s one thing that 25 To Life gets to do right, let it bring an end to this destructive preoccupation with the cross-media lure of gritty, crime-flavoured urban violence, and the unacceptably low standards it so often brings with it. [Mar 2006, p.89]
20
Official Xbox Magazine
At least there’s an online-enabled multiplayer mode, but it sure isn’t worth suffering through the dismal single-player campaign for. [Mar 2006, p.82]

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Colby gave it an8:
many people are very critical about this game but I dont know why.25 to life is very fun with ok grapics too. there are many weapons to choose from and is especially fun on xbox live. The one downside of it is it's too short. ratings would be better if it was longer. it's reccomendable to any shooting players who like to play live.

Joseph Z. gave it an8:
There is really nothing wrong with this game. I don't know why people hate it. The only flaws I see in this game is that the single player is short, sometimes it takes too long to start a multiplayer match, and there is some lag. Thats all I see wromg with this game. The soundtrack is good,the game has a lot of weapons, I think it is cool that you can play as a cop or a gangster, and its pretty cool that it comes with a bonus disc that is a soundtrack with the music from the game on it. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes shooting games.

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