You control police chief Jack Boyd, voiced by Duke Nukem voice-actor Jon St. John, in his last 180 days in charge. During this stint you’ll meet a selection of interesting characters that will try to get your help, ranging from gang leaders to mayors. At times they will help you out, but often they will ask you to do things that are, to put it lightly, morally dubious. Whether it’s turning a blind eye to a crime happening on your watch or doing a favour that isn’t quite legal for a city official, these things are normally always tainted with something that will make it harder for you to do something else.
It’s a game that doesn’t shy away from politics and as you play through the game you’ll butt heads with a lot of people as you try to keep your job, your life, your money and your own morals. Jack has set himself the goal of obtaining $500,000 before retirement and if you want to stand a chance to reach that goal you’ll definitely have to do some shadier things on occasion. It’s not just turning a blind eye to crime though. Situations will occur such as having to make the choice as to whether you suppress a peaceful protest, which you’ll be warned, is often perfectly legal. If you choose to suppress it you’re given an option to make the impending backlash land less on your lap, but this comes at a cost, as do most things that aid you in the game.
If you’ve ever been annoyed at the police for bowing to the beck and whim of politicians then This is the Police is the game that can help you finally try and put an end to that. At the same time if you’ve ever wanted to be a police chief so corrupt that you sell all evidence and kill all that oppose you then you can do that too. There’s 180 days so you can experiment with various styles or you can role-play as one particular style. There are plenty of cut-scenes to pad out your character as well.
The story focuses a lot on Jack and his battle with his impending retirement and brings up a lot of interesting questions. You’ll start the game on the straight and narrow, but your introduction to shadier characters will make the progression of Jack, for the most part, feel reasonably natural. At times the script fights against itself, and it is fairly ham-fisted with the way it deals with some of the more serious issues, but it goes to some interesting places and allows the player the freedom to solve the problems in various ways.
Dealing with crime is fun at first, but as the game progresses its core mechanics that start to push against you in a way that starts to ruin the enjoyment levels of the game. They try and justify the restrictions via the story, but all it does is highlight how frustrating the game can be in providing you with enough personnel to do your job. The problem is shined on the most when you have to fire a detective, or if you lose one whilst they’re the only detective on a case. It means the case just closes, regardless of how much progression you’ve made on it, with no way to reopen it. Considering you can archive other cases to change focus if you want, it’s an odd move that can mean you’ll miss out on a few cases along the way.
The detective work is quite entertaining. You have to read peoples testimonies and then piece together pictures to create a chain of events. At times though you’ll find yourself just waiting for a detective to find a new piece in the chain that you can figure out instantly from reading the testimonies, which is an odd way to do things. The graphics can also make it slightly difficult to figure out what should be where in a chain of events due to its minimal art-style.
Unfortunately the repetition of the game, combined with the restrictions as you get to the later parts of it, can start to limit the enjoyment you’ll get from This is the Police. There’s a few technical niggles on console, like loading times as the map loads in for the day, and there does feel like a bit too much padding at times. It’s rare to hear a complaint of a game being “it’s too long” but at times it feels like that’s the problem with This is the Police, especially with the later game restrictions. The game at least offers you the chance to go back week by week to try different routes in the earlier game if you grow frustrated with the late game.
If you’re a fan of strategy and management games then, at its core, This is the Police delivers an experience that should satisfy you. The story is dark and broody with some nice voice-acting moments in parts and some great beats, even if they are cliché. The way it deals with serious political issues in its late 1980’s fake American setting is often a little too on the nose, but it gives the player the freedom to tackle the issue as they see fit. It has a unique art-style that helps it stand out and, even if you don’t stick around until the very end, there are still hours of entertainment to be had.
You can watch me play some of the earlier part of the game below. Warning, there are story spoilers.