With the emergence of polygonal graphics into mainstream video games publishers around the world banking on the realism this method allowed their titles. Sega was one of the big ones as they started their whole ‘Virtua’ line of titles in the arcade in an effort to cash in on the 3D craze. This included Virtua Racer, Virtua Fighter, and finally, Virtua Cop. These games were all polygonal, but fit into distinctly different genres. Of the three Virtua Fighter is the only one which I had much experience, but I’ve had Virtua Cop in my collection for years. It was a free with the console in the system’s twilight years, and that may be the reason why it’s so common in game bundle lots. Virtua Cop was innovative in that it was one of the first fully polygonal light gun shooters, and at launch it made decent waves in the gaming community. Today I sat down and finally gave it a look to see if it holds up. The answer is a bit mixed, but it’s still a blast.
The story here is a bit tough to follow because it isn’t heavily showcased in the story mode. Basically you play as one of two (or even both in two player mode) police officers on the Virtua City PD; Michael Hardy or James Cools. They’re sent in to take down a hilariously named crime syndicate (E.V.L.) after a police officer is assassinated after finding the evidence to put their leader away for life. There’s very little dialogue, and virtually no story exposition. The plot is a bit generic, but come on; it’s a light gun shooter after all. Despite the move to 3D graphics the gameplay here is pretty typical by genre standards. Your progress through each stage is automatic and via a first person perspective. You’re moved from scene to scene with numerous enemies running from off-screen, popping out from hiding places, and more. Enemies react realistically to being hit in different parts of their body. This was a big deal at the time of release.
Whereas most light gun shooters at the time featured screens that simply scrolled in all four directions and the scenery rarely changed that’s not the case here. Making use of the 3D capabilities of the Saturn your character will move through stages and stop only when new enemies appear. The camera frequently zooms in on the high threat enemies, but this is both a blessing and a curse. When you’re playing with a light gun this is beneficial because the close up view of enemies makes them bigger and easier to hit targets. Unfortunately if you’re stuck using a controller (which is a common means by which to play because light guns don’t work with HDTVs) you’ll find yourself having trouble moving the reticule to the right place in time because you have to constantly readjust the position of your aim while the camera is zooming. This is especially bothersome when friendly civilians are on-screen and you’re trying to hit nearby enemies (you take damage for friendly fire). I found myself struggling at first using the controller, but eventually I got the hang of it. Still, if you have an SD TV then the light gun is worlds more immersive and fun to use.
With that said Virtua Cop is more difficult than your typical light gun shooter. The game throws more enemies at you than you can often deal with, and few gamers are going to be able to finish it the first time they play. The game features two player co-op and this is a god send because it makes the main game much easier, and shooting your way through the stages with a buddy is a ton of fun. Unfortunately there are a few issues that I have with this release. For starters the stage designs can be a bit boring. It seems like most of the time you’re in warehouses or docks, and there isn’t much of a change in scenery. Secondly, the enemies are very similar to one another. Most of the time you’re dealing with pistol wielding thugs, and only in the later stages do you encounter enemies armed with throwing knives (that can be shot) and other projectile attacks. The boss encounters are the real highlight here. They have unique attack patterns between them, and even different forms. Even their cheesy lines of spoken dialogue are memorable.
What makes up for the mundane environments is the focus on destructible elements in the environment. Virtua Cop gets this aspect right; there are many explosive barrels and what not, and in some areas you can even knock over structures to take out all enemies in the vicinity. It’s a lot of fun to experiment and see what can help you take out the nearly endless army of assailants. You’re even given multiple weapons that can be used on a limited basis. Your primary handgun has unlimited ammunition, but you’ll also find a shotgun and even a rapid fire rifle to make your life easier. Like I said, this is a game that will take a lot of practice and stage memorization to be successful with, and that’s just what you want in an arcade title. Unfortunately the game is just a bit too short. There are only three stages here. While each has separate sections (or levels as I refer to them) I imagine a lot of gamers felt ripped off when they were finally able to complete the game because it can be played through in less than a half hour easily. Thankfully Virtua Cop is highly replayable, and any fan of the genre will keep coming back long after they reach the credits scene.
Virtua Cop is one of the best looking early Saturn releases. AM2 was one heck of a development studio and managed to get this release extremely close to the arcade version with few sacrifices even despite the limited hardware. The framerate is steady from start to finish with very few noticeable dips even with tons of enemies on-screen at once, and each animate separately from one another. The environments, while bland in design as I mentioned earlier, look absolutely fantastic for the hardware and this was a great showcase for what the Saturn could do. Nothing is overly pixelated or blocky, and though some objects are generated with pixels they still look really good. Character models have it the worst here and haven’t aged all that well. They look clunky, but their animations are detailed and so I’m willing to give it a pass on that shortcoming. Unfortunately there just aren’t a lot of different enemy designs and so you’ll be blasting away at identical looking thugs most of the time. Again, this isn’t a big issue. The soundtrack is competent but is not something I would ever listen to outside of the game. It’s mostly high energy techno rock, and it does suit the game pretty well. The voice samples feature some absolutely terrible acting and they sound a bit muffled, but I actually found this charming and it adds a lot to the cheesy ‘cop buddy film’ atmosphere.
Chances are if you owned a Sega Saturn back in the day then you got Virtua Cop as a freebie. Most of the people I know focused more on the included Virtua Fighter 2 and Daytona USA, but as I’ve come to discover this game is definitely worth checking out. It’s not the best light gun shooter of its era, but it did so much for the genre that it can be considered a true classic. Even the Goldeneye 007 team used it for inspiration, and that should tell you a whole lot about the influence this one had.
