Mega City Police Preview

Before the upcoming action roguelike Mega City Police is released on Steam, I had the chance to try out a small preview of this high-octane shooter. Developed by Undreamed Games and published by Ravenage Games, Mega City Police is sure to delight fans of tough yet rewarding titles and anyone looking for a real retro throwback!

Right from the moment the title screen loads up, the synthwave soundtrack fires up and never stops blasting some great laid-back tracks and pulse-pounding beats. Before even taking control of a character, it’s clear that Mega City Police isn’t intended to be a game to relax and unwind with!

Starting off, you’ll navigate through a short tutorial at a police station, and if you’ve played any top-down shooters before, it will all feel immediately familiar. The left mouse button fires your current weapon, whilst right-clicking will make your character perform a melee attack — which has its own cooldown timer, so no spamming! If you’re someone who prefers controllers to keyboard and mouse, then Mega City Police works perfectly with them, with a default control scheme that I never felt needed altering.

Each of the three starting characters (although more are unlockable in the full release) come with their own unique abilities — one offensive and one defensive — and passive skills that allow them to carry more ammo, have an extra weapon slot, and so on. They all feel slightly different to play because of it, with RoboCo- sorry, the Cyborg, being able to take more damage, whilst the Scout can move quicker and become invisible for a short period of time. It certainly makes me excited for what other characters will be unlockable, as this set-up could allow the developer to get really creative!

From the station, which acts as a small hub where you can try out new weapons or swap characters, it was time to jump into my first mission. I foolishly ran in, all guns blazing, and wildly wiggled my mouse around, popping off shots with reckless abandon. I lasted just over a minute before seeing my first death screen (a very cool stats screen shown as a police report, telling you details from that particular run) and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time I saw one!

You see, Mega City Police is not an easy game, it doesn’t take much to kill you off, so you’ll need super sharp reflexes to even make it past the opening level. It never felt unfair, though, and after a while it became second nature to use every inch of the environment as cover (maybe apart from the cars that explode easily!) and make heavy use of the defence ability to avoid catching a bullet in the face. It’s so easy to restart a run that I found myself in an endless loop of “okay, one more try” until I finally bested the game.

In terms of gameplay flow, though, it’s rather simple. You’re confined to a small map, which unlocks the next area once each enemy has been eliminated. Within each stage, you’ll find new weapons (which range from a standard lead pipe, the much more destructive laser rifle, and even a surprisingly lethal stapler) as well as ammo and health to replenish your quickly dwindling supplies. With over 150 weapons to find in the randomised chests, I always felt that I was discovering something new to try out, much like similar title Enter the Gungeon, and with much more unlockable upgrades to seek out, this is looking to be a highly replayable title.

Although I’ve already touched on the music, electronic artist Droid Bishop has done a fantastic job with the 80s throwback vibes. Similarly, the graphical style also evokes a feeling of retro nostalgia, with bright, colourful pixels exploding onto the screen. There’s even a CRT television border around the screen for that true retro feel!

It’s easy to compare Mega City Police to something like Hotline Miami, the core gameplay mechanics are largely the same, they’re both dripping with style (albeit different ones) and are tough as nails! However, I’m confident this title could stand out as a great one in the genre, and with much more to see and do, I feel I’ve merely scratched the surface of this roguelike shooter.

Whilst my time with Mega City Police was short, it has definitely left me wanting more. A free preview of the game, titled Mega City Police: Prelude will be available very soon, and incorporates some new features not seen in the original demo, including (luckily for me) a casual game mode, new music tracks, and new animations! I would definitely recommend giving it a try ahead of the full release.