This Is the Police Reviews
A dangerous topic, handled poorly and resulting in a truly awful game. The gameplay has nothing to do with the story, but worse the gameplay doesn’t care if you play it. Just wait out a timer.
This is the Police is a dark gritty cop noire game, with real-world moral choices. By having this game on the Nintendo Switch makes it an ideal game to grab and lose some hours into it away from a TV screen. Highly recommend it!
This is the Police is basically a visual novel disguised as a strategy videogame. Apart from a lack of any depth in its mechanics, choices don't really matter, as almost everything happens no matter what you do. The story section is a lot better, and the audio-visuals even more so, but these won't be enough to satisfy strategy enthusiasts.
This Is The Police is undeniably compelling, the player charged with watching over a city that is already spiralling the drain. As with how your police force is broken down, it is best experienced in shifts – otherwise risking the experience descending into monotony, which, we can all admit, is something that we already suffer enough of in our jobs out in the real world.
This Is the Police is one of the best simulators I have played this year: it's engaging, fun, and it never gets boring. It's the perfect game to play in handheld mode since it's a release you will want to play at all times. Download the game today!
This Is The Police takes the running of a police force and turns it into a strategic, management game with light RPG elements. You won't see any action here and the unreasonable, random demands made can be frustrating. However, throughout all of this, there is a narrative and a goal that can keep you engaged and entertained for many hours.
While every moral conundrum gave me real pause to think, too often I thought my emotions were being exploited and toyed with by a game that was going to play out the same way regardless.
The controversial content (racism, sexism etc.) may be a bit hard to swallow but it certainly adds to the story of police corruption and gives the game a different edge. I would say it is good value for money for the crime buffs among us, but not a must play title. [OpenCritic note: Lyla Saudi reviewed both the PC (3.9) and Switch (4) versions. Their scores have been averaged.]
This Is the Police is a fun game on Nintendo Switch with a minimalist look, an interesting story, and entertaining gameplay mechanics. The price might at first seem high, but rest assured that this one has more than enough content to justify its asking price. If you're more into purchasing physical copies of Nintendo Switch games, you can do that when This Is the Police releases at retail on December 5.
Form-factor Nintendo Switch, This is the Police revealed the full extent of the operation is optimized for games with joycon and games on the touch screen, a sort of slowness pales against the portability of the device, and tasks that the developers have come up with humor that will make smile even the most repulsed of the melancholic, all of the above says only one thing, control of the police station interesting, and the plot tries to keep you in suspense, the only question remaining is who in the childhood did not dream to become a police officer?
Review in Russian | Read full review
For the first title of this young Belarus studio, WeAppy's This is the Police managed a feat by combining narration and sim-management and is a must for fans of both genre.
This Is the Police is a pretty interesting management simulator with an engaging plot and tackles issues that feel all too relevant in today's society, despite it taking place thirty years ago. It gets kind of repetitive at times and the issues brought up don't go that deep, but I still found it to be a competent management simulator with a unique aesthetic and gripping plot.
This is the Police isn't a bad game, but it feels like the game could have been much more interesting with a little more variety in the actual gameplay. Managing your cops can be fun, and some interesting things happen throughout the course of the game, but a little more variety to keep things fresh throughout would have went a long way with the game. As it stands This is the Police is a decent game that, for many, will overstay its welcome.
There's still a lot to admire here, especially the attention to sound design – from the satisfying clink of the cuffs every time you apprehend an offender, the patter of rain on windows and the windows themselves being drawn, and the jazz offering that accompanies and soothes you as you try to put an end to gruesome happenings. Unfortunately, once those turn into background wallpaper, the omissions only hurt more.
This Is the Police ends up being a pretty fascinating character study of a man with good intentions who’ll need to make a lot of bad decisions. You can try to maintain your integrity but the game seems to be written in the direction of not letting you do so for long, or at least not without paying such a steep price that you see the wisdom in picking and choosing when you’ll need to go dirty with good intentions… or at least you’ll tell yourself that. Games like these ask you to put yourself in a different position and then force you to play out events in a world where the deck is stacked against you and you don’t have the luxury of surviving without doing some unsavory things and pairing with terrible people. While it isn’t a perfect game in execution and it can be frustrating, often on purpose, it does make for a fascinating ride.
This Is The Police asks players to step into a career that's already on the rocks, in a city beyond saving, and then demands that you try and make things right regardless. It's a mature, compelling experience that combines elements of strategy, resource management and text adventure games, while telling a gripping story of corruption and withered hope - albeit with some muddled attempts to deal with real world issues. The meat of the game is solid, if extremely repetitious after some hours, so we can't help but feel if it was a shorter, more tightly focused game with a bit more variety, it would have felt more satisfying overall. As it stands there's hours of gameplay here for any budding cop, it just outstays its welcome a little.
This Is the Police should be applauded for taking a concept such as police work and making it into a unique, yet somewhat flawed experience. The tale of Jack Boyd and his struggles to escape the trappings of his troublesome life make for an interesting story, but like his state of mind, the constant back-and-forth between work and contending with ambiguous morality choices through each passing day makes it seem like a never-ending cycle of success and failure.
Gamers who have a genuine interest in police shows, movies and/or books will find a lot to love about this simulator. Those looking for more of a quick fix thriller might want to keep investigating.
This is the Police is simple but highly addictive if you have the time to dedicate becoming more invested in Jack Boyd and his personal chaotic life.
I’ve really enjoyed my time with this very unique game. Yes there are pacing issues and it does outlive its welcome once we get about two thirds in, but for the price, there is a lot of game on display here.