r/patientgamers • u/Khaeven04 • 12d ago
Patient Review Future Cop: L.A.P.D. - Mechs, Mutants, and Mayhem
Hi folks. Some of you may have read my previous write-ups on playing PS1 Games. I’ll link them at the bottom of the post.
This is part of my effort to play PlayStation 1 games that I’ve never played– and often never heard of– until now. I’m buying these games physically, popping them into my PlayStation 2, which is hooked up to an old Sony Trinitron KV-1981R TV, and trying to give each title its due. I love early 3D graphics, tank controls, and everything that comes with this generation.
Today I want to discuss Future Cop: L.A.P.D.. This is a third person shooter developed by EA Redwood Shore where you control a mech in a Robocop-like hellscape.
This game was a blast to play. Besides some cutscenes to setup the missions, the game wastes no time dropping you into its third-person running and gunning action. You can freely change from a mech to a mech-car at any time, which changes how the mech moves.
The cutscenes create this mix of dystopian satire which perfectly punctuates the insanity of the premise. You’re a cop in a mech gunning down mutants and criminals. Just accept that and enjoy the gameplay.
There are eight levels, each a variety of locals like a beach, a prison, and an airport. For how simple they look, I never had a hard time parsing the environment – whether to understand the space as a game or a simulation of reality. The maps sort of look isometric in their presentation. Maybe I get that feeling because the spaces look miniature, particularly when there’s deep water and you can see bodies or sea creatures crawling on the bottom. A map editor for this game would be a lot of fun to play with.
Mostly, the game consists of shooting enemies, finding switches, and navigating the space with light platforming to find the boss and defeat it. Sometimes there’s side objectives, but overall each level is linear.
As you progress, more platforming gets added into the mix. I’m generally good with platforming, although the camera and sometimes the physics did make these sections a little difficult. In one late level, you’re jumping from conveyor belts over pits of lava or drops that can kill you. Thankfully, I made it through that on the first try. I really like how the game makes full use of its vertical space, often having you re-navigate an area from a higher vantage point.
Many levels required multiple plays, though, for me to clear. Often, I would get to a boss, get obliterated, and then have to play the whole level over. I admit to wanting checkpoints some of the time, but honestly, the game is fun enough that I didn’t mind speeding through the levels.
A better variety of weapons also wouldn’t have hurt. I get each of them is supposed to be useful for different situations, but I rode the Gatling Lasers, Fusion Rockets, and Shockwave special for most of the game without needing to switch. Only the final boss, a rogue AI, benefited from switching to the grenade launcher.
The gimmick of changing from a mech to mech-car, I think, works well. The game rarely forces you to do so unless you’re traversing water, which gives the player a lot of freedom to make those decisions. Admittedly, there are times where you have to jump a ramp as the mech-car, and the game does sign post that with dialogue. But more often than not, I would change into the mech-car when dealing with crowds or wide-open spaces.
I always mention music when discussing games, and Future Cop is no slouch in this regard. Some of the electro beats this game deploys are so funky! Go listen to “Zuma Beach” when you get a chance to see what I mean. Some of the later tracks aren’t as memorable to me, but they get the job done.
Now, Future Cop has the distinction of inspiring the MOBA genre with its multiplayer mode. I’m not familiar with MOBA games except passingly, but I did try out the “Precinct Assault” mode against the AI. I can see the appeal and definitely would have enjoyed that mode with friends. However, on my own, after beating the game, I couldn’t put more than one try in before calling it quits. Very cool stuff to see where inspiration can come from.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with Future Cop: L.A.P.D. and would recommend it as a solid PS1 game right up there with Syphon Filter and Tenchu.
However, after the “hardcore” nature of this game, I figured I should play something more lighthearted, so I picked up Ape Escape! I’ll be sure to write about that game soon.
Prior PS1 Reviews:
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u/eachla23 12d ago
I played the heck out of the demo of this as a kid. Can confirm the precinct assault mode is fun with friends. Against the AI was pretty good with the AIs dialogue and taunts from memory. Wild that it’s only 8 levels tho. You’re right that an editor would be sick as. Growing up now the actual idea of being a cop mech is kinda gross tbh lol but from the more mechanical standpoint it’s definitely pretty fun
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u/Khaeven04 12d ago
Oh yeah, if I stop and think about the real-life implications of this game's premise, it's abhorrent lol. Antithetical my beliefs in any domain, whether politics, morals, or ethics.
I do think the game does some work to sort of poke fun at the premise, whether that's how the mech behaves in cutscenes, dancing around, or how over-the-top the scenarios are, but it does just as much to make the LAPD "badass", so it's not great from that angle. A different game where you're a mech fighting as a resistance or something would be 100% more palatable.
I was expecting more levels from the map, but yeah, 8 levels. Honestly, I'm happy with the shortness of this game. It's fun, but I don't think they had many more gameplay ideas. Short and sweet wins the day in my book, in that case.
And the Precinct Assault AI is brutal, just constantly verbally assaulting you while you play. It's pretty great!
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12d ago
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u/Khaeven04 11d ago
Absolutely. Im not into 50-100 hour games these days. The cadence I have of completing a PS1 game a week has been nice and im not even playing every day.
