Society within video games is kept in order with some form of law. Without any enforcement,society would fall into chaos. Ideally, superheroes fill the role of justice preservation, but can’t always do the job alone for the full city. That’s why the police force are also heroes for assisting those in need, plus filing the required paperwork.
Like a superhero, overwhelming responsibility rests on the officers’ shoulders. Each decision can greatly impact not only the officer but those around him. Scenarios can vary in stress, from the casual guidance of civilians to quelling a held hostage scene. Police must also investigate crime scenes involving arson, homicides, thieves, and other crimes. Different cases are more impactful than expected, resulting in great casualties when left unchecked.
Beat Copexplores a nostalgic, bustling New York City with a grand mystery running in society. Jack Kelly is the leading former detective who fell into a ticket officer role after a framed murder and robbery. He’s forced to patrol his assigned street block for any nearby lawbreakers, whether they park illegally, rob the stores, or sell drugs.
His job seems simple, though his personal situation is more complex due to the opinion of the majority loathing him. The gameplay cycle is very similar toPapers, Please,forcing Kelly to complete mundane tasks to get enough money to pay bills. Unexpected events can occur in a day, forcing the former detective to make a quick decision to handle the situation, whether to gain respect from the civilians, police force, city gangs, or mafia. A lot can happen in the day on patrol.
9Door Kickers
Tactical Approach At Crime Scene
Door Kickersoffers astrategic, proper experience as a SWAT team. Levels are completed based on the required tasks, such as rescuing endangered hostages, defusing bombs, or stopping robberies.
Teamwork and item utility are essential to minimize casualties while taking down active threats. Its top-down perspective gives a tactical-level layout but conceals everything within the scene. Fogged areas are only revealed by the SWAT’s POV scope, forcing the team to check every corner for danger. Some levels do require success in a limited time or else innocent lives are lost.
8Door Kickers Action Squad
Explosive Action Past Broken Doors
Door Kickers Action Squadis a more action-based, explosive experience as a SWAT officer. Timing, reaction, and accuracy are required when breaking into each room to handle groups of armed threats with various weapons.
The playable officer is divided into 6 classes, giving different expertise and options for level completion. Players can choose to easily decimate enemies up close with a shotgun expert, stealthily surprise enemies with tools and traps, or take down surrounding enemies with dual pistols, likeDante fromDevil May Cry. Locations range from houses, streets, or even trains. It’s up to the player to decide who’s best to handle the dangerous culprits while lowering casualties.
This Is The Police 2places the player in the police chief’s chair to accomplish multiple cases simultaneously. Each case requires the right team of officer(s) to handle the task, including abusive relationships, robberies, runaways, or hostages.
Decisive choices greatly affect everyone involved, such as being more passive with calming talk or more direct with forced subjugation. Some levels require officers to break into locations to strategically take down dangerous hostiles on an SRPG grid. The responsibility for the city cases and officers rests entirely on the police chief.
6Darkside Detective A Fumble In The Dark
A Brighter Side For Crime Solving
Darkside Detective A Fumble In The Darktakes criminal cases out of this world. Detective Francis McQueen leads The Darkside Department with his partner, Officer Dooley, to take on outworldly offenders. Twin Lakes is a cursed city full of supernatural cases, which the duo plans to solve.
The journey takes the duo across several locations, including a location outside of their city home. The duo converses light-heartedly, trying to brighten the mood with their humorous interactions whenhandling the abnormal. The cases can range from demonic entities to possessed civilians, forcing the two to search each scene for the right clue to figure out how to relinquish the haunting source.
Police Storiesshowcase the importance of teamwork and trust within an enforcement duo like John Rimes and Rick Jones. Both officers will tackle each level to handle armed criminals and terrorists while saving innocent lives.
Each attempt at alevel will procedurally placecriminals in different locations to catch the duo off guard. Lethal force isn’t always necessary, as criminals can surrender when feeling vulnerable to a warning shot or surprise attack. It is up to the player to take the right tools and tactical strategies when breaking into each level.
Lego City Undercoverlets players blend into different crowds like the undercover cop, Chase McCain. Lego City is an immense world recentlydisturbed by the rise of crime, leaving it to McCain to display order. He can use various vehicles to travel through the City to find collectibles or reach to crimes, such as robberies or car chases.
McCain can use his disguise ability to access areas a normal cop wouldn’t, such as being a robber or astronaut. Each disguise grants him an ability for certain problems like a grapple gun to reach higher platforms or a crowbar to crack open doors.
For any fan who yearns to be a special task force officer who handles both normal and supernatural cases,Astral Chainoffers the perfect chance. Its setting takes place when humanity is on the brink of extinction, making the police force extremely necessary to handle the life-threatening source.
Supernatural anomalies are the main priorities in each level, though it doesn’t make other smaller tasks any less significant. Some civilians may face various needs, such as losing valuables, feeling corrupted, requesting items, or being held hostage. The player can use their legion beasts to settle various scenarios, fulfilling society’s needs. It’s important to balance the smaller cases while investigating a greater threat to humanity.
Disco Elysiumis the definitive version of experiencing a detective’s mental stress and decisive choices. The game focuses on a character with no memory of his identity while in the middle of a murder case. Howhe discovers the clues and solves different interactionsdepends on his customized stats.
The gameplay is heavily reliant on its skill-check mechanic, similar toDnD. The character must raise his stats to gain a greater success rate in completing an action, which includes wearing certain clothes or researching a thought. The Thought Cabinet is an essential system that affects the protagonist’s personality while granting him buffs and debuffs. Equipping a thought opens the detective’s options while locking some away, affecting how he gets clues and information from suspects.
L.A. Noiretakesone of the most corrupt eras of Los Angelesas an opportunity to bring the best 3D open-world experience of justice preservation. Investigation and interrogation are the game’s expertise, requiring detailed attention for clues and facial hints to find the lawbreakers.
Cole Phelps is the leading detective who challenges several intense cases, ranging from murder, prostitution, hit-and-runs, drug business, and much more. Cole can freely explore L.A. to investigate the main cases for story progression or solve optional crimes. Depending on how each case is solved, it affects Cole’s title, leveling up his position to handle more challenging crimes. This also gives him more outfits, allowing players to look like an ideal detective during crime solving.
