State of Emergency

State of Emergency is a beat 'em up released in February 2002, developed by VIS Entertainment and published by Rockstar Games on PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is set in a United States run by a corporation that suspended elections, and it is built around fighting through riots with hundreds of people on screen at once.

What Is the Setting?

A dystopia with a precise timeline. Big business gradually took over national affairs and suspended elections, and in 2023 the American Trade Organization, known as the Corporation, seized power outright. The game opens in 2035, when an underground movement called Freedom sparks a national riot and the Corporation declares the state of emergency the game is named after.

Who Do You Play As?

One of five characters fighting for Freedom, each with a different background. Two are available immediately and the other three are unlocked through play. Their differences are in the fighting rather than in the story, which stays the same whoever you pick.

What Was the Point of the Crowds?

Scale. The game's selling point in 2002 was rendering a genuine riot, hundreds of rioters and police reacting at once, on hardware where most games struggled with a dozen characters. That crowd is what the game is remembered for, and it is why it exists at all.

Was State of Emergency Well Received?

Reviews were mixed. Critics acknowledged the crowd technology and the chaos it produced, but found the underlying game repetitive once the novelty of the scale wore off. It is the weakest reviewed game Rockstar published in this period.