True Crime: New York City is a sequel to the action title True Crime: Streets of LA, which offers players the opportunity to take on the role of Marcus Reed, a former criminal who has joined the police force. It is of course up to the player how good a cop he will be. His goal, however, is to track down and neutralize/arrest the killer of his mentor.

Players will face a variety of different missions stemming from the work of a police officer. They will involve searching for and chasing criminals and gangs, investigations, interrogations, shootouts, car chases, duels, etc. All of this will take place in a virtual New York created with great attention to detail based on the real world.

As in the first part, the player will have at their disposal not only a wide range of weapons (firearms, stabbing and slashing weapons) and means of transport (motorcycles, cars and trucks), but also a decent number of different fighting styles that the player will gradually learn. These include both Asian and Western fighting styles.