The Precinct review: This top-down sandbox police romp is simply the best.. better than all arrest

The Sun

4 hours ago

AS my wife often tells me, I ALWAYS play the good cop when parenting.
Which is why I thought I'd be really good at The Precinct.
As it turns out though, this superb top-down sandbox takes a lot more skill than first imagined.
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Before we get into my poor attempts at collaring a graffiti vandal, a little backdrop to The Precinct.
It's like Grand Theft Auto but where you play on the right side of the law. Really, I hear you ask? That will never work! But it does . . . and really well.
This is a fantastically addictive outing from Fallen Tree Games - a lovely nod to classic top-down belters like GTA, GTA: London and Gangsters.
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Set in the 80s, you play a rookie cop called Nick Cordell Jr. His dad was a cop but died and now he's pounding the streets of Averno City in a bid to catch the bad guys. He's helped out by his partner - a cynical vet - not far from retirement.
Meanwhile, an encouraging but secretive chief watches over a department that isn't all quite as it seems.
Yes, it's dripping in US cop cliches but this adds to the character of the game and gives it a bit of life.
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The gameplay itself is pretty straightforward. You patrol the city during shifts, either on foot, in a patrol car or by chopper. There's a main story arc which has some terrific twists and turns but in-between that your job is to keep an eye out for trouble.
And this comes in many different forms - from clocking speeding vehicles to chasing down attempted murderers on foot.
You can even spend a shift dishing out parking tickets. Sounds boring but I spent a lot of time hunting down illegally-parked cars next to fire hydrants - you can even check parking metres to see if the allotted time has expired.
When it comes to other arrests, each one must be done by the book to earn XP. When you stop someone, you need to check the ID first, then search them before applying the correct offence.
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They might drop contraband or the ID might come back as a wanted crook - all of which needs to be taken into account before you dish out punishment. If you get it wrong, you're docked XP.
Any heavy-handed policing also sees you deducted points as does arresting someone incorrectly, like putting them in cuffs for an infraction that only requires a fine. It's the same if you lose a 'perp' during a police chase.
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All this really focuses your mind when making an arrest - did I miss anything in the search? Did I run a background check?
At the end of each shift you can use your XP to upgrade a fairly basic skills tree. This allows useful extras like calling in a road closure during a police chase - you can also deploy spike traps and order back-up units as you zoom through the city.
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The mechanics are smooth and responsive too. Excellent visuals add amazing character to Averno - broken roads, reflections in puddles - and the red and blue sirens burst through the tricky haze on a night shift.
The isometric camera view really holds its own and allows for impressive car chases as well as back-alley duels.
Shoot-outs are fun though the aiming can be tricky at first.
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However, despite the delightful screeches of tires and blaring sirens, the busts can get a little repetitive. And it's a little easy to rise through the ranks.
But these are tiny gripes in what is an awesome 12-13 hours of proper policing.
You have the right to remain silent . . . in awe of this game.