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If you're too cheap to pay for HBO, FX's The Shield is as good as cop dramas get. Michael Chiklis' stars as crooked Los Angeles cop Vic Mackey, a violent thug who breaks nearly as many laws as he enforces. The Shield: The Game is an attempt to recreate the complicated landscape of the TV show by allowing the player to make decisions as they fight crime. And while the game does a decent job of getting us into the bald police officer's scaly skin, it fails miserably in bringing the fun. That's because much of the game is like Mackey's moral compass – broken beyond repair.
 
Aiming Low

It's like the creators of The Shield: The Game were looking for the big score. They set out to craft a game as complex as the show it was based on. Players can turn in evidence they find or stash it in their personal locker for their “retirement fund.” Perps can be cuffed and arrested or capped in the skull. Each choice effects your “heat” or the amount of attention that the higher-ups are aiming in your direction. The plot ties in to a series story line about gun smuggling gangs and events that threaten to cause the dissolution of Mackey's crew “The Strike Team.” Chiklis and company provide solid voice work, giving the game a better narrative than it deserves. Because beyond this setup nearly every other facet of the game is botched.

Stop and Plop

Gunfights are the game's low point. The cover system stinks. Anyone who's played Gears of War or Rainbow Six: Vegas knows how glorious good stop-and-pop gameplay can be. They'll find nothing resembling that kind of action here. To make matters worse Mackey's computer-controlled partners are dumb as dirt. They rarely use the meager cover and, as a result, are constantly catching lead. Aiming and shooting feel imprecise – making any sequence with gunplay an exercise in frustration. Trial-and-error stealth and a clunky evidence search mini-game make missions even more infuriating. As if these crappy mechanics weren't punishment enough, the game plays a clip of the show's obnoxious theme song every time you fail out of a mission. Suddenly that Rembrants tune from Friends doesn't seem all that bad.

You Have The Right To Play Something Else

If anything The Shield: The Game is true to the spirit of its source material. Much of the  game may be poorly designed, cruelly difficult and obnoxiously unfair, but none of these flaws are necessarily show-stopping. Fans of the program or gamers with deep masochistic streaks may be able to mine a few nuggets of pleasure out of this sloppy mess. Those with only a passing interest in the the series would be better of Netflixing the DVDs, preparing their taxes, or even re-grouting the tiles in the guest bathroom. You name the dull task and it's preferable to doing time with The Shield: The Game.

Article by: Gus Mastrapa
Video produced by: Mark Fahey