This is a game labeled as a crooked cop simulator. The overall idea and style of the game is very similar to Papers, Please only it plays in a more engaging way. The core of the gameplay has you acting as a dispatcher for the police force. You only have so many cops so you have to decide which cops, of varying skill, to send to what emergency. This part of the game also has you managing energy levels and increasing their professionalism/skill level. Some calls require you to advise the cops on how to handle each situation, requiring a certain amount of finesse. There are tons of jokey situations (like a junky sees you and runs away on his hands and knees.. and you can give chase on your hands on knees just to make it fair), but actually choosing the joke responses seems to always get someone killed. Still, the game has a certain amount of tongue and cheek to it - the main character is voiced by the actor who does Duke Nukem and he does a great a job of it.
There's a story accompaniment that amounts to 1-3 minute narrated comic panels between some days. You get to make choices like if you want to help the mafia or not while possibly working to bring them down. The most interesting part of the game is definitely investigating and taking down gangs. This is done with detectives who investigate bigger crimes over several days. The detectives take witness statements and provide Polaroids that you have to place in the correct order for an arrest to take place. You sometimes interrogate these suspects which is fun and underused in the game. Interrogations have you reading profiles on the criminal and then lying to them based on the profile in order to get them to turn/say something in anger.
The goal of the game is to have $500,000 at the end of 180 days but you mostly just find yourself scrambling to meet small objectives along the way that will get you fired/killed if you don't meet them.
All in all one of the more fun games I've played lately. And I don't compare it to Papers, Please lightly.
Edit: I beat it just now and looked some stuff up. It doesn't end as well as Papers, Please and doesn't lean on multiple and varied endings like it - but I still think it's a worthwhile game.
There's a story accompaniment that amounts to 1-3 minute narrated comic panels between some days. You get to make choices like if you want to help the mafia or not while possibly working to bring them down. The most interesting part of the game is definitely investigating and taking down gangs. This is done with detectives who investigate bigger crimes over several days. The detectives take witness statements and provide Polaroids that you have to place in the correct order for an arrest to take place. You sometimes interrogate these suspects which is fun and underused in the game. Interrogations have you reading profiles on the criminal and then lying to them based on the profile in order to get them to turn/say something in anger.
The goal of the game is to have $500,000 at the end of 180 days but you mostly just find yourself scrambling to meet small objectives along the way that will get you fired/killed if you don't meet them.
All in all one of the more fun games I've played lately. And I don't compare it to Papers, Please lightly.
Edit: I beat it just now and looked some stuff up. It doesn't end as well as Papers, Please and doesn't lean on multiple and varied endings like it - but I still think it's a worthwhile game.
