by Rick - February 12, 2005

Cops 2170: The Power of Law, is a futuristic game that puts you in the shoes of Katy, a rookie cop in the big city. Play through the life of a cop in the future and help to take down the threats to society, as well as make pivotal decisions that could change the course of your career, as well as your life.

X-Cop: NSA Defense

The gameplay in Cops 2170 was very much reminiscent of the X-Com series. You play as a team of futuristic police officers that run on various, usually urban missions all over the place. The city is your battle ground, and you maneuver your subordinates and yourself throughout the city to root out the baddies that lie in wait. During battle everything is turn based. Each character has an AP score that determines how far they can walk and how many actions they can take (i.e. attack, equip, reload etc). After you've moved everyone to where you want them, you end your turn and the enemies and neutral characters take their turns. Of course if you don't have a line of sight on these NPC's then you can't see what's happening, all you get is a screen that informs you that the enemies are moving.

I'm quite partial to X-Com and the like, and I felt that Cops did a decent job with the system. One sour apple can ruin the bunch however, and this game had several. For instance, the interface could have been much more simple. I found myself trying to push teeny tiny little buttons right next to the edge of the screen. If I went too close to the edge, the camera would start zooming away at top speed in the appropriate direction, which can be very disorienting. Also, more than once (as if once wasn't bad enough) after combat involving neutral NPCs, one of the NPCs found himself standing on a narrow bridge that only fits one person at a time. This wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that they almost always managed to stop on the one narrow bridge that connected to a vital location. Which meant that if I wanted to pass, I would either have to load back before the combat, or kill the guy and become enemies with the mutants... the very people I was there to help.

Another thing that really hurt this game's gameplay score, was that in the beginning of the game, you are given virtually no direction. I'm all for open ended games, in fact I encourage them, but when I start a game and I don't receive any instructions on what I should be doing, how the system works, how to acquire equipment etc, I feel kinda like there's no point to continue playing. The journal system could have been more informative from a game specific point of view. A little nudge in the right direction can go a long way.

All in all, the developers really could have done better gameplay-wise.

Mutants and Robots and Rat-Men... Oh My!

The graphics for Cops 2170 were actually fairly decent. A few of their particle effects were substandard, but everything else was good. The character models, though not horribly complex, were pretty good. The enemy and neutral units looked pretty good as well, especially the robots. In fact the robots were the most impressive of batch.

I didn't, however, think that the portraits for many of the characters were very good. The main characters were fine, but most of the NPC's looked like mug shots from a drug raid at the carnival. I understand they were shooting for a cyber punk feel, but the aesthetic quality of most of the portraits was pretty low.

That's only a small blemish on an otherwise good looking game. A little more detail and some higher quality particle effects would be nice, but all in all thumbs up on the graphics.

I'm Covering This Sector!

The music in Cops 2170, wasn't half bad. It didn't change much, but neither did the mood. Sound wise, the game's music was probably the best thing it had going for it. Of course that isn't saying much.

Probably the most annoying thing in video games is repetitive and superfluous sounds that irritated you the first time you heard them. Cops 2170 is chock full of them. Every single NPC seems to have something to shout over the radio constantly. If you stop and listen to some of them, some are kinda funny and even interesting, but it's like trying to play a game of chess while fifty different people are talking to you about things you'll never ever... ever have to worry about. At times it makes it sound like there is a lot going on during a combat situation, and maybe if they toned it down a bit it would be fine. However, they keep doing it even after combat is over. In fact, they were doing it in the police station when you first started. I thought some bad stuff was going down when I first started the game. I was running all over the place trying to find this escaped witness and mysterious creature. Of course I never found them, but at least I tried.

Another problem with the sound was the voice acting. It wasn't very good at all. It definitely wasn't the worst I've ever heard, but I was still compelled to turn down my speakers whenever dialogue started to avoid the damage to my psyche and my ears.

In the end, if the developers want to make a sequel, a good sequel, then they're going to need to totally revamp their voice acting and their ambient sounds.

Heads Up!

Despite all the problems this game had, there is a certain level of enjoyment that can be procured from beneath the surface. Of course you have to dig a bit... but in the end it may be worth it depending on your tastes.

The combat itself was actually enjoyable. I loved throwing a gernade into a group of bad guys and watching them all recoil in fear and pain. The rats with the machine guns strapped onto their backs was also quite the enjoyable sight.

There was a lot of useless space, but if you aren't in combat, you can pretty much blink yourself to any part of the map, presuming you have a route of access.

Overall, cops had a pretty standard level of enjoyablity, at least once you got past all the gameplay problems and irritating sounds.

Badges? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges!

Something I found interesting, was the way you procured equipment for you and your party. Sure there are plenty of goodies to be picked from the dead remains of your enemies, but originally, you have to get your starting equipment from someone. There is no money system. You don't buy weapons and items, instead you are restricted as to what items you can buy and use based on your rank. When your rank goes up, you are trusted with more advanced weaponry. To counterbalance the complete lack of currency, the merchants have a limited supply of everything. On top of that, you only have so much room for all your equipment. This means that you have to pick and choose very carefully before you head out on a mission. I think this is an interesting way to do things. It seems pretty logical that you get weapons from the police supply box based on seniority. Kudos to the developers.

Do You Understand These Rights as they Have Been Read To You?

Cops 2170: The Power of Law, is a good game hidden beneath a pile of rotten apples. So many problems make the game about a quarter as fun as it could potentially be. If the developers added a mini introduction/tutorial to the beginning of the game, toned down the ambient sound intensity and frequency, and improved the voice acting... they would have a good game on their hands. If you enjoy turn based strategic action games, you might be able to look beyond the game's faults. If not, you might want to at least give the game a look over if one of your friends happens to have it, just in case.