New Sharpwood sheriff Lilly Reed is way out of her depth. She's conscientious and competent, but far too meek to corral the motley crew of misogynistic knuckleheads that make up her police force. Sheriff Reed soon makes the fateful decision to enrol the assistance of one Jack Boyd, the corrupt cop you controlled in the first This Is The Police game. At the outset of This Is The Police 2, Boyd is a deeply compromised, borderline broken character on the run from the Feds. But he's also a brilliant cop who's singularly capable of whipping this snowbound US town into shape.
If you're wondering why we've spent the first two paragraphs discussing the noirish setting of what is essentially a zoomed-out management sim, then we're guessing you have no prior experience with This Is The Police. As much an interactive narrative adventure as a true simulation, the game leans heavily on dialogue and mood to draw you into its gritty world.
If you're not a fan of soaking up interminable tone-setting cutscenes filled with rambling non-sequiturs and a sprinkling of choice language, This Is The Police 2 won't be for you any more than the first game was. Its sparsely-animated comic book story sections are pretty well acted out, but the writing can be too flabby for its own good.
The hub of the game, once you've gotten through the drawn-out opening stretch, presents you with a neat diorama-like map of Sharpwood. The officers you've assigned to that day's shift are listed below in the form of cards. As reported crimes pop up all over the town, you must allocate your limited resources within 30 seconds or so, or else leave the crime unsolved and risk losing precious ring-pull currency at the end of the day.
You'll need that currency to outfit and replenish your depleting workforce. Each of these officers has their own strengths and peccadilloes, as well as an experience level that goes towards helping you access individual callouts. Some officers are better suited to negotiating with perps, while others are a dab hand with the taser or truncheon you equipped them with. It's also necessary to take each officer's energy level into consideration. If they're too tired, they might make a fatal mistake. Building loyalty is essential, too, so granting their tiresome requests can pay off in the long run.
Balancing the needs of Sharpwood's citizens with those of your own idiosyncratic workforce is a perpetual balancing act - and it's one that you seem to get wrong an awful lot of the time. Or at least, we did. Weappy Studio seems to have deliberately made a game where you're constantly on the back foot, under-resourced and letting crimes slip through your fingers like sand. That would be fair enough as some kind of statement on modern law enforcement. This Is The Police 2 certainly makes great play of its hard-boiled credentials, and it doesn't pull its punches with the less savoury side of crime prevention. But it doesn't always make for a massively fun game.
When you only have three active officers because a chunk of your force couldn't work through exhaustion, several others called in sick (alcoholism is a persistent problem among Sharpwood's bobbies), and then one of your best cops refuses to work with another because they're a woman, it's a little irritating. When you literally don't have sufficient experience points to attend a callout (despite having several officers available), it's flat-out exasperating.
On the occasions where things are ticking along well, though, This Is The Police 2 can be a varied and fulfilling experience. You can assign detectives to work certain cases, and then spend your evenings putting together the pieces of the puzzle (quite literally) that they've assembled for you in order to push through a prosecution. Attending standard crimes, meanwhile, gives you a range of simple multiple-choice scenarios where each officer's unique skills influence the types of response and their chance of success. There's a whole series of missions dedicated to snagging you bonus funds and contraband that you can trade for information, too.
This is already a very full game, but the big new addition to This Is The Police 2 is its tactical operations. These turn-based strategy sections play out a little like Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, as you inch your ragged team towards an ominously derelict house or hostage situation. These missions are very tense and atmospheric, and the game's hyper-stylised comic book graphics really set the scene. But they're also pretty punishing. If you don't enter these tactical sections with the right kind of fully kitted-out squad and make precisely the right kind of play, you'll face multiple costly officer deaths. You can at least wait until all of your officers are available to you before embarking, but we never felt like we had quite enough information to make effective decisions on the ground. Those who are fully educated in the ways of XCOM may beg to differ, of course.
Conclusion
This Is The Police 2 is a distinctive and multi-faceted management sim with a fresh tactical edge. However, its list of punishing demands, perpetually scarce resources, and sluggish storytelling can sap the game of joy and momentum. There's a lot to do, and a fair amount of that is fun, but it feels like the game's many systems and demands are competing both for scarce virtual resources and your strained attention. In that sense, you'll come to relate to Sharpwood's put-upon new Sheriff all too well.
Comments 37
What is the benefit of having these ridiculously long review titles? It’s confusing when browsing. Is this an SEO thing?
@justin233 It's to engage the reader a little more so they might actually click the review. We've noticed that review traffic has risen since we started using this new system, so it appears to be working.
Oh, and it still says 'REVIEW' at the start of the text, just to be safe
@justin233 Seems so - but i love it
@justin233 how exactly is his reply condescending in any way? You don't like it. Great. It's not all about you.
@justin233 Seems so - but i love it
@Damo I like it!
@Damo Have you considered taking some time and analyzing the performance of the games you review and putting it into the reviews?
@Damo definitely an improvement on "blah blah!"
Not bad? Too bad. I was hoping this series would only get better.
I like the story of the first game and will likely like the second, but the gameplay is too involved to keep me interested til the credits roll, so it looks like I'll be passing on this series.
@Zuljaras Nah, it looks "Nintendo". Gameplay first, everything else second. But it'd be nice to have the reviewer make at least a quick note on performance.
