This Is the Police

There's enough content here for maybe a 6 hour game. I've been playing for twice that, and as far as I can tell, I'm only half way through. Bought on sale for $7.50.

Ahoy! Spoilers ahead! The game is not political, it is human. It is, although, about human in the world of politicians. The dissapointment of player is empathy - it is pain of losing moral focus, pain of betraying himself and everything he believed in; and player feeling f&%ked over and left out is the sign that game, as a vehicle, succeded. Yes, the system is rigged. And the game that is very honest in it’s depiction. It is nor mayor, nor serial killer, nor gang leader that Boyd is opposing - it is the system. That is why the final scene is at the club. The system won, it chewed and spat Jack out. “This is the police” isn’t about the system though. And the player is playing not against the system - one plays against the narrative. The game made me recall some situations I had to deal with as a manager, some situations with “forces to be” and some situations with close ones - and they never have been totally explicit. Just as they are in game. And really, one never knows everything about the choices he makes, in the moment, or even years after. “You know, s&*t happens. Deal with it.” It’s a tough lesson and games usually avoid it. Games are made to make profits, to make big profits. And for that they do everything, they stroke all our sensitive spots, they say what we want to hear and avoid being sincere. They tell us “good always wins”, and “racism is bad” (with consequent “if rasict, than [is part of] forces of evil!”), and “good gys are feminist”, and “trust your police - they’re good guys!”, and, always “you are exceptional”. Games became disney’s domain - bland, ever praising “press X to win”. Games are the last generation of storytelling medium, more contemporary than movies or books. This game is very strong in delivering it’s message to anyone capable of being open and honest while playing. And the message is very intimate - in fact, it is between Boyd and player, not pre-recorded by game creators. It's what Jack will do when he stops counting.

The gameplay is too easy and VERY slow, i found myself instinctively looking for the speed up button because i had to wait minutes for anything to happen, terrible experience.

It's almost a very good game. It's a fantastic police simulation game, running the callouts, managing staff, it all plays and feels great but, it's trapped in the most awful, immature and just intolerable visual novel imaginable. It's so hard on dark and edgy™ and taking mature to mean r18 or got 12 year old boys with no female friends to write it. It could be brilliant, apparently there is a version of it which is good, just the simulation and police game without the story, other people have mentioned it, but because you'd have to get through the story to unlock it no way would that be worth it.

This game will make you understand the reasons of why things happen the way they do. It changed my perspective on how the police works. Give it a try. You would spend $30 in some bar, one night, easy.