Police 911

Police 911 (a.k.a. The Keisatsukan Shinjuku 24ji in Japan, Police 24/7 in Europe.) is a light gun arcade game that casts the player as either a "one man SWAT team" working for the Tokyo police, or an American police officer of the LAPD, working to take down members of the Gokudo-kai, an internationally based yakuza group.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Police 911 can be considered more interactive than most light gun games; instead of merely standing in one place and shooting enemies before you are shot, the game uses a foot pad and infrared sensors to determine a player's location; through this, the player is able to dodge around (with the knees, while standing on the pad), duck to avoid bullets (and reload), and lean out to maximise cover and get a better shot. This is not foolproof, however; enemies will continue to shoot while you're hiding, so it's possible to rise up and immediately get shot, if you're not careful. Also, like Time Crisis, the timer is continually running down, so one can't hide forever (or for very long, actually).

The activity of dodging, weaving, and crouching can be very stressful on the knees, so people with leg conditions should take note.

Promotions

As the player successfully completes each sub-part of a level, they gain a point towards a new rank. The higher a player's rank, the greater bonuses they can receive; growing time increments to start, followed by additional "lives", with the highest rank rewarding the player with 100 additional lives--however, considering that the timer continues to decrease whenever a player goes through their death animation, and that no additional time bonuses will be given after they reach that rank, this may be more of an oversight by the design team. In addition, the player's rank reverts to the bottom whenever they get shot, so a potential strategy for a skilled player would be to ascend to the point where they gain a life, then immediately die so the time bonuses may be re-earned.

Shooting innocents or fellow officers will result in the loss of one rank; if it is lowered below a "reward rank", the reward will not be re-earned.

The game

In the Japanese version, the player begins on the streets of downtown Shinjuku, taking part in a raid on a nightclub owned by the Gokudo-kai; the officer, lead by shielded riot squad members, and surrounded by innocents (both whom the player must not shoot), can take different routes through the club as their shooting skill dictates. Exiting the club leads to the first "boss": Shigenobu Matsuyama, who is driving a dump truck around an enclosed area, as five gangsters shoot at the player from the cab. Once the boss is shot and "arrested", the scene switches to the streets of Kabuki-Cho as the player fights off waves of gangsters, before facing the second "boss", international weapon smuggler Richard Hanson, at the entrance to Shinjuku Station Square (a subway station). Entering the station, the player fights more gangsters and the third "boss", Keisuke Matsuoka. Concluding this arrest, it is determined that the remaining heads of the Gokudo-kai have fled to America; specifically, the Little Tokyo area based in Los Angeles. The LAPD and FBI are notified, and an undercover detective is immediately dispatched to continue the case.

Arriving in Little Tokyo, the first encounter is a standoff between police and the Gokudo-kai in the middle of a street filled with cars, with two "bosses" at the end; Bai Ei Lee, and Noriko Nagata, both in a truck which drives erratically around the area (and which the player must dodge). It is only necessary to shoot the driver to "arrest" both of them, however. Following this is a "Highway Chase", in which the player is in a continually moving car and must take out several carfulls of gang members to proceed (again, only shooting the driver of the cars is necessary). Following this is an encounter in an underground garage (which is dangerous, both with the amount of innocents, as well as the threat of being hit by a moving car). Finally, the player emerges onto a side street, leading up to a crowded intersection and the final "boss": Katsuji Haraguchi.

Overseas changes

In the American/European versions, this is reversed: the raid on the nightclub takes place in Little Tokyo, followed by a "boss" fight with Richard Hanson. The Highway Chase and the underground garage are next, followed by the enounter with Bai Ei Lee; this time, he is the only one in the truck. A new level follows this; the player must stop Noriko Nagata from completing the smuggling of weapons to Japan; Richard Hanson had already completed this in the original game. At this point, it is determined that the remaining heads of the Gokudo-kai have returned to Japan; specifically, their base of operations in Shinjuku. Tokyo's International Investigation Unit is contacted, and an undercover detective is immediately dispatched to continue the case.

The detective fights through Kabuki-cho before facing Shigenobu in his dump truck. Matsuoka is faced at the Station Square, and Haraguchi, the final boss, is in the subway.

Finally, the way civilians are handled is changed. In the Japanese version, a newspaper headline flashes on the screen whenever an innocent is shot; this is because they can actually be killed. In the overaseas version, the player simply loses a rank and is reminded not to shoot innocents, but they are otherwise unharmed.

Additional note

A curious visual technique in the game can be observed when facing the various bosses; when seen in close-up, their faces are blurred with mosaics, and a mug shot of the individual boss has the eyes concealed with a black bar, despite their names still visible. The reason for this is to give an "authentic television feel" to the affair; Japanese television, when showing televised images of suspected criminals (such as on the news), will obscure the suspect's face for privacy purposes. The same goes for photographs of the person, hence the black bar.

External links

Police 911 at the KLOV

2001 arcade games | Arcade games | Cancelled PlayStation 2 games | Konami games | Light gun games