Virtua Cop

"A swell game, but I would like some improvements with it"

In every move, Sega, Konami, and Namco are duking it out for ''the best light gun game there is''. In every year, Konami and Namco are the major players in the field. In every title, AM1 might have the upper hand against AM2. Unfortunately, I like AM2 many ways better than AM1. But I'm not going to ruin your enjoyment reading this review for Virtua Cop.

Virtua Cop was released as Sega's answer to Lethal Enforcers way back in 1994. Although Virtua Racing is basically the very first game to run under Yu Suzuki's ''Model Board'' series, Virtua Cop features a brand new twist that improves Lethal Enforcers' ''Protect the innocent bystanders from the terrorists'' theme. That task fell to 3-D shooting, in which you will be faced with a lot of camera angles as you try to make your way through a horde of terrorists in your quest for justice.

The game runs under Model 1 meaning that the polygons are kind of sharp to my tastes as of this writing but the textures are pretty much well-detailed. Even the animation is acceptable even though the Model 1's engine can't handle the polygons that well. The main reason why graphics kick butt is because at times you rotate around the scenery rather than move right, left, right, or whatever in Lethal Enforcers.

The music would've been a bit better because right after playing this game for a few more times, I thought that the music should've been less annoying and should've been a bit more dramatic in some cases. The sound effects are really great, though.

On a side note, I would also like to state in regards of the places you injure the terrorists that all the injury scenes are done very good and they animate pretty well. From landing a shot on to a terrorist's stomach to shooting enemies at the hand that is holding onto the gun, all the injury scenes are replicated pretty well into this game.

The control would've used a bit more work as there are times when I had to hold the gun in one position and point the lens at the bottom left corner just to shoot right over there. I can't calibrate the gun to places that I want to shoot, though. Since you have to twist your hand and point the gun straight to a desired piece of image, I would say that control of the gun needs some work.

The challenge is a lot different than in Lethal Enforcers: In Lethal Enforcers, you took a hit every time an enemy shoots you. Virtua Cop features the ''Time Limit Synchornization Target'' that tells you how much time you have left before you get shot. In the lower levels, you are given much time but as you get better, you will know that there is less time for error. Unfortunately, once you know how to beat the Synchornization Target patterns, then the game becomes a bit too easy for some.

In Virtua Cop, there are 4 stages, and you can select from the first 3 stages. Once you beat the first 3 stages, you have to fight the final boss at the end.

To conclude this review, I would somewhat give this game a nod, but although AM2 is the king of Sega Arcade Games, I would say that Yu Suzuki should've at least spent some more time tweaking up the gun controls in the game a bit so that you would be able to shoot at the hardest places. Otherwise, it's pretty much a so-so game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/23/00, Updated 04/07/02