Theft City

Theft City drops you into a third-person crime sandbox where the whole town has turned into shambling, green-skinned citizens and every one of them is carrying cash. Your job is simple and gloriously unlawful: shoot them, scoop up the money they drop, and pour it into bigger guns, faster cars and louder explosives. The catch is that the police do not care that the people you are robbing are zombies. Make enough noise and squad cars start rolling in.

The game comes from Boop Games, the studio behind Planet Destruction, and it shares that game's love of over-the-top chaos. Where Planet Destruction hands you a whole world to wreck from orbit, Theft City puts you on the street with a pistol and lets the mayhem grow one upgrade at a time.

Your First Heist Starts at the Bank

The opening scene sets the tone. You spawn inside a quiet bank lobby: rows of black waiting-room chairs, potted palms, a water cooler and a big steel vault door behind the counter. A green-faced teller stands guard, and a glowing green path on the floor points you toward the first target. Follow the arrows, open fire, and the bank's money is yours. That green guide line keeps appearing as you go, so you always know where the next job is even when the street around you is in flames.

Getting Around and Pulling the Trigger

• W A S D or the arrow keys: walk around. On a touchscreen, use the on-screen joystick.
• Mouse: aim. The game locks the cursor to the camera so you can look around freely.
• Left click: shoot.
• Tab: unlock the cursor. In cursor mode you hold the right mouse button to look, and press Tab again (or click the middle of the screen) to go back to aiming.
• V: switch view between the over-the-shoulder camera and a closer angle.

The Tab trick is worth remembering. When you want to click a menu, check the shop or simply take your hand off the mouse for a second, Tab frees the pointer without pausing the action.

Money, Upgrades and the Snowball Effect

Every citizen you drop leaves cash behind, and that cash is the engine of the whole game. Early on you are scraping together small amounts with a basic weapon, which makes each fight feel scrappy. Spend wisely and the loop speeds up fast: a stronger gun clears a crowd quicker, a quicker clear means more money per minute, and more money means the next upgrade arrives sooner. Within a short session you go from nervously backing away from a group of zombies to walking straight through them.

The upgrade shop covers three kinds of toys:

• Guns - the backbone of your progress. A better weapon is usually the smartest first purchase because it makes every other job faster.
• Cars - for crossing the city quickly, escaping a police chase or simply running down whatever stands in the road.
• Explosives - the crowd-control option. When a big pack of citizens bunches up, one blast pays for itself.

Keeping the Cops Off Your Back

The police are what turn Theft City from a shooting gallery into a proper crime game. Robbing a few citizens quietly is one thing; tearing up a whole block brings heat. When officers show up, you have a choice to make. Standing your ground works once your arsenal is strong enough, but in the early game it is often better to grab the cash, break line of sight and get away before more units arrive. A car makes that escape far easier, which is one more reason to save up for wheels.

A few habits make a big difference:

• Back up while you shoot. Zombies close the distance slowly, so retreating in a straight line keeps them in front of you.
• Collect money before moving on. Cash left on the ground is cash you are not spending on upgrades.
• Use corners and doorways to split groups so you never face a whole crowd at once.
• Switch the camera with V when a fight gets cramped indoors; a different angle often shows an enemy hiding behind a pillar.

Why Theft City Clicks

Theft City captures the bit of open-world crime games that people remember most: causing trouble, running from the law and coming back stronger. It strips away long story missions and lets you jump straight into the fun, which suits a quick lunch-break session as well as a longer grind for the next big weapon. If you enjoyed the city chaos of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or Grand Theft Auto III but want something lighter and faster to load, this is a natural next stop. Players who would rather skip the robbery and just mow down the undead can head over to Zombie Siege Outbreak, while Zombie Rush keeps the hordes coming at a frantic pace.

Load it up, follow the green arrows into the bank, and see how long it takes before the whole city is yours.