Catching perps, America-style.
QUEST LOG #25: WORLD'S SCARIEST POLICE CHASES
I was reminded of World’s Scariest Police Chases when scouring the local boot sale for gaming treasures. All I found was this, so my hunt wasn’t hugely successful. I left the game there, both because it had been rained on, and because I already had a copy stashed away in the parental attic, but it wasn’t all a waste of time as it got me thinking about the lack of police chases in my gaming diet - outside of the likes of Driver, GTA, and Need for Speed. These are stingy on the being-the-police front, with NFS only having a couple of titles dedicated to it, and GTA requiring mods for the most part, save for the odd occasion. There are a bunch of games that fulfil the police role in other ways, but the chasing is often lacking…
Anyway, I recall this game wowing me at the time, for it allowed the use of guns while driving, and in quite an impressive way. Wielding weapons while behind the wheel was somewhat of a novelty back then too - passé now, but not then.. in fact I had only seen such a thing in arcades with the likes of Lucky & Wild. Another aspect of the game that was rather impressive was the size of its map. Set in the fictional city of Ashland, it boasts quite a generous space to explore, certainly on par with that of Driver, and with a level of detail that in some ways surpasses it. There are pedestrians too (although few in number), which dart out of the way ala Driver, and the roads are populated with a decent number of vehicles. There are little details too, such as your officer reaching out of the car to place a cheery on the roof when switching the sirens on when driving an undercover vehicle, or leaning out when firing weapons, and rather impressively, you’ll hear your character updating dispatch over the ratio about your heading and which tunnels, bridges and streets you’re driving along. Small touches, but they go a long way to making the primitive setting and mechanics feel more realistic. Another aspect of the game which enhances it visually are the damage mechanics, which allows for the bodywork of yours and other vehicles to deform when hit, and the more damage you take, the more your engine will smoke, and you’ll also be able to destroy certain pieces of street furniture by driving into them (not all, but some). There’s another feature too, which adds value to the experience, which is the Action Reply, allowing you to watch back the last mission you did. This acts like the show, replaying the events via cinematic camera modes, dash cams, and security cameras (the only downside to this is the lack of options in regard to scrolling through the footage or dynamically changing the camera). These might not seem like anything special, but at the time, it was all rather impressive – and from a game that ties into a throwaway American TV show? Rather remarkable.
While on the topic, many games ooze the characteristics of their origins, Fable is British through and through, Yakuza represents Japan in a similar way, and this one? A more American title is hard to conjure in the mind. Perhaps the likes of Duke Nukem, or BroForce - although neither were made by American developers. World’s Scariest Police Chases wasn’t developed by Americans either (although it was published by Activision and Fox), but they (Unique Development Studios) certainly did their homework, and it really takes the biscuit in this regard (or cookie if we’re to indulge in their culture). From the very off you’re blasted with narration by John Bunnell, who voiced the original television series, and throughout it’s pretty faithful to the chaos and high dram of the show. This wasn’t on much in the UK when I was young, or at least we didn’t have the channel - although I did see it on occasion. Hearing his distinctive voice really adds to the experience and is a big chunky point in the plus column. It strikes me that a British version of this game just couldn’t exist - it would just be so painfully lame. Nothing about pursuing a youth on a scooter and watching as they knock over some bins conjures up excitement. No, not unless it went the Hot Fuzz route, and even then, countryside pursuits and quaint village shootouts are (thankfully) a very rare occurrence. The British are stereotypically better suited to stealing cultural artefacts and relying on visions of the past. America, on the other hand, is stereotypically really good at being loud and enacting police brutality, so let’s let them do the police chase games. This might be a premature thing to say, actually, as I’ve written all this before replaying it, and there is definitely scope for this to be an absolute shit now when replayed so many years later…
Here goes then, and as I mentioned, John Bunnell opens with a warning on the graphic nature of the game, advising player digression – a good start. A cinematic starts then of an intense police chase with closeups of the vehicles from fun angles and a bird’s eye view from a perusing helicopter. The suspect pops their tyres on a spike strip before flying off the road and crashing as the title screen fades in. After that, the main menu appears, and with it I’m reminded immediately of the main menu for Future Cop: L.A.P.D, with dispatch radio comms over the top of a pretty intense track – it certainly gets the juices flowing.
