Description of Undercover Cops - MAME

Should you find yourself looking for a cheap clone of the 1989’s Final Fight, don’t look any further cause Undercover Cops are just that. Frankly, I don’t know what it is with 1991, but there is just so many similar games that were released in that year (think of Karate Blazers, Vendetta or Burning Fight for example), that it goes well beyond my comprehension, how could have anyone possibly still like that kind of gameplay after all those titles and moreover, how could have anyone in the companies that produced them still possibly think it’s going to be a major success. That being said, however, Undercover Cops—although missing a bit on the storyline side of things—are sometimes even more entertaining and enjoyable than the actual Final Fight. It looks, feels and handles the same way, yet the characters are so much more likeable here and animations feel so much more satisfying to look at, that it just can’t be ignored. The characters, there are three of them: Claude, Bubba and Flame. All of the three joined the so called city-sweepers (that is people who clean the city streets from thugs and gangsters) after their lives gave them some serious lemons and the regular lifestyle just wasn’t an option anymore. Claude was a karate master, but after killing a man in self-defense, he’s been banned from all official tournaments and his career practically ended. Then there is Bubba, a former football player, whose life turned upside down after what he was falsely accused of murder; and finally the sweet female blonde, Flame, who lost her lover, thanks to the gangs and dedicated her life to fighting for justice. Still think you had a bad day? Now, the controls and gameplay—and here I’m going to repeat myself—are pretty much the same as in Final Fight: an 8-way joystick and two buttons, button one for attack and button two (check the MAME settings to see how they are mapped) for jump. If you press both buttons at the same time, the character performs a special deterring attack at the expense of their health points—therefore it’s advisable to use it only as a last resort. You are, however, going to accidentally use it a number of times anyway, as another kind of attack is performed by pressing the jump button and the attack button in a succession and—well, sometimes you just press those keys a bit too quickly one after another and boom, say sayonara to your HPs. The ‘jump-attack’ can also be directed by the joystick (or arrow keys, should you play it on a keyboard), resulting in the protagonist throwing themselves at the enemies. Which brings me to… let’s just say Flame has a very special way how to do that… :) As to the enemies as such, well, they are thugs. And unlike—god damn it, finally!—in Final Fight, even mutants and weird flying things that produce this strange sound, which in my native Czech sounds a bit like ‘přidej’, which means something like step on it or step it up. And I always end up laughing more than I probably should anytime these scenes come up during the gameplay. *shrugs* Anyway, all and all, Undercover Cops aren’t bad. Really. Parts of it are even enjoyable. Now, if you never ever laughed or at least chuckled (or breathed out through your nostrils faster than usual) at the second boss, the fatty jackhammer wielding dominatrix, and the animations when she laughs after she hits you, you’re either lying or you’re laughing even now. You see, this is the kind of 2D animation I like and support, with the sense for detail and accuracy kept in mind. Undercover Cops are a major copypasta, but then again, 1994’s AvP uses pretty much the same gameplay mechanics and we still all love it nevertheles. As Einstein said: everything’s relative, folks. Howgh.