Looking to make a splash in the largely untapped open-world genre on Nintendo DS, Ubisoft is releasing C.O.P. this coming fall.

Presented in a fully-realized, interactive 3D world, players assume the role of Dan Miles, a street detective under the guidance of his falsely accused mentor Brad Winter. Seeking to bring those behind the framing to justice, Miles quickly finds himself involved in an menacing conspiracy reaching far throughout the city.

From my time with a demo of the title at E3, I can say that no comprises are being made. Considering the limitations of the hardware, Ubisoft is doing an exceptional job at delivering a compelling open-world experience.

Not looking to simply follow the GTA formula carbon copy, Ubisoft has taken a more linear-based approach to C.O.P. While missions are broken up into segments, all of them fall back and relate to the main plot. From a chat I had with producer Nouredine Abboud, the aim is to create a structured experience, one in which players know their objectives and do not feel a sense of being lost, a common issue that has been known to plague open-world efforts on other platforms.

Judging from the 15 minutes hands-on I had with the title, missions are varied, with an equal amount of play time being given to car jacking and on-foot action sequences. To keep things fresh, mission objectives with a twist are thrown to the mix. One such objective links players up to a live video feed of a security camera in a casino, tasking players with the objective of pinning down the location of a shady character. Another has players armed with a fire extinguisher putting out hazardous flames in a burning building.

Between missions, a brief synopsis or recap of recent developments plot-wise are shown on-screen in a comic book like format, giving players an opportunity to always keep tabs on the unfolding story, even if they are not following it point by point in-game.

Like majority of DS titles, C.O.P. utilizes the touch screen for various in-game commands. Played from a third-person perspective, players can double tap the bottom screen to enter an aiming viewpoint, while moving the stylus across the screen will move the crosshair to allow precise targeting of foes. The demo featured a variety of weapon types, ranging from a point blank pistol to automatic machine guns and assault rifles.

Abboud noted that there are no plans to implement multiplayer, as a game of this scale is already pushing technical bounds on the single player front.

C.O.P. is shaping up to be quite the ambitious title for a handheld effort. This is definitely one to look out for when it hits in fall 2009.

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