The Shield opens with you inside one of the members of the Armenian mob’s house. It walks you through how to search places, how to open doors, and eventually how to use your gun. I found it to be a good but quick, introduction as to how to play the game. If you want to go through the opening level quickly, it only takes a few minutes, but you have as much time as you want to take to get used to the controls. After that, you find yourself in “the Barn”, which is the police station. Fans of the show will immediately know their way around because everything is in the exact same place as it is in the series, down to the location of Dutch and Claudette’s desks. The voices of the characters sound exactly the same too. I’m guessing a lot of the actors from the series are voicing the characters for the game. I know Michael Chiklis provides the voice of Vic Mackey. After you complete your mission at the Barn, you’re told where you need to go next. Unlike a
Grand Theft Auto type game where you have several missions at once and you just choose where you want to go next,
The Shield simply has a loading screen and puts you at your next location. There’s no driving or free roaming between areas, and you’re locked onto that area usually by locked doors or blocked pathways. I have to admit I would like to be able to just free roam, but it does keep the game on track with the storyline of the show to do it this way. Interpreting what they want you to do on some missions can be a little difficult at times though. I spent about 20 minutes beating some guy's face into the ground trying to figure out why he wouldn’t talk until I deciphered what they actually wanted me to do to him.
The Shield provides an interesting measure of progress, as you choose whether to keep evidence to raise your “retirement fund” or turn it in as evidence to keep the Captain from busting you as a dirty cop. One feature I found pleasant is the ability to put the game in widescreen mode, which makes it look so much better on my tv. Other nice features include the ability to invert the camera controls, assisted targeting, and aim sensitivity. Also, unlocking at least the first extra was easy. You just have to take 15 seconds and complete an optional objective. I found another extra just searching one of the locations, so they have made it quick to get to see the provided extras. But I’m not going to spoil it and tell you what they are!
