Review: LA Cops

Posted by Collin on May 7th, 2015 | 0 Comments | Tags: LA Cops , Team17

One of the first things you’ll notice about LA Cops is its 1970’s inspired look and feel. It’s one of the only things going for this overall short and frustrating game. LA Cops has a myriad of problems that you will need to withstand if you want to find enjoyment in this game.

When playing, the only game I could compare LA Cops to, would be Hotline Miami. The left stick is used to move and the right stick is used to aim your weapons and then R2 to fire. A lock-on is available by pressing square, but it’s unreliable, as it’s slow and unpredictable. You don’t know who it will lock on to next. LA Cops features 8 main missions and 5 side missions. Most missions contain multiple areas and floors with different objectives. Most times you’ll be destroying drug tables, servers and taking out all the criminals. You’ll enter each level by choosing two of 6 police officers. These officers can be upgraded using XP points earned by completing levels. Attributes such as speed, health, damage and clip size can all be upgraded. Once an officer is fully upgraded, they will feel completely different from how they felt when you first used them. It takes a while to upgrade each officer, and some later levels are extremely tough, leading you to replay the same missions over and over again to upgrade each character. Even with two characters fully leveled up, the game can still be frustrating and tough on the normal difficulty setting. I got to the 6th level in the game and could not progress any further… until I took advantage of the dumb enemy AI. The game is meant to be played by sneaking up on criminals and arresting them, or using your second officer to barge into a room and take out all the bad guys. This is how I tried to play the game, but after a while I found that if you just alert all the enemies to your presence, they will all come running around the corner and all you have to do is shoot them or arrest them when they turn the corner. In one section, the game could be tough and the next second it can be extremely easy.

You can switch between the two officers in each level and can control the other by sending them to waypoints. Sending them from one point to the other works well, but when it comes to combat, the AI might as well lay down and die. He’s not going to survive long. In a game with two officers playable on each level, the game would be perfect for co-op, but sadly no such option is available. Planning on how you will infiltrate the next room with a buddy on the couch would be a less frustrating experience. If you do find yourself in a firefight, expect the enemies from other rooms to be running through the door looking to send you out in a body bag. Occasionally I’ll shoot a criminal in the first room and another criminal in a room far away will come charging in. At the same time, another criminal right next to the one I just shot will continue to walk around as if nothing happened. You never know how many or which criminals will come barging in.. On the topic of criminals running in from other rooms, the game allows you to zoom in and out of the isometric perspective. The problem, however, is that the game doesn’t allow you to zoom out further and see enemies in other rooms. Only one mission in the game allows you to zoom out far enough to see all the enemies on the entire floor. You can use L1 and R1 to rotate the camera, which can help you somewhat see what is in the next room, but it’s all you have. Walls aren’t always the best source of cover, as on multiple occasions enemies will shoot you through the wall, leading to frustration and restarting levels.

In between each mission, there are cutscenes that further the story. Most of the cutscenes are presented well, but many of them have absolutely nothing to do with the mission that is coming up. Character models on the officers look good, as they own have their distinct look and voice. For the criminals, expect to fight the same 3-4 criminals throughout the game. The game includes a scoring system that allows you to compare your score to others on the online leaderboards.

LA Cops is a frustrating and unsatisfying game that is not worth a purchase for any person. On the one hand, the game is tedious and unforgiving and on the other hand if you take advantage of the dumb enemy AI, it is simple and easy. There is no middle ground where the game is somewhat challenging and enjoyable in any manner.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here.

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