| Police 911 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Designer(s) | Shigenobu Matsuyama (producer) |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release date(s) | 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Light gun |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Cabinet | Custom |
| Display | Raster, medium resolution, vertical |
Police 911 (a.k.a. The Keisatsukan: Shinjuku Cop 24 Hours in Japan, Police 24/7 in Europe.) is a light gun arcade game that casts the player as either a "one man SWAT team" working for the Tokyo police, or an American police officer of the LAPD, working to take down members of the Gokudo-kai (極道会), an internationally based yakuza group.
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The gameplay in Police 911 can be considered more interactive than most light gun games; instead of merely standing in one place and shooting enemies before you are shot, the game uses infrared sensors to determine a player's location; through this, the player is able to dodge around (with the knees, while standing on the pad), duck to avoid bullets (and reload), and lean out to maximise cover and get a better shot. This is not foolproof, however; enemies will continue to shoot while you're hiding, so it's possible to rise up and immediately get shot, if you're not careful. Also, like Time Crisis, the timer is continually running down, so one can't hide for very long.
The activity of dodging, weaving, and crouching can be very stressful on the knees, so people with leg conditions should take note.
As the player successfully completes each sub-part of a level, they gain a point towards a new rank. The higher a player's rank, the greater bonuses they can receive; growing time increments to start, followed by additional "lives", with the highest rank rewarding the player with 100 additional lives—however, considering that the timer continues to decrease whenever a player goes through their death animation, and that no additional time bonuses will be given after they reach that rank, this may be more of an oversight by the design team, or that the design team knows that there was no way for the player to use all those lives in one game because of the time. In addition, the player's rank reverts to the bottom whenever they get shot, so a potential strategy for a skilled player would be to ascend to the point where they gain a life, then immediately die so the time bonuses may be re-earned.
Shooting innocent people or fellow officers it will deduct the rank; if it is lowered below a "reward rank", the reward will not be re-earned.
In The Keisatsukan: Shinjuku Cop 24 Hours, the player begins on the streets of downtown Kabuki-Cho Shinjuku, taking part in a raid on a nightclub owned by the Gokudo-kai; the officer, led by shielded riot squad members, and surrounded by innocents (both whom the player must not shoot), can take different routes through the club as their shooting skill dictates. Exiting the club leads to the first "boss": Shigenobu Matsuyama (松山 重信 Matsuyama Shigenobu), who is driving a dump truck around an enclosed area, as five gangsters shoot at the player from the cab. Once the boss is shot and "arrested", the scene switches to the streets of Ichibandai Kabuki-Cho where the player fights off waves of gangsters, before facing the second "boss", international weapon smuggler Richard Hansen, at the entrance to Shinjuku Station Square (a subway station). Entering the station, the player fights more gangsters and the third "boss", Keisuke Matsuoka (松岡 圭介 Matsuoka Keisuke). Concluding this arrest, it is determined that the remaining heads of the Gokudo-kai have fled to America; specifically, the Little Tokyo area based in Los Angeles. The LAPD and FBI are notified, and an undercover detective is immediately dispatched to continue the case.
Arriving in Little Tokyo, the first encounter is a standoff between the LAPD and the Gokudo-kai in the middle of a street filled with cars, with two "bosses" at the end; Bai Ei Lee (李培栄), and Noriko Nagata (長田 典子 Nagata Noriko), both in a truck which drives erratically around the area (and which the player must dodge). It is only necessary to shoot the driver to "arrest" both of them, however. Following this is a "Highway Chase", in which the player is in a continually moving car and must take out several carfulls of gang members to proceed (again, only shooting the driver of the cars is necessary). Following this is an encounter in an underground garage (which is dangerous, both with the amount of innocents, as well as the threat of being hit by a moving car). Finally, the player emerges onto a side street, leading up to a crowded intersection and the boss of the Gokudo-Kai: Katsuji Haraguchi (原口 勝治 Haraguchi Katsuji).
In Police 911/Police 24/7, the gameplay missions are reversed: the raid on the nightclub takes place in Little Tokyo, followed by a "boss" fight with Richard Hansen at the crowded intersection. The Highway Chase and the underground garage are next, followed by the encounter with Bai Ei Lee; this time, he is the only one in the truck. A new warehouse level follows this; the player must stop Noriko Nagata from completing the smuggling of weapons to Japan, while in the original version, Richard Hansen had already completed the operation.
