A.D Cop Overseas Mission (PC)

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A.D Cop Overseas Mission was made in 1997 by EMAG Soft for PC. On first glance the game looks like a mixture of Virtua Cop and Die Hard with Doom esthetics. It uses its own light gun called the PG-5 manufactured by A4 Tech. While this self proclaimed ''first PC gun'' predates the ACT-Labs GS and SGA light guns, it is not the first IBM compatible PC light gun. Before that came the Loricel West Phaser and before that the MHT Ingenieros Gun-Stick. The gun is connected to an ISA card via an RJ12 connector. In that regards it reminds me a lot of the Konami Justifier player 2 gun for SNES and Mega Drive. The plastic shell is very similar to the one of the player 1 gun, and has the same embossed square on the butt stock, where a Justifier player one gun would have the RJ12 socket. However the PG-5 has an additional button over the Justifier. Interestingly this button isn't used by the only two games published for it. As for the similarities to the Justifier I decided to open the PG-5. I have found out that the gun is electronically equivalent to the Justifier player two gun. Now aware that they are fully interchangeable I tried it out on a Mega Drive and it worked. That also means that a Justifier player two gun can be used to play PG-5 compatible games, and that Justifier player one guns can easily be modified to be compatible.

Similar to the Namco G-Con 45 and the G-Con 2 light guns the VGA output of the computer is interconnected to the gun's ISA card using a dongle. A second gun, possibly of a second kind can be inserted to a second socket on the ISA card for two player action. Alternatively two computers may be connected via an IPX network.

In the game's story the player is a member of an international police organization. During a visit of an important politician, the organization receives the information where a terrorist group's hideout is. The police organization decides to commit a preventive attack on the terrorists. The defense power of the terrorists however was so strong, that the police decided to retreat from the attack. Two officers failed to notice the elopement of their comrades and continue to fight the terrorists alone.

The player uses a semi automatic weapon with a six rounds capacity. Other weapons such as a higher capacity pistol, a machine gun and a shot gun can be picked up by shooting icons. Other icons are health and screen clearing rockets. Items are revealed upon shooting fleeing enemies. Similar to Virtua Cop a box is drawn over the enemies and will change its color to red. When the square is red the enemy shoots the player. When the player dies, continues allow to carry on immediately and replenish two rockets.

The game consists of three chapters each consisting of three levels. The first level is located at a parking area. The second level plays inside a restaurant. The next level takes place at the docks. The forth level is played on the streets. A hotel is the location for level 6 and for level 7. Level 8 takes the player to a subway train station. The final level takes place inside a train.

Every chapter is concluded in a boss fight. Inside most levels are civilians which yield in a live penalty upon being shot. In the option screen the difficulty of the game and the number of continues and lives can be freely adjusted. A score screen is shown at the end of every level.

Personally I really like this game. It plays very well and the light gun is very usable despite the lack of sights. The presentation is well made and the music fits nicely. I was stunned seeing three dimensional levels going so well with the two dimensional enemies. Compared to other light gun games which attempted this like Project Horned Owl and Extreme Ghost busters the graphics blend together much nicer in A.D Cop.

Apart from the very prominent wrong statement the PG-5 was the first PC light gun I think the box design is quite appealing. The full color manual contains an error in the header of every page: Instead of A.D Cop there is a picture of the other game released for the PG-5 called Bon Bon.