Developed by Aesir Interactive and published by simulation experts astragon Entertainment, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is a police simulator that we always wanted to have. After spending a decent amount of time in early access on Steam, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is now finally here in its 1.0 release alongside its console release as well. While we have seen many police simulators in the past, most of which only focused on you catching bad guys in vehicles and nothing else, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers brings everything that an actual police officer does in his routine job. If you always wanted a proper police simulator, today I am happy to say that you finally have it. This is our review of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers in which we roam Brighton city with flashing lights and catch some bad guys parking illegally on the curbs.
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is set in a fictional US city called Brighton and it comes with three unique districts. Each of these districts has further areas which are unlocked with steady progress in your career. You start from your very first area as you are a fresh police officer and as you prove your mettle, the police department will not only grant you access to more areas and then eventually, more districts but you will also unlock new case scenarios called callsigns in the game. You also unlock new tools and gear for use in these scenarios, for example, if you want to catch some speeding vehicles, you will first need to unlock the radar gun. Once you acquire it, you can spend your entire shifts catching people speeding all around the area. Similarly, if you prefer roaming around in your police cruiser, you will need to work for it. You start off small fining parked cars and checking cars for overspeeding while on foot but with progression, you get all of the good gear and tools including police cruisers and SUVs.
To keep everything in check, the game comes with a Conduct Points system which is a strict protocol system that reduces your points if you perform illegal actions such as detaining people without a proper cause or shooting stun guns without any proper reasons. At the start of your shift, there are always 100 but when you start doing unlawful activities, it will start decreasing and if these points become zero, you will be fired from your job and you will need to restart your shift for that day. In contrast to this, if you perform lawful activities, perform all of the tasks in an orderly manner and make lawful arrests, you will earn Shift Points which equates to the District XP. The more Shift Points you earn, the more District XP you earn, and as you level up, you will earn Stars which unlock new areas, new tools, and new vehicles for you to use in that particular district.
After you unlock various precincts and progress in the game, you will be given the option of selecting your shift conditions. Apart from day shifts, you will also get night shifts and sometimes evening shifts as well. You can choose between a car and on-foot patrol as well depending on how you want to play. Finally, the game also gives you the option of choosing your own time for your shift. For example, if you want to have a quick shift, you can go for a 15-minute shift or if you want to spend some hours on a single shift, you can extend it to 90 minutes as well. At the end of each shift, you will be presented with a report of your shift which will show all of your interactions with civilians during that particular shift which you can view to see how you can improve yourself for your next shift.
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers come with a built-in intuition system that allows you to analyze and make certain assumptions about potential bad guys. For example, if you stop someone jaywalking and you start questioning them, you will notice that they are sweating or anxious about something. This gives you a hint that they might be hiding something from you and then you can further expand your questioning and even frisk and search them if you deem fit. The main point in Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is that if you have a valid reason and can back up your actions, you can go for it, even if you need to tase someone. You will not lose your CP if you perform legal actions against the civilians of Brighton. The intuition system kicks in automatically in the casual mode of the game and it really helps you in terms of solving various scenarios. For example, you might notice someone running a red light and the system might pick up that their eyes are diluted which results in a DUI arrest and a car being towed. Most of your investigations will include basic steps such as asking for an ID and insurance in case them being inside a vehicle. From there, it is up to you and your intuition how to progress in the case. Your Police Computer will help you in various ways such as background checking and any sort of other discrepancies in documents.
Patrolling in a police vehicle is a completely different experience in the game because apart from looking for others to follow rules and regulations, you must also follow all of them as well. While driving a police vehicle, you can check other vehicles for overspeeding by pacing up to them and making stops for other factors such as driving with broken windscreens or lights and even if the vehicle is producing too much smoke from their exhaust pipes or noise from their engines. The vehicle controls are pretty decent, and you even have cruise control for maintaining speeds. Since you need to follow speed limits, this is particularly useful for driving around Brighton. Your police vehicle has a trunk as well which has all of your tools. However, if you want to make an arrest, you will always need to call in another squad unit or a tow truck separately if you want to have a vehicle towed.
