As with the original "Virtua Cop", the Saturn version of "Virtua Cop 2" received positive reviews for its fun gameplay and close translation of the arcade version, while being criticized as too lacking in longevity for a home console game. However, some critics, rather than complaining about the longevity, noted that while it takes about the same amount of time to complete a single playthrough as in the original, the game is much longer than the first "Virtua Cop" when taking into account all the different level branches.