LA Cops (Xbox One) Review

Break out the doughnuts because LA Cops is a sweet treat to play.

Developed by Modern Dreams and published by Team17, LA Cops is a top-down shooter made up of cops and robbers. Players will control a team of two cops and must work in unison cleaning up the mean streets of Los Angles circa 1970.

The art style is vibrant, but simple, and there’s a simplistic approach to every facet of the game- but that’s not a negative. By simplifying the story and the characters, the best part of the game can really shine, and that’s the gameplay. Even though the story may contain a lot of clichés, LA Cops does a great job of making fun of itself with some great self-deprecating humor. Heck, the first level is a cop’s favorite sweet shop.

After the tutorial, you’re launched into the opening stage, which actually takes place in a doughnut shop. In fact, it’s the LA Cops’ favorite doughnut shop, Dodo Doughnuts. The shop has been taken over and there are hostages. This level is relatively easy though, and only consists of the main floor with little else to bother yourself with.

After clearing the shop of baddies, and saving the doughnut baker, the cops then progress to a new and more difficult level. Settings also become bigger and consist of multiple sub levels as you progress through the campaign, and the criminals also start to wear body armor and possess better weapons, such as a grenade launcher. Fortunately, unlocking weapon upgrades provide a variety of ways to dispatch the violent perpetrators and match firepower with them.

After each level, experience points are awarded based on the score earned during play. Performing certain activities such as arresting a couple of criminals, completing a level without being shot, obtaining a certain number of headshots, all will earn more points to upgrade.

These points can be used for more than just your weapons and ammo too, and can upgrade the amount of health or increase a character’s speed. There are actually a lot of choices when it comes to upgrading a character, which is pretty nice, and upgrading can be customized to a player’s gameplay style.

Like to run and gun? Then upgrade a cop to be speedier and have a bigger clip. Do you like to methodically search every room and move slowly through the levels? Then stock up on damage and life. Will you upgrade your partner or be selfish and use all the points on one character? These are some of the tough decisions players will have to make while upgrading LA Cops.

The story is another part of the simplistic approach I mentioned earlier. One cop’s wife is leaving him after all these years on the force. Another cop is caught working with the criminals. At one point, a woman cop is introduced and the fellow cops lose their minds, a’la Ron Burgundy. The captain, named Murdoch, also yells at all the characters in the traditional ‘cop movie’ style.

The game is so chock full of cop cliches that at one point I was expecting a character to mug the camera and say, “I’m too old for this sh!t.” The story is loaded with simple tropes, but it works, really well actually. The simplistic approach translates well into the gameplay and kept me playing for hours.

Though the story and characters are all fun, the gameplay is the best part of LA Cops. Players will control a team of two cops sent to investigate a crime in progress. Together, the two cops must work in unison and provide cover for each other.

The left thumb stick moves the controlled cop while the right thumb stick shoots. This control scheme is similar to the older title, SmashTV. The left trigger is used for melee attacks and arresting criminals while the right trigger shoots the gun. Aside from what you start the mission with, cops will also acquire bigger and better weapons from dead enemies. Players will need to use the two cops in tandem to provide cover for each other. It is a lot of fun to send in one cop to provide suppressing fire while the other cop flanks the criminals.

Final Thoughts

LA Cops is a blast to play, with a great story and 1970’s theme, but neither of those are the highlight of this game. What Modern Dream has done, is they have developed a fun and engaging gameplay system to go along with everything else. Time after time, I found myself being drawn back to clear out a level of criminals, even with the ramping difficulty as the levels progressed.

This is a great way to engage the audience. It reminded me of Contra a bit actually, and how the need to progress hooked a player right from the start. After each time my cop team would perish, I wanted just one more chance to see if I could clear the room. The hook of the game has been fully inserted into my gaming routine. Every time I fire up the Xbox One, I play a level too see how much farther I can get than last time.

There are a lot of extra bonus missions too, to provide hours of gameplay after completing the story. Plus there are also the increased difficultly levels, the hardest level, Nightmare Mode, takes away the ability to lock-on to criminals. I have played a lot of indie titles since the beginning of the year and I have to say LA Cops is one game I would highly recommend to my fellow gamers.