The first option you’re given is the choice (much like with Driver) to begin with Pursuit Mode (the main game), or Free Patrol, which allows you to explore Ashland at your leisure, taking down crooks as you see fit with the fleet of vehicles and inventory of weapons you have unlocked through the main story. You’ll probably want to avoid Free Patrol for now, as the fun comes from messing with what you’ve unlocked. After getting started with Pursuit Mode, you’ll be faced with several tutorial style levels set in the police academy, which will instruct you on driving, chase manoeuvres, and shooting. While pretty basic, I do like this method of instruction, using in-world methods rather than a wordy lesson on button layouts and the like.
After all this, you’ll come to your fifth mission, and you’re now on the mean streets of Ashland, and it’s time to catch some criminals – America style. Our first perp is drunk driving in a neighbourhood full of children playing (apparently), and so it’s down to you to ram him off the road (and onto the pavement where the invisible children are?). You’ll find that the majority of the missions rely on this pretty basic mechanic, and while it’s fun enough, it’s also frustrating, as your own vehicle suffers damage just as easily, if not more easily that that of the criminals you’re hunting down. There are two methods of capture though, one being damaging the vehicle, and the other a sort of intimidation metric which fills up with close pursuits with your siren on, so there is some choice (sometimes). After that it’s a cross-city chase with a car thief, and it’s on the next mission after that where things get more shooty, with a mission titled Gangbanger Deathmatch. The voiceover from Bunnell at the start and end of each mission sets the tone perfectly, and the radio chatter between the various police personnel is great too, adding yet more realism, which is good, because although these sort of chases do happen in reality, the reckless abandon of firing an assault rife out of the window at a fleeing criminal while also driving at 90 miles and hour is slightly farcical, having said that, it is good fun. After you’ve shot the shit out of the gangbangers, you’re onto the next job, which is stopping a bus driver gone mad. He lost his job and his family, he snapped, hijacked a bus full of passengers, and is on a rampage. You can’t shoot or ram with this one, in case the passengers get hurt, and it demonstrates the effectiveness of the sirens nicely.
After all that, you get your first taste of undercover work, driving a taxi and following a vehicle to a drug exchange. This is standard stuff, and you’ll be familiar with the mechanics of it from all these kinds of games. Don’t get too close, don’t get too far away. After following the suspect, you witness the exchange and your cover is blown - it’s guns out time after that. The next mission changes things up again, and you’re tasked with escorting an ambulance across the city to the nearest hospital. A pretty long mission, but there isn’t much variety, apart from the fact that you can ignore the navigation system and deliver the ambulance to another hospital, which is quite cool.
The next mission is by far one of the most frustrating, although it has an interesting concept. You’re in command of the bomb squad vehicle this time, and a sort of Simon-Peter-Gruber-Situation occurs with a bunch of bombs hidden across the city. You must reach them all and disarm them before the very stingy timer is up. Matters are made worse by the awful handling of the bomb disposal van. Add to that the lack of navigational help and it’s all quite annoying. Having said that, you can look at the map again during the mission, but it’s not a particularly smooth experience, not when you’re on the clock. If you do thwart the dastardly terrorist though, you’re onto another undercover mission afterwards. You start out with your cover blown by discovering that a news van is following you… you must lose the tail. If you manage it, you have a limited time to return to the scene to resume your mission, which is some good old chasing and shooting.
After that, you’re transporting a witness to court, and as you go, you’re chased down and shot at by a pair of vehicles. This one is fine if you can avoid getting too damaged, as all you need to do is reach the designated area before your vehicle is wrecked. Things get a bit sillier with the next mission though, as a pair of disgruntled former army brothers tear across the city in stolen tanks, blowing shit up. You start out in a standard police cruiser, and must take down the first tank before it reaches the local stadium. Lots of shooting here, and lots more avoiding damage (which is hard against a tank). About halfway through the first interaction you’ll be free to use a rocket launcher, which again ups the insanity, as with all your weapons, it too is fired from your driver side window… Don’t get me wrong, silly is fun, but I’m pretty sure this wasn’t based on an episode of the show (please let me know if I’m wrong, as I definitely want to watch it). Anyway, after taking the first plonker down, you’re allowed to transfer to an armoured personnel carrier – it has a turret and is far more appropriate for the job, making the second tank a much easier target.
