In an alternate New York, authorities had somehow decided hiring ex-cons as law enforcement agents would be a good idea. This program was dubbed the "Criminal Overturn Program," or C.O.P. for short, and became headed by the New York City Control Division (CCD). The opening sequence briefly shows us how a young fellow named Dan Miles is caught in the middle of an illegal street race, before skipping right to present day when he is already an agent in this program.
C.O.P. The Recruit isn't exactly the most talked-about game this month, but those who have some inkling might tell you it's supposed to be Ubisoft's take on Grand Theft Auto. This comparison isn't at all unfounded, especially with the fairly recent release of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for DS.
Rockstar's Asian GTA garnered unbelievable hype (and criticism) long before it came out, as most would not have expected to see a GTA title on Nintendo's toy handheld, which has a more childish stereotype of its own. Ultimately, GTA wasn't flying off any shelves despite rave reviews; still, fans liked what they saw, and the name "Chinatown Wars" lingers even now, especially with the more recent PSP version.
In some respects, C.O.P. does share many similarities with Chinatown Wars. There's that same sandbox style of play we see if all GTA titles, an antihero who started on the wrong side of the tracks, lots of shooting and plenty of car chases.
Oh, and you can actually steal cars in C.O.P. as well, except they call it "commandeering" because, you know, the police aren't supposed to steal. Story progression is dominated by a chain of missions, with plenty of distractions along the way -- though not nearly as many as you'd find in the morally ambiguous Chinatown Wars. Instead of drug trafficking and prostitution, for example, Dan prefers to dabble in photography, specifically the game's photograph collectibles. Less mundane activities pop up as CCD Alerts, the side missions in C.O.P. It's all kosher though, done from the good guys' side; as you drive around, you'll be alerted to nearby car chases, bank robberies, suspicious activity, and anything else the CCD can think of tossing your way.
Tools of the trade include your wide arsenal of firearms and your nifty City Control Console (3C), which is basically like a PDA that acts as your phone (texting and email at no extra charge), GPS, and storage device; here you'll find a directory of places Dan's been or has to go, objectives, and other good stuff. In the objectives section, entries highlighted in red are mandatory, while blue indicates optional objectives -- those "Alerts" we mentioned. Additional features include an event log, in-game Wiki, awards list, and general game options.
Off the bat, you'll notice the effort put into C.O.P.'s 3D visuals. They aren't exactly stunning, but Ubisoft and VD-Dev have managed to make it look polished despite the platform's limitations. Okay, so it's still grainy and blocky like most games on the DS, but there's a certain flow to the environment that comes from solid draw distance and no pop-in loading.
The city itself is well rendered and remarkably detailed, from the diverse street-side buildings to the shaded clouds above. What's really great is how fleshed out the city is. Though not exactly teeming with pedestrians and vehicles like the real thing, this mini reproduction of New York is nonetheless vibrant -- more than what we've seen in many HD console games.
Like with any sandbox title, side missions are a nice distraction from the main story. The only problem here is that if you fail the missions, you're basically sent back to a hospital, even if it's something like losing a fleeing suspect. Instead of just ending the mission with a slap on the wrist and letting you go on your way, the game smacks you with a "Game Over" screen, a disheartening message about how you failed to save the city, and teleports Dan back to said hospital. This penalty is mostly unnecessary and makes the side missions more annoying than they ought to be, unless you just happened to be driving aimlessly about with nothing else to do or really enjoy backtracking. Generally, this means you shouldn't attempt Alert missions if Dan has somewhere he needs to be, unless you nail them all on the first attempt and, as noted before, don't mind backtracking.
Luckily, these annoyances don't really detract from the individual missions, which are pretty fun on their own, given the variety in C.O.P.'s innovative gameplay. It stays varied with some tactical play here and there, like being allowed to place police units strategically for raids or sneaking around patrolling bad guys, even being able to distract them by shouting into the DS mic! The combat carries some novelty of its own; while moving Dan with the D-pad, you aim by moving the stylus around the lower screen, controlling the crosshair. This feels awkward at first but doesn't take long too long to pick up. Aside from shootouts, there are car chases, timed gathering missions (Retrieve all the marijuana crates before they sink!), and so on.
The way these missions are chained together can feel disjointed, as you are sent from one end of the city to another with scarcely any explanation, except a vague idea of the background story and that your actions somehow tie in with it. C.O.P. begins without any real introduction; you see a few scenes of Dan in a car, guns being pointed, and that's pretty much it before the game starts. Things immediately open with Dan receiving a call from CCD and is told to commandeer his landlady's car, and they don't really pick up until a few missions in.
Every so often, a cutscene comprised of illustrations will bridge sections of the game. Honestly, the story does stand on its own, but it's not exactly moving either, just occupied by a cast of stereotypes -- from the smartass bad boy protagonist to his hardass superiors (including a mentor who's in trouble). Here's the thing though: C.O.P. doesn't push any envelopes in this department. In fact, the game seems to take its "T for Teen" rating very seriously and shirks the dirt, grime, and romanticized ugliness we might expect from such a tale. Here is a game about an ex-con turned cop in New York, trying to work through a conspiracy, juggling relationships, and yet it just feels so squeaky clean. Aside from the uninspired dialogue, there are absolutely no consequences to "borrowing" vehicles (even cop cars), driving like a maniac, running over pedestrians (they dive away), or shooting randomly at bystanders. The closest thing you'll get is watching cars literally pop with a brief fireburst when you ram into / nudge / brush against them head-on. Did we mention there are no physics in this game? Bad guys vanish when shot, not fall, and other cars will just sit there like boulders when you crash into them, rather than go flying or move at all.
In the end, C.O.P. can't avoid being compared to Rockstar's M-rated sandbox title on DS. Despite whatever similarities they share, however, the two are remarkably different in their targeted audience. C.O.P. The Recruit comes off as a sort of child-friendly GTA (mind the terrorists), but the gameplay is plenty enjoyable for older players as well, and Ubisoft has crammed so much into this tiny platform. The game's creative use of the stylus and mic make it one of the most innovative DS games we've seen, without dumbing down or even screwing up the controls. An admirable attempt was made with Dan Miles' story, but C.O.P. still misses the intensity we crave. Still, if you don't mind the PG-aspect, then this game is definitely worth a shot.
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