http://www.destructoid.com/preview-c-o-p-the-recruit-138835.phtml
It’s really impressive everything that’s being crammed into C.O.P. You’ll have day and night missions, there will be some weather effects that affects your driving physics, you can set up nav points on your map to tons of other little features. There’s even a cool little “previously on C.O.P.” recap that comes on every time you turn the game back on too. The only thing that’s really missing from C.O.P. is the lack of music when you’re driving.
Overall, I was really impressed to see C.O.P. The Recruit on the DS. If you can ignore the ugly graphics and enjoy open-world games, then this looks like it will be worth getting.
http://kotaku.com/5309000/cop-the-recruit-preview-if-only-becoming-a-police-officer-were-so-easy
Final Thoughts
This game is invariably going to be compared to Grand Theft Auto and I think what The Recruit lacks in hookers, it hopes to make up for with its story. Twenty minutes really wasn't enough time to get a feel for the story, but if it's even half as solid as the shooting gameplay seems to be, I'm optimistic.
IGN-hands-on
Videos
Taking it inside.
Extracts:
I figured Chinatown Wars would forever remain the pinnacle of DS action titles. But fast forward to the present and -- surprise, surprise -- there's actually a genuine competitor on the horizon that might just be worth your full attention. It's called C.O.P.: The Recruit.
The Recruit is published by Ubisoft, but more importantly, it's developed by Velez and Dubail Dev (better known as VD-Dev by the two or three people who are actually familiar with the studio). Probably not ringing any bells for you, but consider the company's history as a handheld developer. It made V-Rally 3 for Game Boy Advance in 2002, which IGN scored an 8.0. Back then, we wrote the title was "visually incredible" by GBA standards. It followed up the title with Stuntman for GBA the next year, which scored an 8.5. We said the title featured "stunning 3D graphics" as well as challenging and fun gameplay to match. And it made Driv3r (seriously with the '3,' Atari?), also pretty good, both technically and mechanically. If nothing else, VD-Dev has experience making driving games and also producing some fantastic handheld-centric engines. C.O.P. takes the software house's expertise in both to the next level.
The Recruit still has its work cut out for it if it's really going to give Rockstar's content-filled open-world actioner real competition, but where technology is concerned, at least, C.O.P. is more impressive. As Dan Miles, you can explore a huge, sprawling version of New York City -- about six square miles, according to Ubisoft. The camera shoots the action from behind-the-back of the main character for a more immersive GTA-like experience, as opposed to the top-down view utilized in Chinatown Wars. Furthermore, the game spits out detailed city blocks complete with a wide range of cars and pedestrians, interactive objects, shortcuts, and more, all running at a perfect 60 frames per second. In my tests with the demo so far, the fluidity never hiccups. VD-Dev's engine apparently handles 180,000 polygons per second, full lighting and shadows, and more, and streams all the data so there's no load times, even when detective Dan screeches around a corner in his stolen car and the hightails it inside a building for some gunfights, which he often does. The title apparently features 20 hours of gameplay -- free roaming, driving, indoors and outdoors exploration and gunplay.
The driving controls feel fantastic -- both very responsive and realistic thanks primarily to believable vehicular physics. The city in place is enormous, the driving model very satisfying, the gunplay very well done, and the technology extremely impressive. In the demo, you race around the city while jacking cars (including a bus, which drives incredibly slow), make your way into a hotel casino and shoot down enemies, and even put out a fire with an extinguisher before it all comes to an end.
Supposedly you'll be able to use the detective's trusty PDA to plan and launch SWAT team assaults, giving commands through the DS microphone, setting up road blocks, summoning ambulances and using camera systems to spy on the enemy. It all sounds pretty good.
I'm not ready to call the game a GTA killer. That's a bold claim and one sure to set unfair expectations. But it's definitely a worthy alternative based on what I've played and seen so far. If the developer can enhance the story and deliver a 20-hour-plus action romp full of smart sandbox missions both on and off the city streets, Ubisoft will have a winner on its hands. The engine and gameplay controls already dazzle. Next up, content -- and hopefully lots of it.