Published: March 26, 2009
It’s an on-rail… chaser?
As expected by the name, Cops and Robber pits you in the classic battle of good vs guys-who-wear-stripes. Glu Mobile mentioned the game being compared to Crash Bandicoot, and I can see why. The art style and animation is similar, along with the creative level design. Fortunately, being like Crash is never a bad thing!
The plot in C&R revolves around you and your roommate needing money for rent. What better way to get some living cash than to steal it? Each of the 10 levels has your robber in a constant state of running away from the copper. The controls are very easy, as you just tilt to change direction and tap the screen to jump/slide/whatever to get around obstacles. The game actual has a bit of Mirror’s Edge feel to it, which is pretty cool.
One of the coolest features of the game comes after you beat a level as a robber. You can then go back and play the same level as the cop. The catch is, the robber you’re trying to catch is actually a ghost of when you played as the robber before! Then, after you beat the level as the cop, you can go back and challenge your cop “ghost” but playing as the robber! This alone will provide for a lot of replay value. I think this has some great potential for multiplayer capability, but this wasn’t mentioned in the session we had.
On top of the main game, there are mini-games scattered throughout. One of them has you pick a lock to steal a diamond from a safe. You can also customize your characters a bit, which is a nice touch. The game is in full 3D, and looks very solid. I also didn’t notice any frame rate issues, even in the early build.
Cops and Robbers will be out the end of April, and will sell for $4.99.
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One Comment on "GDC: Cops and Robbers First Look"
Scott on Thu, 26th Mar 2009 8:37 am
Saw some video of this earlier first, it looked really nice, although then I realized after watching halfway through its on-rails and you never stop running.
Understand thats part of the game but it didn’t seem as impressive after realizing that fact. Still could be really fun but watching the guy play it seems a little too simple maybe.
Mirrors Edge is a prob a good comparison too.