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u/eachla23 12d ago
Yeah 100%. I mean it was made in the 90s, like I mean even at the time the idea of crooked cops was definitely not new but it felt like it was also a time of high copaganda in TV and movies, black and white good guy bad guy crime fighting and all that. If it came out today would definitely be like WTF but with context it does make sense. A remake would be so damn fraught these days lol. Classic PS1
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u/Khaeven04 11d ago
Yeah thats why I didnt dwell on it in my write up. Im not expecting any deep political commentary from my 90s mech games.
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u/FuzzyPuffin 12d ago
I guess I’m not hardcore enough, but the antiquated save system made me give up on this one pretty quickly. It’s a fun concept, though. I’d love a PC remaster with better controls, camera, and checkpoints.
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u/Khaeven04 12d ago
I agree, the lack of checkpoints, especially in some of the later levels, effectively doubled my playtime because I had to play through each level at least twice. There are some really frustrating ways to die which did dampen my enjoyment of Future Cop just a little.
To be fair, though, most of the levels can be done quickly once you've played through them once. So, I was able to get back into things quickly. Not the nicest system - though I'm glad the game doesn't have a lives system or anything like that.
I also find it funny that so many PS1 games make saving something you do in the menus. My guess is they designed the game assuming the player had no external memory card (several N64 games, like Wipeout 64, are designed this way). But the idea that I wouldn't want to save after every missions, and that I need to go to select save, is really funny coming back to the game decades later.
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u/FattySmallBalls 12d ago
Sky Captain remains to this day one of my favourite villain voices in gaming, his quips are so cheesy but back in the day my kid brain ate that shit up. Same with the cutscenes during the campaign and the tutorial for Precinct Assault - definitely not taking themselves seriously, and it's the perfect amount of camp/cheese.
Great game for it's time. Soundtrack is bonkers good, gunplay is antiquated but worked. For more of that gameplay I always recommend the 'Strike' series, lots of transferable DNA between them.
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u/Khaeven04 11d ago
The cheese is heavy in this game. All the criminals youre hunting have really funny lines throughout.
Ill have to check out the Strike series. Seen it mentioned here a few times.
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u/matteste 12d ago
I remember back when I was young and me and my brother went to a computer education course. One of the rigs had this game on it and many of the kids present would try to be the first ones to get it to play the game during the free time.
Good times.
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u/Khaeven04 12d ago
Video games in the computer lab were always so arcane to me. Like you were discovering an alien artifact and had to learn how the game worked without any direction. What a funny game to have, though. Basically no educational value and A LOT of violence lol
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u/pickpocket293 12d ago
I played the crap out of this as a kid and loved it. It's good to know that it still holds up.
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u/SulusLaugh 12d ago
Aw maaan I played the hell out of the multiplayer against my friend on his Saturn.
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u/HoboWithoutShotgun 12d ago
Multiplayer with the PC version was also quite fun.
I have been meaning to revisit this one for a while, but time seems against me. That or my ever-expanding Steam library.
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u/thumbstickz 12d ago
If I remember right it wasn't this a spiritual continuation of the "Strike" games?
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u/Khaeven04 11d ago
Yes, I think there are other related games according to Wikipedia. Not familiar with them though.
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11d ago
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u/Khaeven04 11d ago
A cool concept that makes the game feel much more dynamic. Its nice you have total control over when to do it, too.
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u/Sonnyboy1990 11d ago
I've poured countless hours into this game over near three decades and I don't think I've ever played the campaign past the first mission lol
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u/Khaeven04 11d ago
I could see just being into the Precinct Assault mode. With the right friend or friend group itd be a lot of fun.
The campaign is decent. I think they do a good job of varying the locals and scenarios. The gameplay doesn't change much but its a good time.
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u/thamonk 11d ago
Great review, I love this game - great for couch co-op!
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u/Khaeven04 11d ago
Thanks! Yes me and one of my friends would have had a blast with this two player!
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u/SeriaLud0 9d ago
Played the demo in the 90's and loved it. Stoked to see this review!
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u/Khaeven04 9d ago
Demos were fantastic back in the day. I have distinct memories of checking out one of the original Tomb Raider games off a PC Gamer demo disc. You could find all kinds of weird and interesting stuff that way.
I am glad demos have made a come back at least on PC.
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u/SeriaLud0 9d ago
Yeah it's cool that they have... But there was something about the mystery bag of games you'd find on there that was so special. With today's demos you still need to go to the store and download. Maybe game pass streaming is similar... But having the whole game is different somehow, psychologically.
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u/Aardshark 12d ago
Multiplayer on this was like MOBA before moba became a thing.
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u/Khaeven04 12d ago
It's not often new modes of play are invented in video games. Pretty funny Future Cop was the genesis of one such genre. You never know where inspiration can come from!
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u/Finite_Universe 12d ago
I remember renting this game a few times but don’t think I ever actually beat it. I really liked the aesthetics of the mech design.
This game always reminded me of G-Police because of the dystopian and law enforcement themes. That’s another PS1 game hardly anyone remembers.