Virtua Cop: Elite Edition

"Buck Hunter. Ha!"

The Virtua Cops have never been that popular, certainly not in the league of Time Crisis or even Buck Hunter, which for some reason seems to be so popular at my local pub. I recently had an argument over the tediousness of Buck Hunter. I argued that shooting hundreds of cops using revolvers, semi-automatics, rifles, shotguns, magnums and machine guns was more fun than attempting to kill three male deer using a pump-action shotgun that needs to be pumped every shot. I argued that moving around industrial areas blowing up drums of petrol, chasing those cool-as-cucumber naughties through construction fields, swanky hotel rooms and penthouse suites was more fun than trying not to shoot the grazing does on a static, single screen that does not move an inch.

For some reason I argued that those black-suited, sunglass-wearing bullies moved with jerky animation but that the models looked very clean. I then followed that up by mentioning that the levels were fast-paced, rarely stationary and always fun. ''The levels look even better than the arcade games! Not quite the best, not the realistic approach that Namco took with Vampire Hunter but good nonetheless'' said I. ''I shoot bad guys on trains whilst trying not to kill the innocent civilians that so stupidly run out of nowhere with their hands in the air crying ''Don't shoot!'' which makes me want to shoot them even more! Do you?'' I remember retorting. I was told that just because Virtua Cop: Elite Edition had Virtua Cop and Virtua Cop 2, and that just because it had seven levels of shooting bliss as opposed to ''hunting'' three bucks didn't mean it was better. I shot right back (pun extremely intended) by adding the fact that in one particular level you embark on a car chase where you can actually shoot the tyres of the car in front of you, causing them to flatten and eventually the car to flip. ''Beat that!'' I challenged.

Going on to explain the features of this wonderful shooter, I happened to bring up the Gallery which amazingly, is a gallery of artwork that grows as you shoot obscure objects during play such as signboards, overturning cars (which I mentioned before but it's just that cool) and trying to pick off that lone coward who decides to run away really fast instead of letting me shoot him in a blatant and unashamed manner (likes 99% of the other gooses in Virtua Cop: Elite Edition). That's not to say this fab firing fest is a walk in the park, mind you. Not that walking in the park is that easy nowadays anyway, especially if you live in the uncannily-overrated state which is New York. No, you get little time to shoot the members of the ''EVL'' corporation as the targets around their bodies turn hastily from green (or blue depending on which title you're playing) to red. And red means a crack in your TV screen...a life lost.

Now I suppose this next point is a little cheap, for I went on to tell of the sound effects, which although were pretty standard fare for a shooter, were better than Buck Hunter's which can hardly be heard thanks to the drunks that inhibit the pub. Gunfire is much of what you hear, along with tyre screeches, the thunderesque sound of train tracks and the whir of helicopters. ''The music,'' I exclaimed ''is upbeat and uptempo! Does music matter in a lightgun title? No. But it's there.'' I didn't say this at the time but afterwards I thought to myself 'The music does make kind of a difference when fighting one of the seven bosses, which are challenging in their own right. Indeed, the bosses vary from simply shooting the rockets that come out of the launcher fired by that Arnold Schwarzenegger-from-Commando wannabe to taking on helicopters, tanks and flying...robot things'.

In desperation, the person with whom I was arguing made the point that neither Virtua Cop nor Virtua Cop 2 have a storyline. I accepted this, for it is a shooter. You shoot people. Bad people. I don't need an excuse, nor would I necessarily want one. I said ''If you want a good story, read a book, watch a movie that has not come out of Hollywood or play a role-playing game that does not have the words ''Final'', ''Fantasy'' and ''Five'' in the title. I then noted his hypocrisy in that Buck Hunter does not have a storyline either. By this point I was starting to get fatigued and yet I pressed on for the sake of all those bikey-looking guys with tattoos, bald heads and denim jackets. I did it for the superb level design and the fact that there's the option to enable auto reload. The fact that auto reload allows you to play a two player game by yourself with a gun in each hand so much easier and that much more fun.

After I had made this/these point(s), I explained to him how much easier it was to play. ''You start with a six-shooter revolver. Just like Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry, numbskull)''. Reloading is done by pressing any of the many buttons, the two coolest being the one underneath the ''magazine'' and the control pad on the back of the barrel. But the toughest (by ''toughest'' I mean ''coolest'', not ''hardest'') way to reload is to shoot off the screen, especially by pointing upward. No cumbersome shotgun that weighs about 10 kilos, no need to reaim after every shot you fire thanks to the awkward pumping. I reiterated with ''If you wanna go hunting, move to America, put on one of those ridiculous-looking hats, grab three friends, put on a redneck accent and remember to injure one of your mates in the process''. Me? I'd rather play as Rage and take down guys that are almost as cool-looking as I am. Buck Hunter gives me the Shotgun Blues.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/24/03