Ah yes, a perfect sandbox game where I get to play as an officer, doing everything from giving a ticket for parking violations, tackling burglars, to murder mysteries, finding mission museum items, and taking down gang leaders. Being on the law side is never easy.
Then again, it's never easy making a cop game that itself is fundamentally based on Grand Theft Auto, but for cops. Truth is, there's a lot to do in The Precinct. This game has a very familiar story, with all the TV and film tropes you can think of. But, they serve as this bread over a slightly more than decent sandwich of a game. It is filled to the brim with activities.
It's also not perfect, I mean, there are issues, technical ones, even at times just making it simply difficult to even land a simple arrest, because weird things keep happening. My car has also ridiculously flipped perpendicular and took a lot of my shift time, a lot of nitpicks too.
- City that doesn't like cops
Welcome to Averno City, a place with so much cultural and historical accuracy to every 80s town with so many cars, people being super aware of cops, because Reagan happened. Also, crimes are almost rife everywhere thanks to gangs like the Crimson Serpents and Jawheads.
The main objective is to take these gang members down, with the assumption that it'll fix all the city's issues, but we all know who the real problems are. The game don't care, it needs everything wrong to be the right setting for its experimentation. Just like GTA, in fact, so many aspects of it are really similar. Except for the visual novel dialogues sequences.
I start my first shift with my partner, a veteran who knew my father, Nick Cordell Sr. Oddly enough, my first job of the day is responding to a bank robbery, and pretty much being involved in a shootout. I'm not sure if that's how you train rookies, but hey, it's the times.
After the initial training, like going on foot and car patrol, I literally got the fastest vocation training. I have various equipment picked, with my standard issue six cylinder pistol, taser, and baton. Now, I can't do everything with these, depending on what the police handbook says. I'll get instructed on what kind of force to exercise, from restrained, non-lethal, to full lethal.
Sadly, I don't think I can shoot a civilian, but accidental hit and runs and collaterals in the line of duty? Well, ah, I guess you can? The objective is to apprehend and restrain the perp by handcuffs, I can grapple, even tackle them during chases. Once that is done, I check their IDs and belongings, that is important, and then play a little game called "guess the crimes". I have to find evidence, and also add the right criminal offense before arresting, and booking them in.
No worries, you can call for an escort to take them if you don't want to. Not every crime is like this, you find some littering, parking violations, and find contrabands, simply give them a ticket. Again, add the offense. This sounds all like fun, until it feels very menial.
I even read their Mirandas, and why is it important to do all this? There's the XP score, where doing my job right means I earn more XP. Similar to what L.A. Noire does. You get to drive behind cars, see their speedometer, and check their plates too. When this kind of stuff, it's like handing you a large responsibility to do your civic duties as an enforcer of the law. And yet there's more.
- Nipping in the buds
Yeah, so picking my shift means I have to do whatever it is in my capacity to book perps, and do them right by the book, honestly, it's all about the know-hows, and the rest gets easy. If the game works, that is, and there's plenty that is wrong.
I can only focus on one particular crime, I tried arresting a guy, but someone else started attacking me, and for some reason I couldn't do anything to him. My other perp ran away with the handcuffs. I even tried chasing a guy down, but both our cars flipped, mine was just standing perpendicular, and I had to orient its position back, wasting my shift time. My partner also gets stuck at times.
A.I. here is all over the place, even my inputs like taking cover, and climbing over them doesn't always work either. Controls are super finicky too. Though, in all honesty, this sort of QC can be sorted out through future updates even. Also, a bit of PSA, regular police work in big cities IRL is hard, involves dealing with so many issues, doesn't mean I condone police brutality.
But if the regular job is too much, you can do other events, like time trials, and if you want, be a Brian O'Conner, get into street racing, and get crazy. Hell, keep farming XP, rank up, and can even fly helicopters to chase after bad guys from the sky. Yes, that is real. If the crime gets too much to handle, like the chases and gunfighting, call for backup.
- Beyond the batch
I guess the only other thing that is missing, are the motorcycles? The UI, and UX could also use some work. But, all in all, I had good fun. Definitely better if you play it with a controller because cars are easier to steer. But the attention to detail, criminals will hide in dumpsters even. I have to look around, doing puzzles to get rare items for museum cases. Skill tree trees where you'll increase health, car damage, ability to run longer, finally unlocking 4th equipment and more.
You can finish the story, by collecting evidence and doing story cases through every shift. The writing and voice acting is top-notch. I love the visual color palette, like so many colorful cars, and even opposites of monochromatic architecture and design of buildings and other structures. I forgot to talk about the guns, there's plenty to unlock. Even a freaking Uzi.
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