After spending some time playing the game I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. This game is actually quite fun, but bear in mind that it goes down better in short bursts, otherwise it can get a little bit repetitive. Nonetheless, a nice bit of fun so late in the Playstation’s life.

The game plays out like an episode of the TV show on which it is based. Players go on a series of missions to stop and apprehend criminals. Objects range from stopping a drunk driver, to catching a car-jacker, to following a drug dealer. If there’s a police operation that happens in a car, chances are good that you’ll find it in the game. If you want to take a break from the missions you also get the option of just cruising around town, chasing bad guys at random. Of course, for extra carnage you can run into and shoot at all of the other cars too and cause huge accidents, but despite all of that this mode loses its charm swiftly.

Tearing around town is done a number of different vehicles, from a standard cruiser, to an SUV, to a taxi. All of these vehicles handle differently. Some are fast while others are very cumbersome. All the while you must be careful not to smash into too many obstacles or else you’ll wreck your ride, then it’s game over. On top of this the vehicles in the games show their damage, but sometimes your vehicle will get a small ding in it and you’ll have no idea what caused it.

Driving through town is quite fun. The layout of the streets is generally believable, but there are some areas where you can look at the twists and turns ahead and wonder what kind of a sadistic city planner would come up with them. By in large the streets are setup in a manner that will give players a reasonable challenge, but won’t have them tearing out their hair in frustration.

The weak points in WSPC largely come in the game’s aesthetics. The visuals look old. A cartoon-like game can get away with being on an older system like the Playstation, since its look will be based more on artistic merit. In the case of WSPC, the goal is a realistic environment, so the low-res entrapments and other graphical limitations of 

the Playstation make this game tough to look at. Audio is only slightly better. There is some decent radio chatter to be heard, but the engine noise and lack of music are a disappointment. The voice work of John Bunnell (host of the TV show) is quite good however, bringing arguably one of the best lines in a videogame to come a long in a while: "…and now the punk that had no respect for other people’s property will become someone else’s property in jail…"

Despite WSPC looking bland by today’s standards there’s still some fun to be had here. If you want to actually play the good guy, instead of the crazy driver being chased by the cops, this game may be right up your alley.