Platform played: PC
LA Cops is a tactical isometric shooter developed by Modern Dream is reminiscent to Syndicate and Hotline Miami. LA Cops delivers a fresh spin to the isometric shooter formula with a buddy system and an interesting design that will surely give you that 70’s buddy cop movie feel.
You play as a colorful ragtag group of cops living their daily lives by the law. Interestingly enough they don’t really have that much character in them. We only see them interact with one another in short animations aside from few quips during gameplay. The cinematic gives them a distinct character to separate them from one another.
LA Cops is a fast-paced top down shooter with strategy elements. The story is mainly presented in these short but stylish cinematics. The voice acting from the actors ties it all together as well. LA Cops starts with selecting a level and two cops that you will be playing on your main objectives. Each cop has different attributes like Health, Damage, Clip size and more. These attributes can be upgraded by gaining Experience Points that are obtained after every level. There are only 6 playable levels in the Early Access version of LA Cops until its full update on its release. The overall design of each locations looks slightly similar with each other.
You can switch between the characters with a click of a button, or you command the character to move to another location and provide you cover. LA Cops adds that strategy element to its core mechanics as the game is challenging at times. The control of a character will switch when the cop you’re using loses health points. The gameplay also includes reviving your fallen partner with health packs. These health packs are placed around the map. Aside from health packs, weapons that enemies drop can be obtained. The weapons you get from enemies can also be bought by spending Experience Points. The AI of LA Cops is not intelligent as what I expected it to be. Your only empty headed AI partner tends not to shoot enemies and leaves you to be overrun by enemies. Even with the deficient cop partner, few enemy AIs will also run towards you brainlessly.
LA Cops objectives revolves around eliminating enemies and destroying number of materials, which makes it repetitive at some point. But finishing the levels is quite satisfying with its early difficulty. Overall LA Cops is a pretty fun game to play despite having several bugs and AI issues. The setting and design choices are uniquely impressive and stylish. The soundtrack captures that 70’s Sunny LA feel. LA Cops has potential as a top down shooter if it was polished enough. Players can still do more action redoing all levels with upgraded characters and challenging difficulties, which makes the game’s replay value great. LA Cops is worth playing once it’s released.
LA Cops will be released on March 13, 2015. You can also grab the colorful action packed game on Early Access from Steam for only $12.
This preview was based off a copy provided by Modern Dream.