At this point, it is determined that the remaining heads of the Gokudo-kai have returned to Japan; specifically, their base of operations in Kabuki-Cho Shinjuku. Tokyo's International Investigation Unit is contacted, and an undercover detective is immediately dispatched to continue the case. The detective fights through the Ichibandai streets before facing Shigenobu in his dump truck at Kabuki-Cho's entertainment strip. Matsuoka is faced at the Station Square, and Haraguchi, the final boss, is in the subway.
Finally, the way civilians are handled is changed. In The Keisatsukan: Shinjuku Cop 24 Hours, a newspaper headline flashes on the screen whenever an innocent is shot, because they can actually be killed. In Police 911/Police 24/7, the player simply loses a rank and is reminded not to shoot innocents or colleagues, but they are otherwise unharmed.
Note: This game is called "Police 24/7 2" in Europe, and "The Keisatsukan: Nationwide Investigation" in Asia.
The game was released one year after the release of Police 911. The game takes place exclusively in Japan and players can choose 6 cities—Osaka, Hakata, Shinjuku, Kobe, Nagoya, and Sapporo. The first stage takes place in the scene of the crime and the following stage takes place in a shortened version of the usual city stage. The rest of the game takes place in normal stages before the player has to return back to Osaka to arrest the remaining criminals.
Police 911 2 expands the original police officer role to four different characters. They can choose from a Tokyo police officer (male or female), a detective from the Metro Police, or an SAT trooper, each carrying different handguns (5-round revolver, 8-round Glock, 12-round HK MP5). In the overseas version, the police woman and the detective are male and female American Interpol Operatives holding 8-round glocks.
Japanese mafia crimes are growing rapidly and rigidly as the Japanese government ordered a nationwide arrest plan throughout the whole nation to arrest all involved criminals. Criminal activity has increased by order of the infamous Japanese mafia Gokudo-kai. The growth of mafia crimes are rising at record levels due to a collaboration with a Hong Kong mafia group called Ryuuto (龍頭 Dragonhead in English). Finally, a mysterious kingpin is hiding behind-the-scenes to ensure that Japan falls down to the hands of the Gokudo-kai and the Ryuuto.
Players start the investigation inside an office building where a collaboration deal is taking place between the Gokudo-kai and the Dragonheads. After arresting the first wave of criminals, it has been deduced that criminals are scattered throughout 6 cities: Osaka, Hakata, Shinjuku, Kobe, Nagoya, and Sapporo.
Osaka: Criminals are hiding inside Dotonbori throughout the downtown streets and the bridge area. A junior Ryuuto executive Ko Bun Yuen (高 浜元) is holding Osaka hostage with a helicopter.
Hakata (Nakasu Fukuoka): Citizens are being held hostage by a high-ranking Gokudo-kai executive named Koji Umezawa (梅沢 幸治 Umezawa Koji).
Shinjuku (Kabuki-Cho): A junior Gokudo-kai executive named Tadanobu Abe (阿部 忠信 Abe Tadanobu) is causing a disturbance near the Shinjuku Station utilizing an excavator. Gangs are also causing disturbance inside the Ichibandai streets.
Kobe (Nanjing-Cho): Ryuuto members are hiding inside the Chinatown district. A senior Ryuuto executive Ku Ka Hang (古 家亙))is at large.
Nagoya: Shots are fired in front of the Nagoya Station. A flying bus has been hijacked by Koji Motomura (sometimes mistranslated as Hiroshi Motomura; 本村 弘司 Motomura Koji).
Sapporo: A Code 3 call informs Sapporo authorities to pursue Sadaharu Kitaya (sometimes mistranslated as Sadaharu Kitadani; 北谷 貞治 Kitaya Sadaharu) inside a bulldozer causing mass destruction at Odori Park.
Return to Osaka: Depending on how well the player performed throughout the arrest, the player will be asked to chase the boss of the Ryuuto mafia Hung Ko Cheung (熊 谷章) inside the Namba (Minami) Station Square at Osaka, or to pursue the collaborators inside an Umeda shopping arcade (also in Osaka) to arrest both Hung Ko Cheung and the behind-the-scenes kingpin, Shigenobu Matsuyama.
A curious yet amusing visual technique in the game can be observed when facing the various bosses; when seen in close-up, their faces are blurred with mosaics, and a mug shot of the individual boss has the eyes concealed with a black bar, despite their names still visible. The reason for this is to give an "authentic television feel" to the affair; Japanese television, when showing televised images of suspected criminals (such as on the news), will obscure the suspect's face for privacy purposes. The same goes for photographs of the person, hence the black bar.