The Chase: Cop Pursuit Review - A fun game in short bursts

No matter where you live on this big blue marble we call Earth, there are some things we all have in common. We all like to eat good food, we all love to laugh, and we all think we can outrun the police even though we drive a 14-year-old Toyota Camry. That latter one is so common, in fact, that watching police chases on TV and online is, well, something else we all share.

Well, now we can all be that dumb, and maybe have a laugh or two, with The Chase: Cop Pursuit (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4), a goofy, cartoony game in which you try to escape the police. And while sure, it may be a fool's errand, in this game it's also a fun one.

Gameplay and Visuals

Made by Mad Hook, a game studio based in Amman, Jordan, The Chase: Cop Pursuit is an old school top-down, arcade-y, automotive action game in which you, as a criminal, try to outrun the police while committing acts of vandalism.

Oh, and no, you don't have to stay on the road. You're a criminal. Criminals drive on people's lawns. 

It's kind of like when you get chased by the cops in Grand Theft Auto. And I do mean Grand Theft Auto — the original from 1997, which also had an old school aerial perspective. Except that in G.T.A., your objective is to escape while in The Chase: Cop Pursuit, you're also trying to knock down water towers, drive through gates, and destroy small shops. Because, apparently, you're not just a criminal, you're a jerk, too.

What also makes this different from Grand Theft Auto is that if you hit something that isn't breakable — like a building, wall, or, apparently, a palm tree — your car is damaged, and if it takes too much damage, your car explodes and you are forced to jump out and run for your life.

You can even get the cops to knock down the water towers if you can get enough of them to follow you. At which point this becomes kind of like Pikmin...if the Pikmin were jerks.

Now, once you're on foot, you can be stopped if an officer tackles you. Or — as I found out when I ran full speed into a palm tree and knocked myself out — if you crash into something as you're running around.

Aiding and abetting you in this criminal enterprise are deployable mines and bottles of nitro you can grab as you drive around and deploy at your leisure, as well as repair kits that fix your car on the fly. And the former two don't only work when you're driving, either; you can use the mines and nitro when you're on foot.

Along with explosives and illegal modifiers, you also find cash you can use to purchase new cars, trucks, and other vehicles, ones that may be faster, sturdier, or both. You can also unlock playable characters by beating levels, though unlike the cars, they don't change the experience any. And that includes the ones that make you look like Batman, Terminator, or someone from the movie Tron. Or, more accurately, like someone wearing a Batman, Terminator, or Tron-inspired Halloween costume.

Now, if all of this sounds weirdly familiar, it may be because you played Mad Hook's mobile games Amer: Cop Pursuit and Amer: The Chase Hit And Run. Though The Chase: Cop Pursuit is a little different. This has no microtransactions; switches the perspective from a third-person / behind the car view to a top down one (you'd think it'd be the other way around); and, obviously, has you using a controller instead of a touchscreen.

Which is why this works better than those games. Sure, the controls aren't as precise as, say, Gran Turismo 5. But that's fine; this is a goofy game, so having cars that slide around like the roads are covered in oil just makes this that much more fun.

And then there's the soundtrack...

While I was not a fan of music — and actually turned it off — some people have found it energetic, and a perfect complement to the game. Especially the propulsive tune that kicks in when you're on foot and activate the nitro boost. It's just too bad it only plays through the DualSense controller's speaker, and not through the ones I bought for my home theater instead of buying a better car.

Issues and Irritations

For the most part. The Chase: Cop Pursuit is a good time if you're not looking for something serious. Or something you'll want to play for hours on end. It gets a bit redundant after about 20 minutes. Which is why I played it while taking breaks from replaying RoboCop: Rogue City.

This is not the only issue I had with the game. The good people at Mad Hook made some odd design choices, ones that don't make a lot of sense. Like how, if you're on foot, and a cop tries to tackle you but misses, he stays on the ground. He won't get up and keep chasing you. Or the whole "palm tree knocking you out" thing.

The Chase: Cop Pursuit also has some visual issues that make it look like it's, well, a mobile game. Nothing that makes this game less fun, just sometimes when it looked like the character images aren't finished and thus have rough edges.

Verdict

Still, as you probably realized yourself, these shortcomings are nothing of major consequence and are easily ignored. Which just leaves you with a fun if silly and rather unrealistic arcade-y driving action game. Just don't try any of it for real the next time you're on the run from the cops.

A copy of The Chase: Cop Pursuit was provided for review by Mad Hook Games.