Virtua Cop

Virtua Cop

Developer(s) Sega AM2
Publisher(s) Sega
Designer(s) Yu Suzuki
Composer(s) Kentaro Kobayashi
Platform(s) Arcade, Saturn, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) Arcade
Saturn
  • JP November 24, 1995
  • NA 1995
  • EU December 8, 1995
Windows
  • JP October 25, 1996
  • NA October 31, 1996
  • EU 1997
Genre(s) Light gun shooter,
First-person rail shooter
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system Sega Model 2

Virtua Cop (known as Virtua Squad for the North American Windows version) is a first-person lightgun shooter arcade game created by Sega AM2 and headed by Yu Suzuki. Its original incarnation was an arcade game in 1994 and it was later ported to the Sega Saturn in 1995 and Microsoft Windows in 1997. The Saturn version included support for both the Virtua Gun and Saturn mouse, as well as a new "Training Mode" which consists of a randomly generated shooting gallery.[1]

The game was later bundled with Virtua Cop 2 in Japan and Europe on the PlayStation 2 as Virtua Cop: Elite Edition (Virtua Cop Rebirth in Japan) on August 25, 2002 and November 29, 2002 respectively. It included gallery extras and implementation of Namco's G-Con 2 lightgun support. In 2004, a port was developed for the handheld Nokia N-Gage, but this was cancelled by the quality control team before its release. Very few beta units were manufactured.

Virtua Cop was notable for its use of real time polygonal graphics, which were subsequently used in both The House of the Dead and Time Crisis, instead of the two dimensional sprites and static backgrounds that were used in previous games in the same genre. Emphasizing the real time nature of the game, enemies would react different depending on where they were shot.[2] It was one of the first games to allow the player to shoot through glass. Its name derived from this graphical style, which was previously used in Virtua Fighter, Virtua Striker and Virtua Racing.

Virtua Cop was followed by two sequels, Virtua Cop 2 and Virtua Cop 3.

Gameplay

Players assume the role of police officers in a first-person perspective and use a light gun to shoot criminals and advance through the game. Shooting a civilian or being shot by an enemy causes the player to lose one life. The players can also shoot powerups that grant a special weapon or a life. The weapon is lost if the player is hit, but not if he shoots a civilian. Players score extra points for "justice shots" (disarming an enemy without killing them, done by shooting their hand) and "bullseyes" (shooting the center of the target circle).[1]

Story

A detective in the player's department uncovers an illegal gunrunning operation and traces it back to a powerful crime syndicate named E.V.L. Inc. He compiles a large amount of evidence and is ready to take them down, but he is discovered and assassinated. Some of the evidence manages to make its way back to headquarters and a special task force is put on the case. The policemen Michael Hardy and James Cools must face that organization led by Joe Fang and his followers Kong, the King, and the Boss.

Development

A division of Sega AM2 began work on the Saturn version in April 1995. Along with the Saturn version of Virtua Fighter 2, it was one of the first games to make use of the Sega Graphics Library operating system.[2] Commenting on their approach to the conversion, head developer Takashi Osono said, "We are trying to keep to the quality of the arcade. If three of us agree for improvement, then we try to modify the graphics."[1]

In June, the team displayed a playable demo of the Saturn version's first level at the Tokyo Toy Show. They subsequently began work on the third level, since it was the most difficult to convert due to the large polygon areas of the office building walls and ceiling.[2]

In other games

Reception

Virtua Cop received generally positive reviews from critics. Next Generation rated the game 4/5 stars, noting that the ability to target specific body parts with realistic consequences "totally eliminates the hit or miss polarity of other light-gun games and adds a whole new level of detail to the genre."[3] Game Informer's Reiner, Andy, and Paul gave the Saturn version scores of 8.5/10, 8.25/10, and 7.5/10, praising the game as one of the best in its genre but noting that it lacked longevity for a console release.[4]

Reviewing the Saturn version, Sega Saturn Magazine gave the game a 96%, saying "It's got more depth than you'd imagine but is still mindless enough to be frenetically playable." They praised the effectiveness of the joypad control with its two cursor movement speeds, the authentic arcade feel when playing with two Virtua Guns, and the strong realism compared to other light gun games: "you don't see thousands of enemies popping up from behind exactly the same barrel ... In fact, you won't see enemies popping up from barrels at all that much, as your foes arrive on screen in far more interesting ways ..."[5] Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a 7.5 average, with all their reviewers praising it as a flawless conversion of the arcade game, though half of the reviewers also remarked that they felt the game itself was too short and lacked lasting appeal.[6]

GameSpot gave the PC version a 7.8, saying that it is jerkier than the Saturn version and a less intense experience without the use of a light gun, but that the mouse control is surprisingly smooth and that it retains enough of the fun of the arcade and Saturn versions to appeal to newcomers to the game.[7]

Legacy

Virtua Cop was a major influence on both light gun shooters as well as first-person shooters. When it was released in 1994, the game broke new ground by introducing the use of 3D polygons to the shooter genre.[8] Some of the popular rail shooters heavily influenced by Virtua Cop include the Time Crisis series, The House of the Dead series, various Resident Evil spin-offs, and Dead Space: Extraction.

Virtua Cop was also the primary influence on the seminal first-person shooter GoldenEye 007, which was originally envisioned as an on-rails light gun shooter akin to Virtua Cop before it ended up as an off-rails first-person shooter. According to creator Martin Hollis: "We ended up with innovative gameplay, in part because we had Virtua Cop features in a FPS: A gun that only holds 7 bullets and a reload button, lots of position dependant hit animations, innocents you shouldn’t kill, and an aiming mode. When you press R in GoldenEye, the game basically switches to a Virtua Cop mode. Perhaps more importantly following the lead from Virtua Cop, the game was filled with action. There was lots to do, with very few pauses."[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hickman, Sam (December 1995). "Call the Cops!". Sega Saturn Magazine (2) (Emap International Limited). pp. 34–39.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Guise, Tom (November 1995). "Cop a Load of This!". Sega Saturn Magazine (1) (Emap International Limited). pp. 42–45.
  3. ↑ "Stunning". Next Generation (Imagine Media) 2 (14): 162. February 1996.
  4. ↑ Reiner, Andrew et al. (January 1996). "Rendered and Ready to Wear". Game Informer. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
  5. ↑ "Review: Virtua Cop". Sega Saturn Magazine (2) (Emap International Limited). December 1995. pp. 70–71.
  6. ↑ "Virtua Cop Review". Electronic Gaming Monthly (78) (EGM Media, LLC). January 1996. p. 40.
  7. ↑ Soete, Tim (December 4, 1996). "Virtua Squad Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  8. ↑ Virtua Cop, IGN, July 7, 2004, Accessed Feb 27, 2009
  9. ↑ Martin Hollis (2004-09-02). "The Making of GoldenEye 007". Zoonami. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2011-12-22.

External links