Starsky & Hutch

Description

Starsky & Hutch centres on two undercover police officers patrolling the fictional streets of Bay City in a distinctive red and white Ford Gran Torino. Players participate in missions structured as discrete television episodes, complete with dramatic voice over introductions and a funk music soundtrack. The setting leans heavily into the exaggerated tropes of its source material, replacing realistic police work with explosive car chases, destructible environments, and constant high speed stunts.

The mechanics rely on an unusual combination of arcade driving and light gun shooting. One player controls the vehicle while a second player leans out of the passenger window to shoot at criminal vehicles, suspect tyres, and environmental hazards. To mirror the television theme, progression is governed entirely by a Viewer Rating system. Players must maintain the interest of a theoretical audience by performing drifts, catching air off ramps, and destroying city property. If the audience becomes bored by slow or safe driving, the rating drops, the mission fails, and the show is cancelled. The console versions present a remarkable peripheral novelty, supporting the simultaneous input of a racing wheel peripheral and a light gun. This demands a complex physical setup on the living room floor, bridging the gap between the arcade driving of Crazy Taxi and the peripheral shooting of Time Crisis.

At release, reviewers praised the novel integration of two distinct peripheral types into a single cooperative experience. Critics noted the authentic presentation but frequently criticised the repetitive mission design and the relatively short length of the overall campaign. It was a chaotic coordination required to navigate narrow alleys with a force feedback wheel while relying entirely on a partner to shoot explosive barrels with a light gun. Today, this hardware combination is probably the most notable feature, with its highly experimental approach to local multiplayer.

N.B., this is the European version but assuming it is an Australian distributed copy, since it would have only been relabelled. While it was released in Europe in June, it seems like it took until September to be released in Australia.