Is Crime Simulator The Best Budget Heist Sim On PS5? Let’s Find Out.
Crime Simulator is an open-world simulation title developed and published by Lab_132 that puts players in the shoes of a budding criminal operative. Starting from a humble base of operations, you must manage resources, plan various illegal jobs, and execute heists either solo or with up to three friends in co-op. The game focuses on player freedom, offering multiple ways to tackle objectives across a variety of maps and difficulty settings.
Specs & HUD | Gameplay Review | Performance & Fidelity | Settings & Controls
Crime Simulator PS5 Review: Specs & HUD
- Download size is a light 3.03GB.
- Features a Platinum trophy for the hunters.
- Two connection options are available: online and offline.
- Four save slots are provided for different runs.
- Four game modes are included: standard, hardcore, completionist, and an endless mode.
- Four game difficulties to choose from: casual, normal, pro, and master.
- The tutorial section is accessible directly from the main menu and is totally optional.
- Button screen prompts and pop-up text like “vault into window” help with interaction.
- Minimap included in the HUD for navigation.
- The full player stats menu is available on the base computer.
- Streamer mode is included to turn off copyright material.
Gameplay Review & Mechanics Breakdown
I like that it’s a crime open-world game. Yes, I have missions, but I can go about them in so many different ways. You have a central little base of operations, we call it a shipping container, but it’s a base. Here you can call players in, use the computer, and set up heists and jobs. Each map will have main objectives and some optional challenges. You can play how you want; it’s a big, open world, and you attack each job as you like. Cash is earned from jobs and can be found in the game world. In your base, you can drop any or all items that you stole into a box and deliver them to the top boss and get paid.
Jobs can be taken on from the computer, and they have different difficulty levels, which affect rewards. Earn EXP and level up to get skill points to put into the tree. You can find leaflets in the game world to acquire new skills that show up in the shop. Requests is an app on the computer where you feed in the wanted materials and resources instead of selling them, and get huge cash and EXP rewards. It’s cool that you have options on what to do with loot. You can even buy tips on locations within the game for extra Intel. Shop deliveries come in via a drone and get dropped off at set points on the map. You can pay extra to get faster delivery times.
When out on a job, you have a truck with the computer and an inboard in it, and here’s where you start each time, but also where you go to finish a job. There is a lock-picking mini game with simplified controls; in fact, all the mini games are simplified and easy to get into. After you’ve picked a lock, you can choose to relock it afterwards, which is a simple but nice touch. People in the world will have an outline you can see through walls, bushes, etc., and it can make it easier to survey them.
Crime Simulator PS5 Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Decent graphics overall for the scale of the game.
- First-person view in a full 3D game world.
- Performance-wise, it can be a bit up and down, with slowdown being the main issue.
- The voice in your ear is muffly and hard to hear.
- UI feels fiddly and not smooth, feeling more like a PC game ported to a controller.
- Signing the opening contract is messy; my name was so long it wouldn’t fit on the page, and it didn’t look good.
Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Video settings: UI scale, field of view slider, field of view effects, head obs, camera shake, vignette, film grain, bloom, ambient occlusion, low stamina effect, and brightness slider.
- Volume sliders for voice, music, and SFX.
- Controller options: look sensitivity, Invert Y, show controls, Invert scroll, items aim assist, and flight aim assist.
- Gameplay settings: highlight team mates, view mini game tutorials, show item markers, skip starting logos, skip hideout intro, subtitles, vibration, and Crosshair visibility.
- Multiplayer: Set the maximum number of co-op players to 2, 3, or 4.
- Running is not a toggle; it’s a hold-down only action.
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Crime Simulator PS5 Review
Summary
THE GOOD POINTS
I really like that this is a proper crime-focused open world where I have missions, but can go about them in so many different ways. Having that central shipping container base to call in players, use the computer for heists, and dump stolen loot for the boss works well and keeps the loop tight. The progression is solid, too; you earn EXP for skill points and find leaflets in the world for new shop skills. I love the options for loot, especially the Requests app, where you can trade materials for huge rewards and massive EXP instead of just selling everything for cash. The game is packed with smart, smaller mechanics like drone deliveries, where you can pay extra for speed, the ability to relock doors after picking them, and simplified mini-games that are easy to get into. Whether you are playing solo or setting the co-op limit for up to four players, the depth in the stats menu and the variety of difficulty options from casual to master give you a lot to chew on.
THE BAD POINTS
There are some definite frustrations with how the game gates its content, specifically making you unlock both the hardcore and completionist modes along with the pro and master difficulties, before you can even touch them. It’s also a bit of a blind choice at first because the different game modes don’t even have a description until you’ve already gone through them. The UI is a major sticking point for me; it’s fiddly and doesn’t feel smooth at all, giving off that annoying vibe of a PC game forced onto a controller without being optimised. Performance is a bit up and down, with noticeable slowdown being the main culprit, and the muffled voice in your ear is a real pain to understand. You’ve also got little annoyances like the messy contract signing, where long names don’t fit the page, and the fact that running is a hold-down only action instead of a toggle, which just feels dated.
FINAL VERDICT
Crime Simulator is a solid open-world heist game that gives you loads of freedom and plenty of ways to play, but a clunky UI and some performance wobbles hold it back. If you can handle the grit and the fiddly menus, there’s a good time to be had here for anyone looking to build a criminal empire from a shipping container.
