LA Cops Reviews
LA Cops is a neat diversion with some fantastic style. I had a blast in the short time I played it, but feel like it grows stale far too fast. This is the perfect game to snag during a sale, it is fun for the time it lasts, I just wish there was more to come back to once the raiding was over.
LA Cops has the feel of a casual game that you can blast through quickly and give your achievement score a quick boost. In some ways, it is a little frustrating as you feel that with a little more fine tuning and the inclusion of multiplayer it could have been a great, fun, little game, but as it is, it falls a little short of that.
A good little shooter that could have been great, L.A Cops is like a nicer version of Hotline Miami that's a bit on the blander side.
From the vibrant visuals and the pitch perfect 70s cop theme to the fast and snappy buddy cop action, LA Cops has a lot of great ideas, but hasn't really done enough with them. The partner system in particular could have been something unique and special, evocative of classic buddy cop films and TV series, but in the end, I was just gunning down enemies with my backup around the corner.
While there was clear opportunity in the buddy cop formula LA Cops attempted to create, the end result is a mess. Totally undermined by poor teammate AI, the central strategic hook is lost, resulting in a bland game confused about what it wants the player to do.
Regardless of it all, levels are still replayable, and at a price of 15 bucks, LA Cops is a bargain deal. Taking that bargain is a subject in its own, but at least you know your partner will not run out on you… or with you… or at all for that matter…
Playing LA Cops is like doing hard time.
It certainly doesn't help that the debt to the superb Hotline Miami is so obvious. As I wrestled with the gluey movement and bizarre AI to find the fun in LA Cops, I was painfully aware that I could be having that fun already, in a more stylish and polished form, just by scrolling up my Steam library. As Omar so wisely said in The Wire, you come at the king you best not miss. LA Cops shoots way too wide of the target.
LA Cops has some cool ideas, but the frustratingly shoddy execution works completely at odds with the experience the game is trying to create.