Split second decision making, timing and lightning fast reflexes are what it takes in this adrenaline pumping game of cat and mouse. Dirt bags pop out of virtually every hiding place with their guns aim, cocked and ready to shoot - you!

Discussion
Ah yes, the absolutely beautiful sound of a plastic trigger clicking as you take down hordes of carbon copy bad guys and hooligans. Welcome to the beat, kid!

Virtua Cop is one of the older light gun games for its time, but it still holds up even by today’s standards. You play one of two cops who use special glasses to target enemies and fire whatever gun is available to you. You’ll begin with a six-shooter, but can snag one-time uses of shotgun and rifle power-ups. Your 3 locations are divided by difficulty: the Harbor, the Construction Zone, and the Business Office tower. Progress is by choice, though you will face a boss at the end of each stage.

Though very simple in design, the game’s graphics more than delivered. A full 3D environment allowed you to automatically travel in and around locations, with crooks popping out of the woodwork from any location. The typical innocent bystanders would pop-up or run across your path from time to time, but there were never any truly annoying moments. What is interesting to admit is that the S-Video option both helps and hinders the game. The characters and flat, plain textures all look great, however anything textured, like rock and gravel, look like giant clumps of pixels.

Not much in the way of sound, but then it’s a rail shooter, not a Japanese RPG. Control is handled either by the controller, or the Stunner light gun. Trust me – it’s worth it to get the light gun. Two players can play with either, regardless of the other.

Light gun games have essentially died – what with Time Crisis 4’s miserable death-on-arrival on the PlayStation 3 and the Wii is being drowned in rehashes. It’s good to go back and remember what it felt like to pull the trigger on a few shade-wearing deviants. Virtua Cop has an aura that will never really fade.
 

• Variants! See below.
   
• There are various references to the AM2 development team sprinkled through-out the game.
   
• The original Stunner guns in Japan were black. The US ones were bright orange. 
   
• If you let the disc idle at the Title Screen, several movies will play. In one, the blond agent puts on a pair of weird sunglasses, and you see the Target circles play through on the lens. This essentially shows you why you have the targeting system in-game.
   
• In the other cinema, they are speeding to a scene. They knock over a stack of shipping crates - and out spills various copies of Virtua Cop for the Japanese Saturn!
   
• Japan got various re-bundles with the Virtua Cop games, and the import PS2 even got re-releases as well.