Motor City Patrol

The game was released in January 1992, and was Matchbox's first video game. One in a line of video games that tied into the Matchbox brand of die-cast model vehicles, like police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, and earth-moving construction machines.

• Title — Motor City Patrol • Developer — Source Research & Development • Publisher — Matchbox International • Designer — Ross Harris • Artist — Ross Harris, John Cassels • Programmer — Ian Richards • Composer — Chris Gill, Link Tomlin • Released — January 1992 • Genre — Mission-based driving • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Nintendo Entertainment System

• Illustration — Screenshot of a car chase The player controls an officer of the law whose job it is to patrol one of five precincts for a week at a time. As the player gets further and further into the week, a larger area is permitted to be patrolled, in addition to a longer shift (time limit) to accomplish each of the mission goals. The player must drive around looking for speeders, robbers, and public enemies, and not hurt innocent civilians. When a criminal (speeder, robber, or public enemy) appears on the precinct map, the player must either pull over or shoot the offender's vehicle. The game ends when the player fails a mission, receives five or more warnings, shoots a civilian, or totals their vehicle. After going through all five precincts (at seven days apiece), the player starts over again in precinct 1, on day 1, with all of their points, merits, warnings, and car upgrades intact. The game cycles indefinitely until the player loses.