When I was growing up it was not unusual for the kids to dream of their future jobs, yes it was a time when there were real jobs out there. Flights of fancy would include astronaut, even though we didn’t have a space program. Closer to Earth kids dreamed of being firemen or even police men.

If you missed out on your dream then you can always relive the possibility with Police Force 2, a game which is less Grand Theft Auto than it is an attempt at a reasonable simulation. Reasonable only in the fact that it tries to collect various parts of police work for you to experience, so you can experience being a bobby on the beat to solving violent crimes.

You get to play as two characters, your female half comes equipped with pepper spray and handcuffs, the male has a baton and gun, switching between the two decides how you approach and apprehend suspects, although it is noticeable how quickly the criminals comply to being arrested without much of a struggle.

Your base of operations is the police station, which also holds the forensic labs - not as exciting as it sounds. You won’t be doing a lot of dismembering victims, but it’s pretty useful if you pick up any fingerprints as the lab will be able to identify the criminal.

You start your day at the briefing with a number of low level crimes to investigate. In a busy city it is not long before you will have to respond to emergencies as well as trying to solve your assigned task. Eagle eyed players will be able to spot a number of low level crimes going on, like drunk drivers.

So you’re out in the city either on foot or in one of the number of vehicles, including a plain or full squad car. The visuals are acceptable for a sim, you get a fairly large area to play in, more importantly the buildings are not just for show as you can enter commercial and private buildings in the pursuit of criminals. Do well in your job and the game rewards you by expanding the area of city you can explore.

The game play works fairly well, there are odd issues with getting your character or vehicle irrevocably stuck, or your characters walking sideways in an odd way, but these are minor issues and don’t spoil the overall game.

Overall, it is the variety of missions which really make the game, although sometimes it feels repetitious. If you enjoy the experience then there is a pretty large world to discover, not bad for what is effectively a budget game.

7

Charles Packer