The next mission is a bit more grounded, and you start out mid-pursuit, following a fugitive known to have been part of a bank robbery. About halfway through you’re led into an ambush, and like the escorting the witness mission, you must flee to the safety of a nearby police station. After that, it’s another chase, this time following an escaped convict. Pretty straightforward stuff after all the tanks and bombs.
Bombs… yes, the bomber returns, this time with his heart set on blowing up the powerplant. You must follow him for the first part, then identify (not disarm this time) where the bomb is. It’s in a bin. After that, you’re free to chase the guy again. This one also ends with a mid-chase gunfight. Another bank robbery next, and there are two vehicles to take down. You can’t go after them immediately however, as there are spike traps across the road. Circle around and chase down the first vehicle (don’t worry about the second, it’s tracked by a helicopter). After the first is down, rinse and repeat. Another job done.
The penultimate mission has you under cover once more, this time in a pizza van. Your stakeout is interrupted by a hostage taker speeding by in a blue van. You’re the only unit in the vicinity, so it’s up to you to take the bastard down – this time with an Italian flair. Unfortunately, you have very few bullets, and your pizza van is slow… the main frustration with this one is how much damage you take, so careful driving and shooting is certainly required.
After all that, it’s time for the final mission, and would you have guessed it? The mad bomber has escaped from prison, and he’s on his way to the airport in an armed and armoured limo. Christ. You’re free to fire immediately with this one, but there is another pursuit vehicle tailing him, and you apparently get in trouble for shooting your fellow officers, so just wait until they disengage. After you’ve got a clear shot, shoot all your bullets, do a bit of the ramming thing, and you’ll triumph in no time.
After the final mission is done, you get a sort of end of episode cinematic with Bunnell thanking you for joining them for a wild ride through the city of Ashland, and you see your character behind a podium with a nice shiny medal. Emotional stuff. After that, you get the credits, and you’re done. All that remains is Free Patrol. If you were good at the game, you’ll have lots of stuff to play with, if not, there are cheats to unlock everything, which I recommend. In my playthrough I only unlocked about half of the stuff, and the fun in Free Patrol is certainly limited without all the best weapons and vehicles. There is a multiplayer option for this too, which will, if you have someone to play with, make the experience a bit more interesting. In this mode, one of you does the driving, and the other shoots (replicating the fun of the arcade). This I think would be more fun if a light gun was perhaps implemented, otherwise it looks very clunky.
Overall, World’s Scariest Police Chases is a lot of fun. It’s hugely frustrating at points, but it holds up surprisingly well considering its age, having been released in 2001. The similarities in gameplay to Driver are obvious, and in my mind, they are of a similar ilk, but looking back, it’s quite surprising to see the difference in visual quality. The two-years clearly made a difference. Driver (1999) looks so pixilated and rudimentary by comparison. I don’t suppose that mattered at the time though, as I certainly played far more of Driver in my PlayStation days. I’m going to have to revisit it soon to compare the mechanics, as the name suggests, it should have better driving (although I also recall being frustrated by that game too, especially the tutorial in the car park).
Usually TV show tine-ins are bin worthy, but I think World’s Scariest Police Chases is a bit of a flawed gem (although it has an annoyingly long title). It’s not a hugely polished game, but it’s shiny enough. Its well realised city, weather effects, day/night lighting, and variety in vehicles, weapons, missions, damage effects, driving physics, and all the other little additions that were included really go a long way to making this rather special, and for 2001, it was certainly ahead of its time in many ways. A playthrough will only take you a few hours, but there is a lot of fun to be had throughout, and it really does scratch that police chase itch. It’s unfortunate that the PC, PS2, and Dreamcast versions were cancelled, as it likely limited the player base somewhat, and its unfortunate too that its sequel was canned. Given the opportunity to expand the gameplay mechanics and refine what was already there would have been great, but perhaps its ties to the show held it back in some way? Who knows? All I do know is that the game is a fun game, despite its flaws, and it’s one I recommend setting aside a few hours to check out.
Did you ever play this one? If so, what did you think? There are plenty of police themed games out there, but I think this one does it pretty well while keeping it vaguely within the bounds of reality. It clearly did its job too, as I ended up down a YouTube rabbit hole watching episodes of the show.
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