Virtua Cop 3

Six of our screenshots are hi-res. The rest.. er, aren't.

The sequel, Virtua Cop 2, offered the same level of fun as the original, but the scoring system was altered slightly. The bosses were still outstanding though. Both original titles eventually landed on Sega's Saturn, enjoying considerable success. And, in the tradition of awesome Sega arcade titles, the latest in the series - Virtua Cop 3 - is set to reach Xbox very soon after it hits arcades on Sega's Chihiro Xbox-compatible arcade board.

The story behind the original titles revolved around the EVL Corporation - a bunch of bad guys involved in illegal firearms trade, organised crime, and probably drug smuggling (although they never made that last one official). This time around, five years since the last criminal events took place in Virtua City, a new criminal group rules the streets, going by the name of 'Akira'. (Unless we're very much mistaken, that is).

They've been known to wreck subway trains and beat people up on the street for no good reason. Meanos! On a more serious note, our boys Smarty and Rage have got some scores to settle, and cleaning up the streets once and for all will, miraculously, fix everything. In-game, VC3 does appear to have a heavier emphasis on story than the first two games, but then, who knows for sure.

VC3's roster of cops: Rage, Smarty, Janet and Frank.

Back in the second game, newcomer Janet Marshal joined the original police duo, James Cools ("Smarty") and Mike Hardy ("Rage"). All three cops return for VC3, (with Janet looking considerably cuter, it has to be said), and they're joined by yet another agent, Frank Kalanza.

A couple of Virtua Cop 3's bad guys. Kill 'em!

Going by Frank's mug shot however, he may be some kind of behind-the-scenes advisory cop. Perhaps Frank briefs you on your missions, and then joins in on the beat for the game's final confrontation. Even Sonic the Hedgehog makes a cameo appearance! All playable cops in VC3 wear ultra-futuristic, metallic body armour, which not only looks cool, but supposedly protects better as well. Not that it'll stop you getting shot to smithereens.

With a number of new weapons on offer in the game, and tremendous set pieces such as the aforementioned train crashing and burning through a subway station (à la Die Hard With A Vengeance), VC3 is likely to offer improved blasting action on a basic level, while a number of new features should take gameplay further than before.

One new feature, "bullet time", allows you to dodge bullets in slow motion, kinda like you saw in The Matrix, and blast incoming bullets away and out of danger. This technique is known as ES Mode. As it would theoretically make certain situations far easier, it remains to be seen whether or not this is a feature you can trigger at free will, or if it's a feature that kicks in at set points in the game.

The bad guys appear to be more varied than before, with a ninja character revealed and an enemey who looks like Jacky Bryant from Virtua Fighter - he probably isn't Jacky, but we're betting bet he's some kind of boss character.

Graphically, Virtua Cop 3 is looking fantastic, with all manner of effects that arcade goers and console players alike could only have dreamed of five years ago. There are more cut-scene style sequences in VC3, and while these are likely to be short, they do look rather nice indeed. Part of the fun is the crazy amount of action and so many things on screen at once.

Sega are promising their best shooting title yet with Virtua Cop 3, and we'll keep you updated on all the details running up to the release of both the arcade and Xbox versions.