I AM THE LAW!
As much as I love games like GTA, the games where you have an open world and get to play as a bad guy, I gotta say; there has always been something appealing to playing as an officer of the law. Sure, we have had some games that have placed the player in the shoes of police officer, but a lot of them, aside from the Police Quest series from the 90’s has been an unrealistic depiction of police force. I mean I love True Crime LA, but cops can’t just pull their guns whenever they want or just beat up random people; it makes for some good gameplay but it’s not real. The Precinct, first announced back in June 2023 by Fallen Tree Games, looks to change that. Reminiscent of the original Grand Theft Auto games by way of its open and urban environments and isometric view, I was immediately drawn to its 80’s setting and soundtrack. It’s been a long wait for this one, but I am happy to say that it has been worth it.
Welcome to 1983 Averno City, where its citizens are under siege by rival gang factions. Players will take control of rookie cop Nick Cordell Jr whose father Nick Sr was the Chief of Police before his passing. Right from the outset The Precinct hits all the tropes of popular 80’s cop fare. Juniors’ senior partner is of course just a few weeks from retirement and is the kind, gruff partner you can expect. Cordell will meet detectives TERRENCE (!!!) Li and Kowalski, hung out at a bar called Kavanaghs, all while riding around to some smooth saxophone beats that would make Kenny G jealous. Narratively speaking The Precinct is pretty straight forward, players will be tasked with taking down the gang presence in Averno city. This will involve gathering evidence and arresting the leaders and top lieutenants and players will do this by working their shifts around the city.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
The Precinct allows players to really live out their cop movie fantasies. As I said Nick will have to work shifts around the city, starting off with only a small beat, as players close more crimes in each area they will begin to unlock new patrol areas of the city. Shifts that are available to work will vary from day to day, but players will unlock the ability to customize their own shifts, choosing everything from length, time of day, area and more. The various patrols are on-foot, vehicle and even a helicopter; players will be tasked with a focus for each shift, whether that is drug crimes, parking violations, or looters. The simulation system that Fallen Tree Games uses here works so well, the traffic moves realistically and better, yet they appropriately react to police chases and other things that happen around them – well mostly but more on that later.
As fun as playing the helicopter shifts was, they are probably my least favorite and that’s really just due to the more ‘hands-off’ approach. When players are in the chopper their only job is to keep the criminals under the spotlight and call in the corresponding backup. These chases will end up all over the city, but all players will need to do is keep the action in their sights. I wish there was a way to land the chopper and maybe pick up the criminals and take them to booking but maybe in the sequel. Players will earn pips as they keep close to criminals during chases and this is the currency that can be used to call in roadblocks, cruisers, spike strips and more from the chopper but also when on foot or in the cruiser.
Once players call in to central with a few buttons presses to show they are handling a crime, everything is random from then on. I will tell you one story that I had happen, received a call about a mugging. We light up the cherries and pull up on the suspect, they don’t resist and put their hands up as I pull up. I hop out, ask for ID and have central run a check. They come back with a warrant, the suspect then pushes my character down and steals a car. Now this simply mugging call has turn into a wild car chase around the city that had me calling in helicopters and setting up spike strips to try and stop them. It was so much freaking fun, it was just like watching the cop chases from Spenser for Hire or some other 80’s TV show or movie. This kind of emergent gameplay can be found all throughout The Precinct, even when players are on a shift, they can get a call for help from other detectives who are investigating a serial killer. That’s to say that everything was always working correctly, I did have issues where I would be chasing a criminal and had them glitch out, and every once in a while the pathfinding on the AI drivers can cause them to run young Cordell over which is frustrating but I can assure you that this game has been so much fun that any of the issues I have had, have all been few and fair between on Series X.
Players will have to juggle a lot of things when they confront criminals, since this is a realistic (for the most part) showing of police things like reading their rights, asking for ID, using a breathalyzer and more is important. What I loved about The Precinct is all of the controls are context and SO user friendly. Holding Y will interact with an item or suspect and players are presented with a quick menu to choose all their options from. It’s broken up into categories and is so easy to use, the only issue I had is there are times when I wasn’t sure if I should do a breathalyzer on someone if I ended up having to pull them out of the car for shooting at us. It wasn’t a negative, but if players do ALL the things that are available to them it will maximize their XP gains. As players finish each shift they will be rewarded with new weapons and vehicles to use but will also gain points that players can use to level up their stamina, vehicle armor and more.
For as much as I vibed with The Precinct, I do think there is somethings that could be done better. For starters the only non-lethal weapons are a stun-gun and a billy club, meanwhile if you want to kill the suspect there are machine guns, shot guns, pistols and more. It just seems odd that there isn’t more of a balance with the non-lethal weapons like bean bag guns or something. Speaking of use of force though, the game uses a color-coded system to help show players when to draw their gun, but I was penalized for using a stun-gun to take down someone that I was authorized to use deadly force on. Again, it seems odd that me wanting to use the non-lethal type of takedowns aren’t rewarded for whatever reason. I am playing this game to be a cop, if I want to just kill everyone, I will go play Sleeping Dogs.
Look, I freaking love The Precinct but I had a feeling I would when I first saw it back in 2023. The moment-to-moment gameplay feels just like watching those cop shows from the 80’s; running perps down on foot, getting into crazy shootouts and exploding cars, even your partner telling you how close to retirement he is; everything about The Precinct is so deliciously 80’s and I thoroughly savored and enjoyed every moment of it. I do hope we can see more non-lethal options in a sequel or expansion, but I think the ultimate treat would be the ability to be a good cop or bad cop, a morality system would add something for sure, but for now The Precinct stands as a great example of police simulation done right.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
