Virtua Cop 2 (arcade)

Lock and load as today we are taking a look at Virtua Cop 2 Arcade! This is a series that I absolutely adore and was a major reason why I nearly picked the Sega Saturn over the PlayStation. A local pizza place had this and I would always play it. Hell, I would go in to play this even if I was not having pizza!

Laying Down The Law

As far as the story goes, from what I can tell it does follow on from the first game. We have two badass cops in Michael Hardy better known as Rage and James Cools better known by the less intimidating name of Smarty. They are joined by Janet as they try and solve the crime that is going down in their city. Look, it is not going to win any awards, but it is more than many other arcade games were offering, especially light gun shooters.

That Is Some Smooth Polygons You Got There

Visually, I feel that Virtua Cop 2 Arcade is a much sharper looking game than the first. The Sega Saturn version of the game looks great, it really does. However, when you see that and the arcade version side by side, this one does look notably better. Best of all, you do not have any long loading time in this game.

Shooting Them Down

I would assume that if you are reading this you know what a light gun shooter is. This is one of the best around and it is a great deal of fun to play. There are many bad guys that you need to shoot, but what is cool is that you do not always have to kill them. You can earn a bonus by shooting them in the hand and disarming them. Some civilians are real dumb asses as they seem to jump out at the worst freaking time, like they want to get shot in the face! You can lose a life by shooting a civilian or by getting hit by an enemy. The core gameplay is a great deal of fun and no matter how many times I have played through this game it never gets old.

So Much Crime!

A cool feature that was added in Virtua Cop 2 Arcade was that you now could pick what way you wanted to go. There are forks in the road that make you pick where to go next. This adds to the replay value and in all honesty, just makes the game more fun. Once you beat all of the stages you then have a big boss fight to end the game.

As much as I love the original game, this one blows it away with a heavy caliber handgun! The Sega Saturn version is awesome, but if you get the chance to play Virtua Cop 2 Arcade, you have to do it. It is one of my all-time favorite light gun shooters and a prime example of how good Sega was back in the day.

Pros:

• It is much sharper than the console version
• You can pick which way to go in certain sections of the game
• From start to end it is a fun time
• It is the kind of game that is easy to play, but hard to master
• Plenty of bad guys to shoot!

Cons:

• The civilians are freaking morons
• It can be beaten pretty quickly