@Zuljaras So, if they don't mention that particular bit of information that you require in these reviews that you're getting for free, they're "just unproffesional and lazy"? That's funny, because your complaint, on the other hand, sounds just smug and petty to me.
"Weappy Studio seems to have deliberately made a game where you're constantly on the back foot, under-resourced and letting crimes slip through your fingers like sand."
So they probably consulted a police captain about the game?
@Kochambra So? I want that because it is important. Writing reviews with bloated sentences about the gameplay is making it like I read some lazy reporter drama article.
Btw you seem so offended like YOU wrote it Well we are 2018 after all, everyone is offended by anything.
@Zuljaras You want that because you THINK that it's important. That doesn't make it important to every other visitor of this site. Why should they change their review format just to cater your specific needs, specially when you don't pay a single cent for their work and when you insist in calling them "lazy"? If you don't like the reviews here, why don't you just take your smugness somewhere else, instead of insulting people who are doing work that you get for free?
@Kochambra Oh sorry mister white knight.
I ask for improvement in my point of view. So if you do not like it you can go and read some other posts.
Pathetic...
@Zuljaras
Honestly: I don't think performance matters at all with this game and that is the reason they didn't put it in. It is a graphic novel/police sim. It's all rather static and the design is minimalist, so neither framerate nor resolution are important.
They put it in the reviews when it is an important part of the game.
@Zuljaras You'll find that asking for improvement from one's point of view generally gets better results when there are no accusations of "laziness" or "unprofessionalism" involved.
@Kochambra You are right. But still a review should cover some basic points. Again this is all my opinion.
Edit: You know what? You are correct about me being mean with laziness and the other stuff. I will correct my post but the way you went was not nice either and it was too persobal for me.
Either way. I will remove the insulting parts.
Just like many other indies, a total waste of resources.
This sounds like interesting social commentary. I’ll pick this up later.
Idk.
ACG loved the first one. I trust his opinion more than anyone else's
@Damo I kinda find these new, lengthier review taglines sometimes deter me from reading the article/clicking the link, just saying.
That said, on the other hand sometimes they lead me to click on ones I might have elected to skip...
Captain's log: today the murderer got away again because we deployed the whole force to find the guy who stole the Gameboy DS from a claw machine...
@Zuljaras "the way you went was not nice either and it was too personal for me"
I totally agree with you on that point. The way you worded you first post really rubbed me the wrong way, but I shouldn't have been so aggressive in my reply. I apologize and if you think I should edit or delete that post, I'll do it gladly.
@Kochambra No need to delete anything. It is all good.
Whilst people are talking about the titles...
I wished NL would either use a different colour for the game title, quote marks, or title-case for the title and sentence-case for the rest of the sentence.
Otherwise it takes me extra seconds to parse what’s what. I thought the game title initially was “This Is The Police 2 - An Uncompromising Look At Law Enforcement”, and that the rest of the sentence was poorly worded.
@Bondi_Surfer I agree - it’s difficult to read!
I think it's hilarious how people whine about reviews now. If you don't like it, go find somewhere to host your own. This isn't like making a game, you all can obviously write so why not show some gumption and show everyone how popular the changes you want will be?
Oh because it's too much work? Figures...
This looks even more difficult and RNG heavy than the last game, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I had employed the use of walkthroughs and YouTube guides so that I wouldn't have to keep replaying the same days over and over due to excessive casualties.
I also showed no mercy to lowly drunkards who came to work. Any drunks were forced to work and I would generally send them first to their deaths (assuming that they don't survive). However, if an otherwise reliable and diligent employee comes to work drunk, then I would reload until they were sober.
Having to constantly rely (or work around) RNG was one of the worst things about the first game. I'm sure I'll enjoy the sequel as well, but I suspect that I will not find it as enjoyable.
There will be no physical version of this in Australia on any platform, unfortunately (at least that I know of), so I'll import via Play-Asia once there are enough titles to justify the AU$50 or so in shipping costs.
'This Is The Police 2 - An Uncompromising Look At Law Enforcement That Often Misses The Mark'
Would have been a refreshingly honest game title.
This sounds like it desperately needs an easy mode! It does look right up my alley, but I am turned off by the 'constantly on the back foot' side of things. I would 100% find it too stressful.
This sounds like it desperately needs an easy mode! It does look right up my alley, but I am turned off by the 'constantly on the back foot' side of things. I would 100% find it too stressful.
This sounds like it desperately needs an easy mode! It does look right up my alley, but I am turned off by the 'constantly on the back foot' side of things. I would 100% find it too stressful.
I loved the style and storytelling of the first game. The gameplay was fun aswell if you are into Sims.
I tried maybe three times choosing the right things to avoid being shot by one of the two mafia gangs, but failed.
I even restarted the whole game because I was unsure if I messed up before the gang war even started.
This was the point I just stopped playing. Maybe I should consider a walkthrough aswell. The game had a great concept and atmosphere.
I have the first one and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Judging from the screenshots and rest of the review it looks like they just expanded on the whole thing and addressed the repetitiveness of the previous one. I thought this might just be the same thing all over again but it actually looks like it has enough new features to warrant a purchase.
Removed - inappropriate; user is banned
Tap here to load 37 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...