Calling All Cars!

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Calling All Cars!
Developer(s)	Incognito Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Designer(s)	David Jaffe
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3
Release date	^NA May 10, 2007
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone
Media	Download
Input methods	SIXAXIS

Calling All Cars! is a downloadable game on the PlayStation Store^[1] created by David Jaffe, creative director on God of War. It was released on May 10, 2007.

1 Gameplay
2 Reception
3 Controversy
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Calling All Cars! is similar to Twisted Metal, though it has been compared by its reviewers to be more akin to NBA Jam^[2]. It employs a top-down ¾ perspective and cel-shaded graphics. There are bonus vehicles that can be unlocked through the completion of certain tasks, i.e. winning a tournament at Captain difficulty.

The object of the game is to capture escaped convicts while battling against three other bounty hunters who are also trying to capture the criminals. Points are awarded for captured criminals, and the bounty hunter with the most points wins. The game features online multiplayer and split-screen play.

The criminals in question have escaped from a local high-security prison by tunneling out. Criminals emerge from the ground somewhere on the current level and begin to walk around.

To capture a criminal that has just emerged from the ground; the player must follow an above-car arrow to the criminals location, and ram into the criminal. Upon ramming the criminal is launched high into the air, and upon coming down will be captured by the nearest bounty hunter. A targeting retuicule appears under the criminal and turns green if the bounty hunter is in the correct position to collect and red if they are not. If there are no bounty hunters present the criminal will continue walking until rammed again. Once a criminal has been captured by a bounty hunter the objective is to take it to one of 6 available incarceration facilities. In order of points these are: 1 point - Police Station, 2 point - Jail, 3 point - Maximum Security, Blue Paddywagon, 4 point - Police Helicopter, 5 point - Red Paddywagon. Once a bounty hunter has captured a criminal, the other bounty hunters objective changes to try and claim the criminal for themselves. This can be done in multiple ways: a high-speed collision, or using one of the three power-ups. These power-ups include a homing missile, a large, front mounted mallet and a front mounted magnet. The homing missile and the magnet both have lock-on capabilities, the homing missile emits a sound as it nears lock-on and the magnet's "beam" turns red to indicate successful lock-on. The mallet shows a radius around the bounty hunters vehicle that will be effected. If hit by the mallet or homing missile the criminal launches into the air from the previous bount hunters car, much akin to if it had been rammed for the first time. If hit in a high-speed collision or caught using the magnet the criminal is transferred directly to the bounty hunter.

[edit] Reception

GameSpot gave Calling All Cars! 6.7/10, saying the game is "a frantic good time that's cut short by a serious lack of content. You can finish the single-player game in about 20 minutes." ^[3] IGN, however, gave the game 8.5/10, stating that the multiplayer more than makes up for the single player flaws,^[4] and X-Play gave Calling All Cars! a 4/5^[5].

As of October 30, 2007, Calling All Cars! has a score of 77/100 on Metacritic. ^[6]

[edit] Controversy

Upon reception, game designer David Jaffe proceeded to post a vulgarity-laced tirade against a review author.^[7] The action caused Jaffe to stop blogging for over a month^[8], and call into question the appropriateness of the game industry's trying to bring pressure on the independence of reviewers. ^[9]^[10]^[11]