Виртуал Коп: 3D Ойынның Алғашқы Қадамдары

1994 video game

Virtua Cop (バーチャコップ) (known as Virtua Squad for the North American Windows version) is a 1994 light gun shooter game developed by Sega AM2 and designed by Yu Suzuki. It was originally an arcade game on the Sega Model 2 system, and was ported to the Sega Saturn in 1995 and Windows in 1996. The Saturn version included support for both the Virtua Gun and Saturn mouse, as well as a new "Training Mode" which consists of a randomly generated shooting gallery. Virtua Cop was notable for its use of real time 3D polygon graphics with texture mapping, with Sega advertising it as "the world's first texture mapped, polygon action game". Emphasizing the real time nature of the game, enemies would react differently depending on where they were shot. It was one of the first games to allow the player to shoot through glass. Its name is derived from its 3D graphical style, which was previously used in Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter, and later Virtua Striker. Despite some initial skepticism over its introduction of 3D polygons in a genre that previously used realistic digitized sprites (most notably Lethal Enforcers), Virtua Cop went on to become a commercial success and received critical acclaim for enhancing the genre with its 3D graphics, camera system, realistic animations, and ability to target specific body parts with realistic consequences. It was influential on later shooter games, with 3D polygons being adopted by subsequent light gun shooters such as Time Crisis (1995) and The House of the Dead (1996) instead of the digitized sprites previously used in the genre, as well as inspiring the first person shooter GoldenEye 007 (1997). Virtua Cop was followed by Virtua Cop 2 and Virtua Cop 3. The game was later bundled with Virtua Cop 2 in Japan and Europe on the PlayStation 2 as Virtua Cop: Elite Edition (Virtua Cop Rebirth in Japan) on August 25 and November 29, 2002 respectively. It included gallery extras and implementation of Namco's G Con 2 lightgun support. In 2004, a port was developed for the handheld Nokia N Gage, but was cancelled by the quality control team before its release. Very few beta units of the N Gage version were manufactured.

Upon release of the Saturn version, the game sold over 300,000 copies in its first week of release in Japan. Its Japanese sales reached 455,396 units by the end of 1995, and 482,362 units in total. In the United States, it sold more than 500,000 bundled copies by December 1996, bringing total sales to more than copies sold in Japan and the United States. The Saturn version received positive reviews from critics. Next Generation gave it a positive review, applauding the impeccable accuracy of the port, but opted not to give it the full five stars they awarded to the Saturn's other two arcade ports of that month (Virtua Fighter 2 and Sega Rally Championship), as they found that the game, while sufficiently long for an arcade game, was too short for a home console release. Game Informers Reiner, Andy, and Paul gave the Saturn version scores of 8.5, 8.25 and 7.5 out of 10, praising the game as one of the best in its genre but noting that it lacked longevity for a console release. Rad Automatic of Sega Saturn Magazine said of the Saturn version: "It's got more depth than you'd imagine but is still mindless enough to be frenetically playable." He praised the effectiveness of the joypad control with its two cursor movement speeds, the authentic arcade feel when playing with two Virtua Guns, and the realism compared to other light gun games: "You don't see thousands of enemies popping up from behind exactly the same barrel In fact, you won't see enemies popping up from barrels at all that much, as your foes arrive on screen in far more interesting ways". All four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly praised it as a flawless conversion of the arcade game, though half of them also remarked that they felt the game itself is too short and lacks lasting appeal. Scary Larry of GamePro praised the realistic and stylish graphics and the Virtua Gun action. Similarly to EGM's reviewers, he remarked that the game is a near perfect arcade port but too short and completely lacking in replay value, though he nonetheless gave it an overall recommendation. Maximum instead argued that the game is compelling enough to be played over and over again despite the lack of replay value. They also described the Saturn conversion as nearly identical to the arcade original, and remarked that the mindlessness and simplicity of the game make it particularly enjoyable. Game Players gave the Saturn version of Virtua Cop the award for "Best Shooter" of 1995, calling it "beyond entertaining — it's therapeutic." In 1996, GamesMaster rated the Saturn version 4th on their "The GamesMaster Saturn Top 10."

Time Soete of GameSpot said the PC version is jerkier than the Saturn version and less intense without the use of a light gun, but that the mouse control is surprisingly smooth and that it retains enough of the fun of the arcade and Saturn versions to appeal to newcomers to the game. Next Generation voiced similar criticisms: "It's noticeably slower on the majority of PCs than in the arcade or on Saturn, running at speed only on the most high end Pentiums. Worse, played without a light gun using only the mouse, the game loses a major part of its appeal " They concluded that the game felt out of place on PC. Some of the popular light gun rail shooters influenced by Virtua Cop include the Time Crisis series, The House of the Dead series, various Resident Evil spin offs, and Dead Space: Extraction. Virtua Cop was also the primary influence on the seminal first person shooter GoldenEye 007, which was originally envisioned as an on rails light gun shooter akin to Virtua Cop before it ended up as an off rails first person shooter. According to creator Martin Hollis: "We ended up with innovative gameplay, in part because we had Virtua Cop features in a FPS: A gun that only holds 7 bullets and a reload button, lots of position dependent hit animations, innocents you shouldn’t kill, and an aiming mode. When you press R in GoldenEye, the game basically switches to a Virtua Cop mode. Perhaps more importantly following the lead from Virtua Cop, the game was filled with action. There was lots to do, with very few pauses".