If you’re looking for a different experience in a simulation, then you could worse than take a quick peek at the Police Force simulator from Excalibur publishing.

You take control of the game as a policeman working in a large metropolitan city, so time to get your cuffs on and move out to catch criminals and uphold the rule of law. Given that the previous games in the series all followed the same game mechanics, leaving each game filling a niche, but never having the chance to provide a ‘break out’ title, its unsurprising that the game does not feel as polished as it could be.

Graphically, the game resembles many of their other title with some elements well detailed, whereas others seem pretty basic. It’s an odd combination which brings the overall look of the game down a little. However, I would imagine that this is partially to do with economics, the titles sell well, but not in the number as, say, Uncharted, but then the cost of buying the games a lot less. In the end it is game play which counts.

So, it’s a balancing act between spending too much on the look of the game and never recovering your money or lowering the expectations of the graphic in the hope that the trade-off will still ship in the number which will make a profit.

The game starts you off with both a male and female officer, each as their respective roles, which come into play. You are initially plunged into a tutorial, which gets you used to the controls, here you either will discover that you’re happy to use the keyboard; personally I find this approach clunky and less sensitive that using a gamepad.

The game simulated day and night, which changes the types of crimes which you’re presented with. Each shift starts with an objective; many of these are routine police work. Whereas, the previous Sims had a large economic element this has been transformed into a career mode, where you get commendations and promotions, which in turn allows you to take on more interesting cases.

The game play area is huge. Although you start in a small corner, this expands as your career progresses, as does the type of crime you deal with from traffic crime to murder. Being a Sim many of the early elements are, frankly, a bit dull, but then so is the real work of the police. Persevere and you’ll move to more interesting things.

In the end it’s not a bad game, the graphics are not as good as they could be and there is the odd glitch, not unexpected in a PC game, but if you have a hankering to hold the line against the forces of chaos Police Force might give you many hour of pleasure.

6

Charles Packer