Review - C.O.P. The Recruit (DS)

Let’s get one obvious thing out of the way: C.O.P. The Recruit is a Grand Theft Auto clone. It’s set in a virtual, open-world New York City. The primary mode of transportation is driving, and like GTA, you can jack almost every vehicle you see. The main difference between C.O.P. and GTA is perspective. GTA games are told from law breakers’ side of the fence, while C.O.P. lets you play policeman. C.O.P. The Recruit is certainly derivative, but you can’t find fault with developer VD-Dev for crafting a well-realized, handheld-sized sandbox game for the Nintendo DS.

But wait–is a well-realized virtual world all that is needed to make a quality GTA clone? Let’s find out.

Through the years, there have been many GTA clones in a variety of systems. Because of hardware limitations, the DS is probably a developer’s last choice when it comes to choosing a suitable platform. Granted, there’s a GTA that came out for the DS earlier this year, but it had to use an isometric viewpoint to keep the framerate smooth. C.O.P. The Recruit, on the other hand, employs the traditional behind-the-back view used by the console GTAs, and somehow maintains an improbable 60 frames per second.

Of course, gameplay is another matter.

Like GTA, a large part of C.O.P. The Recruit involves driving around. Unfortunately, the experience can be frustrating, thanks to very loose physics. It’s too easy to lose control of a vehicle, especially in high speeds (which is a must for all chases). Control, however, is the least of your problems during mandatory missions. You have only so much time before the enemy inexplicably escapes even when you’re directly behind him. To take a quarry down, you’ll need to keep ramming his car until its health runs out, but it’s very difficult to keep up because he isn’t bound by the laws of physics. Your enemy can mysteriously make hairpin turns perfectly without braking, and never seem to run into other vehicles in a busy New York street—unlike you. Thinking of pushing your target off the road? Forget it. Bumping other cars on the side doesn’t work, so you need to keep smashing the rear. Using a police car or ambulance with sirens on wouldn’t help either—regular cars still won’t get out of the way.

Strangely, C.O.P. The Recruit comes with a learning curve when using its GPS. Navigating the menus is done by way of the touchscreen, but you still have to figure out how to set waypoints if you don’t want to get lost in the virtual city. A color-coded arrow points the way to your destination, but since the city and its map is so large, it sometimes becomes difficult to follow the right direction.

The game’s shooting mechanics are similar to that of other first-person shooters for the DS. Movement is manipulated using the directional pad, the crosshairs are moved using the touchscreen, and the weapon is fired by pressing the L shoulder button. While the gunplay is solid, you can’t help but feel that the weapons are underwhelming. The shots sound weak and it takes forever to take enemies down. What’s worse, the enemies are downright stupid—they just run aimlessly back and forth, firing at you indiscriminately.

All things considered, C.O.P. The Recruit feels inadequate. Despite its impressive technical feats, the game doesn’t play very well. It almost feels like the developer has focused all its efforts in creating a beautiful virtual New York that runs with nary a hitch, but has neglected the rest. The game has no colorful and compelling characters, there are no radio stations, and the dialogue is atrocious. Bottom line: C.O.P. The Recruit has its moments, but it lacks the attitude that made GTA gripping.

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