Virtua Cop

"Fun shooting action for a low, low price!"

Virtua Cop is AM2’s first try at light gun gaming, and it shows. VC is splendid fun, but it just doesn’t have enough polish to go against AM2’s own House of the Dead. For a first try, though, it’s excellent, and a great use of the Stunner accessory. I only wish that the game had had a little more substance…

Story: 1/10
What kind of story do you expect from a light gun game with cops involved? Nothing, and that’s just about what you get in VC. The story is basically something about the “EVL” (I’m not joking about that name) corporation stealing money from the Virtua City Bank, or something like that. You never really get to understand the story in Virtua Cop, as it never has cut scenes, dialogue, or anything. It’s too bad, since Sega usually at least tries to create a story.

Gameplay: 7.8/10
Virtua Cop is regular light gun gaming, with a twist. You follow a “rail” path that’s always the same throughout the three levels, shooting all the enemies as you go and not shooting the hostages. You can pick up various weapons that appear such as an automatic, machine gun, and shotgun but shooting them. The three innovations that Sega added are a multiplier, bulls-eye shots, and a “timer”, for lack of a better word. The multiplier is a small bar at the top of the screen that slowly fills as you shoot enemies. After filling once, all the points you get double. From then on, filling the bar again get you triple and quadruple the points, and so on. If you are shot, the multiplier returns to one and the bar empties. Bulls-eye shots are when you shoot an enemy, not in the direct middle as “bulls-eye” would suggest, but hitting their gun arm. In Virtua Cop 2, this evolves into Justice Shots. The final addition is the “timer”. The timer is a circle around the enemy with two lines starting at the top and going to the bottom, which indicate how much time you have to shoot them, until the reach the bottom, and you are shot.

A big thing that Sega has stressed is the interactivity of the environments. You can shoot most anything up, such as monitors, barrels, and cars. The only things that really has an impact, though, are the barrels, which can kill adversaries. Hitting the other objects does nothing other than destroying them, and unfortunately doesn’t give you points. I wish Sega had done something more with the other elements of the levels…

In addition to the regular “arcade” game, there is a training mode. The training mode is extremely simple, unfortunately, since all that it ever consists of is shooting the same exact targets, which either flip up, move back and forward, or left and right. It would have been really nice if Sega had expanded upon this element.

The final gameplay option is the “Ranking Mode”. In the ranking mode, you have only five lives and go through the game until you die. At the end, you are ranked based on elements such as accuracy, points, and enemies killed. There is no reason to try to get the best ranking, unfortunately, since there is no reward. Like the training mode, I wish Sega had expanded upon this.

Control: 3/10 or 10/10
If you don’t have a Stunner, you’re stuck with using the regular controller. This is extremely awkward, since the aiming cursor is hard to control and the reload process in unnecessarily complicated. For reloading with the regular Saturn controller, you have to hit C twice in a row. You heard me: twice. Why Sega did this I have no idea; why the heck did they make it so that it takes extra time? It’s silly… If you’re using the light gun, though, control is extremely accurate, and reloading only consists of shooting off the screen.

Difficulty: Extremely Easy
Virtua Cop is a very easy game. You’re given 9 continues and 9 lives if need be, so you have a total of 81 health. If you get hit 81 times, you must really be awful. So, if you’re not absolutely awful, it’s very possible to get through the regular game in under 30 minutes, on your first try. It’s almost silly how easy it is…

Graphics: 4/10
I have to give Sega some credit, since VC is a first generation game. Still, all of the characters look awful and extremely blocky. Also, the textures are muddy. Moreover, the environments (especially the “mountain” area) are absolutely awful and seem to consist of only one color. Ugh…

Sound/Music: 5/10
The music is your typical upbeat, slightly happy, action game music. It’s nice, but mostly resides in the background. The gun shots are extremely annoying. After hearing them for hundreds of times, it gets very grinding on the nerves. There are a few (really corny) voice samples scattered through the game, mostly at the boss battles, but there really isn’t any dialogue as I mentioned before.

Value: 10/10
Once you’ve beaten Virtua Cop through once or twice, blown through the training mode, and tried out the ranking mode, most likely only an hour or two have elapsed. From then on, unless you’re a die-hard light gun fan, you’re not likely to play it much again. At this point, you’re asking me why I gave it a 10, if it’s got such low replay value. It’s only 50 cents! As a first generation Saturn game, and very common, most FuncoLands or the such have it for that low, low price. 50 cents is a small price to pay for 2 hours of fun, isn’t it?

Virtua Cop is a game that you’ll blow through and most likely never play again. However, it belongs in any self-respecting Saturn gamer’s collection! And for that low price of 50 cents, it’s not an expensive addition, either. Go out and buy Virtua Cop today, shooter fan or not!

Pros:
+ Great shooting action
+ Low, low price
Cons:
- Extremely short
- Bad graphics and sound
- Nonexistent story

Overall Score: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/01, Updated 11/08/01