Woop woop! That’s the sound of This Is The Police 2. It’s rolling in right here with a megaphone and a web page from an outdated Argos catalogue held up prefer it’s a warrant. Damn pigs. Looks like they’re right here to point out off one other trailer. What is it this time? Another have a look at the antagonistic and corrupt law enforcement officers, I’ll guess. No, wait. It’s a deeper demonstration of their police administration sim, and its new harmful and tactical turn-based missions.
It appears extra advanced than the primary This Is The Police, whose noir story was let down by samey automotive dispatching and lengthy, dragging days of pop-up busting. There’s extra to do within the sequel, it seems, together with stepping into gunfights, at which level you’ll get “direct control” over your officers.
In such conditions, the sport will swap to a brand new turn-based fight mode system. Gather a workforce of your most interesting cops (or use your drunk and silly bums – you don’t all the time have the luxurious of being picky!). Take up advantageous positions and don’t neglect: the police are imagined to arrest suspects, not kill them. You’ll should rigorously examine the terrain, continually adapt your plans, stealthily strategy your suspects and use non-lethal weapons and gear… Sometimes gunfights are virtually unattainable to keep away from, however watch out: This Is the Police 2 doesn’t have hit factors. A single bullet can price a cop their life.
It appears XCOM-flavoured, with cemetery headstones offering cowl and batons permitting cops to stun their targets with a assured hit. You may also shoot your goal in particular physique components. Hitting a perp within the hand will make them incapable of firing their very own gun, however they’ll nonetheless attempt to run away. There are particular skills, like one referred to as “Volley” which lets a police officer hearth their pistol thrice in a row on the expense of some accuracy. Flashbangs (or tear gasoline grenades?) appear like they’ll have an effect on a handful of tiles on the grid. You may also equip your deputies with armour and tasers, or depend on their abilities as quiet lockpickers, loud door busters or considerate lure disarmers.
These new options sound promising. My earlier outing as a metropolis’s Chief of Police was missing in stuff to do. So including an additional layer of techniques cream to this copcake looks like some tasty sport baking to me. But the larger downside lies with decision-making and storytelling. This Is The Police was usually like a visible novel, with some paths resulting in a strict ‘game over’, which felt restrictive and at odds with its in any other case choice-filled storytelling. How they’ll keep away from repeating that mistake within the sequel is extra fascinating to me than ordering my police squad into cowl. That stated, I gained’t say no to Fargo-meets-XCOM.
It’s due for launch “later this year”.
