This Is the Police

The game is unique and interesting, definitely worth a try, but it has a lot of problems. The Good: - This game put me in the zone of managing a police force. I felt the strain of needing to balance competing interests. I got to know some of my officers and some of the places and people in the city. - This game has interesting small moral choices that go beyond the simple good or evil you see in other games. - I like the art style and sound design and I feel it fits well with the story. The Bad: - This game has a major pacing problem, everything is so slow, from the dialog to the animations to the gameplay. I understand that they are trying to build atmosphere but sitting through the same animations every single day gets very tedious. The pace of the days themselves is also too slow, I felt like I was waiting around a lot. - None of the main narrative decisions actually matter and the game doesn't do a good job of hiding this fact. - The difficulty is a bit too variable. I felt like the game swung between being very easy and being way too punishing for small mistakes or even random events.

At first I was impressed! Such an atmosphere, interesting plot, captivating gameplay. Basically, you play as a chief of the police in a small, but largely corrupt, city. You send your officers and detectives to fight different types of crime, and you deal with more private problems after the shift is over. I really enjoyed that the game doesn't give you straight numbers so that you can simply count your way through. You have to read about every call and assess the danger level of the crime and send your officers accordingly without knowing 100% how it's going to turn out. It gives the game some sense of realism. Spoilers ahead. But why is it almost a gem? Because after the first half the game went downhill, and starts being very rushed. As though the developers ran our of money. At some point, the largest mafia family in the city simply disappears(you can topple that family using your detectives but apart from the money the outcome is the same). Plot-lines with your wife Laura, your public campaign, Lana and her rape tape, your Deputy's disappearance, the aforementioned mafia clan are completely unresolved. For a game that relies on plot, this too big of a mistake. That great feeling you have playing the first half of the game is completely destroyed in the second. And the horrible ending! You are given two very bland, similar, and boring endings(by the way, Eastern European game companies have a thing for anticlimactic endings) that totally destroy the possible glorious aftertaste of this could-be masterpiece. So many missed plot opportunities! Lana's tape gave a possibility of retaliation towards the mayor and another ending for example; PR campaign with the chief's wife could've given yet another ending. There could have been at least 5 or 6 more endings! Which could have made this game so much better! I am just amazed how the developers wasted so much great work! Sorry, I start to ramble too much. Anyway, a good game that could have been great. PS: There are some snaps at lesbians and animal rights activists. But it is understandable - writers are from Eastern Europe and sometimes their values are couple of decades behind.

TITP has blown me away. As someone who is enthusiastic about law enforcement, This is the Police has nicely satisfied my need. You do your best as a soon to be retired police cheif, but quickly learn that its impossible to get your desired half a million without doing some dirty work. You solve cases and you help the mafia, but only if you want to, your employees can die, they can quite, they can become stronger and more professional. Its an honest and brutal simulation but the difficulty doesnt feel overwhelming. Not even close, it can be tense and stressful but also very calming and chill. The soundtrack helps with that. I was skeptical at first but in a mere hour i was blown away. I highly recommend.

Initially I found this game to be really fun but after awhile I grew tired of its uncontrollable game play mechanics. At one point my department's budget was halved due to a decision I made during game play while a serial killer was on the loose. Think about that, what politician could get away with slashing a police budget that drastically while a serial killer is actively killing people? The fact that I couldn't even control which officers were fired made it even more annoying. While the story mode can be enjoyable just remember that you are on rails the entire time. The sandbox mode requires you to beat the story mode to play which is also irritating and similarly you're penalized for things out of your control. For example whenever you hire an officer they're already pissed about being overworked. At one point over half of my shift decided to take the day off. I also find the mini games to be boring, however only one of them is actually broken from a mechanics standpoint. It is impossible to win a shootout with a controller because you are literally not given enough time to fire your handgun. Those portions pretty much require the usage of a mouse. I just couldn't recommend this game at all, honestly if I wasn't away from my computer for a month I would've requested a refund.

The first half of the game is fun, but then the later half of the game is a drag. I just wanted to get it over with. And the ending was terrible. Not really worth it in the end, IMO.