The world of Brighton feels like an actual city and the NPCs behave just like they do in real life. Sometimes you are heading somewhere and are waiting at a red light, and you will hear a loud bang only to see someone has rear-ended the car next to you, and sometimes there will be injured people as well. In such situations, you will inspect both vehicles, take pictures, call an ambulance, call the tow truck if a car is unable to move and then interview everyone involved in the accident. Once your report is complete, you can give it to both parties and have them go their own ways. Random events like this completely change your approach to playing the game as it shows that anything can happen in the game, and you have to be ready to tackle any sort of scenario that might arise out of nowhere. People in Brighton City break rules and they break them a lot. You will find plenty of people jaywalking, running red lights, running cars with broken headlights, windshields, smoking exhaust, and whatnot. There is no penalty and there are no specific tasks for you to handle in a sequence. The game gives you the freedom to do whatever you want to do in the game.
You can go from catching speeders to busting drug deals to solving accidents and even fining badly parked cars. Everything is open to you on the same day, and you can go about solving whatever comes your way. While the game gives you a definite task and if you complete that, you will earn bonus points for that day, it does not mean that your task is just limited to just one offense. You can do everything and if you want some bonus points, focus on what the precinct is expecting you to do on that particular shift. Certain things remain the same throughout the shift such as the time of day and weather as well as if you selected a foot patrol or a vehicle patrol. These changes can be made at the start of your next shift. This is perhaps to deliver a more consistent experience across the table. However, if Aesir decides to make another title in this franchise, I would love to see dynamic weather cycles as that would be just epic in this game.
Brighton is beautifully designed and exploring around on foot gives you the opportunity to really see various spots and important locations in each district. While they are not that obvious while you are roaming around in a police vehicle, while you are on foot, you will notice that each district in the city has its own vibe and each sub-region represents a unique visual theme as well. While the civilians may face similar attributes, the city itself is designed in a very presentable fashion. There are monuments, busy streets, main highways, industrial zones, residential areas, and a lot of diversity to see here and there. If you spend enough time in the game, you can start to learn about different landmarks as well. Overall, the visuals of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers are pretty decent as well, but they are not too demanding when it comes to hardware if you compare it with other titles. They look pretty but still, you will notice certain things here and there which could have been better.
Coming to the technical aspects of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers, the game runs brilliantly on both PC and Xbox Series X with absolutely no visual or technical glitches apart from a few hiccups. While the PC version ran flawlessly, my game crashed two times on the Xbox Series X, and once it froze. However, it started working after a few times. I do not remember if the game crashed while performing the same task, but those two times were the only ones when the game crashed for me on the console. Apart from that, there are slight visual hiccups when AI cars run into you, and you will simply go inside the car and the car will pass right through you. This is most common when you are crossing the road and a car appears right next to you but if the car has enough space in front of it, it will stop before it hits you. It is not something that would seriously break the game, but the developers certainly did not want to include cars hitting people and the car-avoiding collisions do not kick in if you run into a car suddenly.
We have seen plenty of police simulators in the past however none of them have covered the entirety of police operations so effectively in one game. In Police Simulator: Patrol Officers, you have nearly all of the tools that a police officer has including cool-looking police cruisers and SUVs, and the number of offenses that you can control is exceptional as well. There is something for everyone in this simulator and it executes everything in an exceptional way as well. Brighton is a lively city and Aesir Interactive has done an amazing job of making the title as authentic and friendly as possible. With tons of on-foot and in-car scenarios, you can live your dream of becoming a virtual police officer in Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and even have some fun in the game since the game allows it all.
Final Verdict:
Developing a police game is not an easy task these days because of how sensitive this topic has become and especially when you are going for an open-world title. I am really happy to see the final release of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and how better it is when it comes to handling this sensitive topic. It is really one of the best police simulators that any developer has ever created with realistic scenarios, a lively city with plenty to explore, and brilliant gameplay mechanics. You actually feel like a police officer in Police Simulator: Patrol Officers with a detailed kit and plenty of police tools at your disposal. The overall atmosphere of the game is extremely positive, and it keeps you glued to the screen as you complete shift after shift. If you have been looking forward to playing a proper, authentic police simulator, I will highly recommend that you jump into Police Simulator: Patrol Officers because it does not get any better than this.
Final Score: 9.0/10
