Come out with your hands up! I'm kidding, of course. I'm no stranger to games where you play as characters on either side of the law. Perhaps the most well known and beloved of these games is
L.A. Noire which has you play as a police investigator and goes through all that stuff they do with a Hollywood feel to it. Then there is the Grand Theft Auto games where you play as a criminal and do various things to help you get by, often leading to plotting revenge on your enemies and other things too. This time, we're looking at two games that are not really open world games like those too. Instead, it takes on a more strategy kind of gameplay, which should be interesting and hopefully original. Let's take a look:
This is the Police
Jack Boyd (voiced by Jon St. John) is a 60-year-old police officer who is being forced into retirement by a corrupt mayor due to his partner being accused of corruption charges despite those being dropped, but nevertheless have damaged their reputation. Boyd only has 180 days to sort out a retirement fund, but suspects he can't do that legitimately. Gamers are given a map with text and imagery. With this, you can find ways to make money, which can lead into doing stuff for the local mafia or whatever the police themselves are doing. Strategy falls into place when crimes are being committed, where you just need to figure out how many officers to send and whether the SWAT team is needed at all. As time goes on, officers will begin to take sides which may cause an impact on various crimes that are reported. And based on where you side, you get one of two endings. Despite a predictable plot (as this kind of plot is one I've seen before), the design looks fantastic and sounds great too. Gameplay can be quite repetitive after a while though. Something else that is of note is that the release of this game came at a time when various controversies were surrounding the US police force, so I guess this game no matter its intention, was always going to face criticism in light of that. Still though, it's alright despite the repetition. 7/10
II
Lilly Reed (voiced by Sarah Hamilton) is the new sheriff of a town called Sharpwood. A town full of violence and people that don't know what innocent means. To maintain the peace, she is forced to team up with Boyd who has since become a fugitive criminal and hope her plan doesn't go AWOL. As the sheriff, you need to manage your people and show a sense of discipline to those who are just terrible at their job. This game has turn based combat in which you use your cops (dirty, undisciplined or otherwise) and figure out a plan to take down criminals to get what you want. Use interrogation, find evidence and study case materials to get the job down and free Sharpwood of any kind of criminal activity. Honestly, after a pretty decent first game, this one takes the cake as being the better of the two. It's well-made, makes you feel like a true sheriff if anything, and it's well-designed. Well-thought-out too. 9/10
Overall, two alright games with one obviously being better than the other. But they are fine and worth your time if you happen to have Steam or a current gen console. 8/10
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