The Shield – PS2 – Preview

The
Shield follows TV character Vic Mackey as he keeps Farmington safe from criminal
scum. Sammy is working very closely with the creators of the award winning
television series to keep The Shield as authentic as possible. Fans of the show
will appreciate how closely the game resembles the show.

I was able to sit down
and watch a bit of The Shield in action, and I have to say it was pretty
impressive. The level I saw took place in an adult shop, and the guys Vic is
trying to track down are in the back room. Looking around you can see what you’d
usually find in a shop of this sort (including a dirty old man “enjoying” a
movie in the back room), but your real goal is to get into the back.

This is where
intimidation comes in. There are many ways to intimidate characters, but
physical is the most effective against most people. So, Vic proceeded to grab
the shop owner and drive his face into the many shelves and display cases of the
store. Each object the man was slammed into reacted realistically, with shelves
and glass breaking or being knocked over. While intimidating a life bar and
intimidation meter shows up over the person’s head. During the beating, their
life will drop, but so will their intimidation (at least for most). You really
don’t want to kill these guys, just get them to comply, so you have to watch how
their life is doing.

Not everyone will succumb
to physical torture; some characters will require you to take other measures. An
example I was given was a rich guy you run into later – beating him up works,
but not as well as bashing in his TV or stereo system.

Once you have a suspect
you can do many things beside torture them – you can also search or cuff them.
Searching suspects is a good idea, because if you find something like drugs they
can be used many ways. They can be turned in, or even sold on the street for
more money to put into your retirement fund (another TV show reference).

Another thing I noticed
during this play through was how well Vic’s partner reacted to everything. He
will go about his own business as you look around instead of follow you like a
lost puppy. When Vic busted in on some guys, one of them took off while one
stayed to fight Vic. Vic’s partner immediately started chasing down the fleeing
suspect. Things like this make your partner seem believable instead of a burden.

Gunshots are lethal in
The Shield, so gunfights end up playing out realistically. You will need to find
cover, and even use your partner as a decoy while you flank the enemy. There’s
even a function to check doors from against the wall instead of right in front
of it, because if enemies hear you check the knob they will shoot right through
the door before you can even open it.

You don’t want to go
around killing guys left and right in The Shield unless you have to, because you
will have a Heat meter measuring how bad of a cop you are being.  There are
various ways to lower this, but it’s a good idea to not let it get out of
control in the first place.

The Shield has very
believable environments. Objects can be shot or interacted with and they react
very realistically. There is even projected lighting on physics objects, so the
shadows of a box will change and move when the box is kicked.

The Shield is shaping up
to be a great looking title. The Shield is planned to release on the Playstation
2 and Xbox Spring 2005.

For All E3 2004
Previews