Developed by Aesir Interactive and published by astragon Entertainment, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is a new police simulator title. While we have been receiving a lot of police simulators lately, none of them have been actually good and some of them have been absolutely ridiculous. Aesir Interactive tends to change the trend and with its early access release of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers, we can easily say that the developer is heading in the right direction. This is our early access review of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers in which we hand out some parking tickets and solve some accident cases.
The game starts with you choosing your male or female police officer and jumping right in the game with either the casual or the simulator difficulty. Casual is more chill-focused while the simulator is the intended difficulty level to play the game. Your first days start with you patrolling your neighborhood on foot while checking around for parking infractions. While on foot, I spent my first two shifts looking for cars parked illegally, with expired meters or with expired license plates. It seemed a little boring at the start and slow as well however I quickly got into practice and pretty soon I was racking up points and issuing fines here and there. There is one thing however that the road signs are not very clear and somehow a few of the infractions are not recorded by the game and as a result, I got penalized for issuing unjust fines.
From the parking tickets, I finally leveled up and unlocked my very own Radar Gun, and soon I was issuing speeding cars throughout the neighborhood. Every time I leveled up in the game, I was granted access to new tools and a new neighborhood in the same district thus expanding my reach however at one shift, you only have access to one of the neighborhoods where you start your shift and cannot venture into other neighborhoods. The game clearly marks where my boundaries end and even if I cross them still, it puts me back in my zone forcefully so you cannot really go astray in the game.
Speeding tickets are extremely realistic in the game as well as your radar gun would tell you the speed of every approaching car and would allow you to snap a picture and report to the authorities of any offenders. I was surprised to see how many people were actually overspeeding in the game. While it is naturally not possible to keep track of every car however some smaller elements give you a hint to check certain cars for example the ones overtaking others and some cars even drive erratically with a slight left-right zig-zag movement in their lane giving you hints to check them for speeding.
Eventually, I got to fine some jaywalking people as well and I was given complete control over how I could approach them. One of the pedestrians had red eyes so I did different DIY tests on them and was even able to frisk them. The game gives slight instructions here and there to help you out and after that, you are on your own but if you are observant, people in the game giveaway a lot from their facial expressions which is something that really impressed me. The facial expressions are a great way to judge people in the game and to see how they react while you are questioning them. If you find them guilty, you can fine them otherwise, you can just bid them farewell after your questioning and checking their IDs.
Moving on, I managed to unlock random minor accidents and from there, I was able to go and assist people who were involved in minor road accidents. These were small accidents, and the game presents them in a very natural way. I was speed checking near a highway and soon I heard a loud crash and turned around to see that a driver had crashed into the back of another vehicle stopped at a red light. I had to answer the callout and reach the scene to generate a report. I hopped into action and took some pictures of the vehicles involved in the crash.
Following this, I interviewed both drives, checked their licenses and insurance documents. After clearing everything out, I then went forward and check both for DUI. It turned out that the driver who hit the other one from behind was actually drunk as his drinking test came out positive. I then finalized my report, gave a copy to both drivers, and soon everything was clear on the road. In major accidents where a vehicle is unable to move anymore, you can call tow trucks who will arrive on the scene and take away the vehicles. If someone is injured, you can call them an ambulance as well. Finally, I was able to unlock my very own police cruiser and soon I was patrolling the streets in my own cruiser.
One of the best things about Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is that it holds you accountable for your actions as well. There is no such thing as the use of force in the game and everything must be done in an organized fashion. Issue a wrong fine? Your reputation declines. Issue a wrong stop or frisk? Your reputation goes down. Keep at it and you will soon need to turn in your badge and go home. You have to perform your duties in a civil manner and go by the book. Everything is defined for you and you have to follow protocol for everything. You will see that if you are good to people, people will be good to you as well in the game and praise your actions. Annoying people and harassing them will only make you turn in your badge and go home, fired from your job. This is not just a mindless police game where you can do just whatever you want. This is a proper police simulator, and the game wants you to follow the rules.
One major thing that I found missing in the game is a set of rules for different road signs. The game is clearly set in a fictional Brighton city, and it follows the rules implemented in real-world European countries however the traffic and sign rules are a little bit different around the world, and having a glossary for these signs in the game would certainly players who are not from the local region. For example, in the game, I issued some parking tickets to some of the cars clearly parked in Taxi zones or Tow Zones but somehow they were in the right despite not being Taxis or allowed to park in Tow Zones. At this point, a small description of what to expect from these signs and what should be noted here would greatly help players from all around the globe to easily understand these signs and what should they be looking for.
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is promising a lot of content for its full release and judging by the Early Access gameplay of the title, I can easily say that this could be the police simulator that fans have been wanting for a long time. With additional districts, more callouts, more items, more gameplay features, and additional neighborhoods, the full version will certainly be one meaty release. I just hope that it comes with a Free Roam mode that does not affect your main Career path and you can just randomly pick a police officer and jump in the game’s map without any limitations or time constraints to play as a police officer as long as you would like. This would greatly add value to the game because in the main campaign, after completing a day, you cannot revisit it again so this will make a great addition to the title.
The gameplay of Police Simulator: Patrol Officer is also not perfect at this point and there are tons of changes that I would like to see in the final release. Ranging from the character movement on foot to controlling the patrol car, everything needs tweaking here and there so the Early Access period could really be beneficial for the title if the developers use this period properly and listen to fan feedback. The audio could use a little more diverse sounds especially for vehicles and the world could certainly do with more pedestrians and vehicles to make it feel livelier. We are really excited to see how the game shapes up for its final release.
Final Verdict:
Police Simulator: Patrol Offices might seem a little slow and boring at first but if you push past the first level, the game quickly picks up pace as you get access to new districts and new items at your disposal, it really opens up the world to you. However, the game is still in Early Access so the game still has a long way to go with plenty of updates and content coming to the game so it might actually turn out to be an amazing title at launch. For an Early Access title, it is still in a pretty solid position, and I had a great time acting as a civil police officer. If you love simulators and more specifically, Police simulators, then I am sure that you will love Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and you should definitely jump in the Early Access as the game has a lot to offer even at this point. It is extremely fun and will surely have you spending hours and hours trying to keep your neighborhood in order.
