C.O.P. The Recruit (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

For years now DS owners have suffered from their favorite handheld's lack of 3D capabilities and titles, that may have pushed the boundaries of gaming on other consoles, have often ended up being watered down 2D affairs once they'd reached us. That all changed at this year's E3 when C.O.P.: The Recruit was unveiled. No longer was it a case of 'what can we do with the DS?' but rather 'this is what we want, how are we going to do it?' In fact, the first screens and footage of this ambitious project, bearing more than a passing resemblance to GTA IV, appeared to be running on a more powerful development machine. Well, the waiting is over and, like you, we are eager to discover if the really is the best action adventure on the DS.

Gameplay

COP has you playing the role of Dan Miles, a young recruit eager to leave behind his underground racing past, who's been promised the excitement of car chases and gunfights. The man dishing out the orders is veteran lawman Brad Winter. He's taken a chance on you and, thanks to the city being threatened by the ruthless Zombie Bomber, the opportunities to prove yourself come much quicker than you anticipated. This entails you travelling around, following leads, meeting old contacts and dealing with a whole host of police related disturbances along the way. The sheer variety of gameplay the developers have managed to include is very impressive and the first thing you'll notice is that you can 'take over' just about any vehicle you wish simply by standing in the middle of the road and waiting until it comes to a halt (there's none of the GTA style throwing people out of cars here). This allows you to get around the city much quicker and finding locations is easy thanks to the GPS and on-board maps. Once you do reach a location you could be asked to any number of things; during your first hour with the game you'll be involved in shootouts, and even putting out fires.

Your driving skills aren't just about getting to places though and you'll eventually need your underground racing skills when you're challenged to take part in a variety of races with everything from check-points to time challenges included. Back on your COP duties you may have to tail a subject maintaining a fine balance between not being seen and losing them, which can be very taxing in traffic. You may also have to take a driver down in a 'Chase HQ' style pursuit. This can feel a little unfair, because if you don't inflict significant damage on your opponent during the early stages of the pursuit then there's a very good chance they'll escape.

It's not all about brute force though as the developers have also included a few more sedate missions. You'll occasionally have to tap into the city's surveillance system to locate a suspect, there are stealth missions where you must avoid patrolling guards as you tap into computers or access keys and you'll even be able to take pictures of various locations and landmarks during your travels. In fact, there are many things to do in COP and with over 50 missions it should keep you busy for some time. Even when you've completed those, there are still side missions to enjoy.

Controls

There are several different control systems in COP. Most of the time you'll be driving around the city in a vehicle of some description or occasionally sailing a boat around the harbor. The different types of transport handle very differently but they are all so easily damaged that it can be difficult to reach your destination with your carriage intact. This is especially notable on the bridges and in tunnels where, even though cars are aware that you are coming, they will stick rigidly to their chosen path causing you to spin out of control on a regular basis. Even in a police car, with sirens screaming, no one gives way. This is actually one of the main criticisms of the game because as good as it looks; the city and its inhabitants are completely disconnected from what's actually going on. The experience on foot is similar, but much slower, and as with the driving sections it's easy to get lodged behind another officer who seems completely unaware of your existence.

Graphics

Developers VD Dev have managed to pull of an impressive graphical engine here and players can tear it up around a miniature version of New York (and its local islands) with many of the main attractions and landmarks included. It's also a remarkably versatile engine where you can go from sailing to driving to walking with a very short load time. What's most impressive though is that it runs so smoothly although this is may be due to the lack of traffic and general 'buzz' in the city as you drive around it. The story unfolds thanks to a collection of comic book style cut screens, including spot animation, which fit the overall style of the game perfectly.

Sound

The audio is a bit of a mixed bag really. While most of the soundtrack is given over to the ambient sounds of the city, you do get some music although not during the actual gameplay. Seems to water down the personalities of the various characters. Elsewhere you can hear sirens, screams of pedestrians (as you attempt to mow them down) and the various car and truck sounds but nothing really of any note.

Dual screen

Other than the endless switching of screens your touch-screen is given over to shooting and while this seems to work perfectly well you can't help feeling that your bullets aren't all hitting their targets, regardless of your aim, especially when some enemies will take an extraordinary number of shots (at point blank range) before going down. We also noticed that re-starting these sections does not rewind your ammo usage so fail too often and you'll quickly discover that you have no ammo at all. The underused microphone facility has also been used here in order to distract henchmen from their patrolling duties so a quick 'hey' into your DS causes them to alter their route allowing you to sneak past them.

Final comments

As a technical demo COP is an incredibly impressive piece of coding for the DS and it's hard to believe that the hardware has come so far in such a relatively short time. Unfortunately it's not just about how things look as, while the city is fun to explore, the actual gameplay elements let the overall package down. There's lots of variety but most missions challenge you to travel from one corner of the map to the other and you'll very rarely be asked to sort something out 'around the corner'. This forces you to charge though traffic when no one gives way so even clipping another car makes you spin out of control, which does get a little frustrating after five or six attempts. The shooting sections are also flawed with most henchmen appearing almost bulletproof and eager to take you down. It's still an enjoyable title and definitely worth a look but if this is to be a franchise then let's hope the developers fine-tune the gameplay for the next outing.

Pro: Incredible Gaming Engine Pushing the DS to its Limits, Miniature NYC is Great Fun to Drive around and Take Pictures, Impressive Number of Game Modes.
Con: Flawed Shooting Sections, City is Almost Deserted, No Consequences from Any Actions.
Final score: 7.8

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