Police Simulator: Patrol Officers brings you into the role of an active duty cop, backing it up with some excellent visuals and immersive gameplay.
Rules exist to uphold peace. Law and order isn’t a task to be taken lightly, and only those with a strong moral compass and sense of duty might consider answering the call of justice. It takes a sound body, keen intellect, and skillful observation to uphold the rule of law without acting above it. It’s up to the officers on patrol each day to keep the peace in public and enforce the laws that are the pillars of a civilized society.
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers by Aesir Entertainment is a game released into early access that places you in the shoes of a law enforcement officer patrolling the city streets. Your job is to take shifts in various parts of the city patrolling on foot or in a vehicle, issuing violations and arrests as the law requires. Shift points are earned by performing acts in accordance with the law, while conduct points are removed from the score during each shift for acts that don’t align with proper law enforcement.
This simulation gradually introduces new tasks during your shifts. You are introduced to the city of Brighton by issuing parking violations in the busy area known as the melting pot. With progress, a variety of other Police calls and law enforcement tasks are introduced like reporting accidents, towing cars, and apprehending suspects with warrants. New tools, night shifts and even a patrol car are unlocked as you familiarize yourself with the city and settle into your new job.
There are a variety of tools at an officers’ disposal for dealing with traffic laws and pedestrian encounters. What’s more important however, is knowing when it is lawful to use them. Parking violations rely on carefully observing things like signs, license plates, parking direction and placement before issuing tickets correctly. There’s also a radar gun to issue speeding tickets, along with using hand signs to pull over vehicles while on foot.
Patrol officers will need to rely on their handbook to understand how to interact on the job. Careful steps must be taken in order to resolve situations without issue. When called to file a report for an auto accident for example, an officer must call an ambulance for any injuries first, then interview and identify any involved parties while making arrests and citations as needed. The law allows for you to administer sobriety tests, but you’ll lose conduct points for searching a vehicle without good enough reason. Each interaction has a process that includes useful hints and observations presented as your police intuition.
While patrolling the city of Brighton, the exceptionally clean visuals are colorful and immersive, with visual effects that add depth and life to the city and its inhabitants. There are many lighting effects and character details that enhance the experience of the game. While there is a lot to enjoy despite the game being a job simulator of a particularly rough profession, it isn’t without its early access hiccups. Featured tools like the flashlight and background checks are not available yet so their role in the game is still to be determined.
A career in law enforcement definitely requires some education and Police Simulator: Patrol Officers does a good job of showing it. The tutorial is closer to learning on the job and performing well can rely on referring to the wordy handbook often to answer your questions. Even after checking what is procedure in the officer’s handbook, the verbiage can make it difficult to feel confident that you’re making lawful decisions with the information that you have available. The learning curve feels more rooted in trial and error gameplay as you note which conditions will cause you to lose conduct points. As an example, jaywalking will reduce conduct points if a stop light is ignored. You also may not know how to respond appropriately when your suspect attempts to flee from you for the first time. Any outside knowledge of the law may even prove helpful for when information in the game is too vague.
While Interacting with the well designed level design and characters offers a lot of appeal, the environment may sometimes fail to follow its own rules. There may still be instances when the game fails to respond properly and can crash during a work shift. The various flows of traffic and pedestrians bring the city to life but there’s still room to fine tune how some objects collide and the rate of certain crimes occurring, like seeing the same broken windshield or car parked the wrong way on the same block. Controls could be better optimized if you could move and select tools at the same time. You may also struggle to meet the running speed of your suspects or find the appropriate interaction in the wheel menu, but the button to add or remove your police cap is certainly amusing.
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers stands out as a simulation that offers a unique perspective and makes enforcing the rules a lot more fun than it ought to be. The diner dash sensation of managing a work shift is made immersive by the beautiful character models, traffic flow and environment. While there are still some loose screws to tighten, the gameplay is deep and offers players a rewarding experience in service of the law.
