Beat Cop

This success, and most of the game's terrific efforts, are unfortunately squandered by the game's failure to advance its story or give you any guidance on how best to navigate its challenges. Theoretically, you could replay through the game in an attempt to discover the best path for yourself, but chances are, you won't want to. The major events of every day are scripted, and there isn't enough that is enjoyable about the gameplay to make you want to repeat days any more than you have to. One playthrough is likely all that you'll want to get out of Beat Cop, and there is a good chance that it will leave you feeling unsatisfied and cheated. This game could have been great, and for the first week or so of the game I thought that I had stumbled onto a great little indie gem. As I progressed, however, the game's intriguing story disappeared, giving way to a pointless grind that ended abruptly and unsatisfyingly. Beat Cop takes the hopelessness simulator one step too far, and it is for this reason that it I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it.

Half enjoyable adventure, half clunky mess, Beat Cop is a talented rookie in need of a long talk with HR.

Beat Cop is meant to be a tribute to cop shows from the 1980s, complete with snarky dialogue and questionable characters. When it comes down to it, however, it’s a stressful sim that’s heavy on time management and largely unforgiving. There are multiple endings you could discover, but after several hours with the game it’s hard to muster the patience for even one.

The writing is rarely funny, and the actual predicament Jack Kelly is in takes quite some time to get going. There are also some glaring spelling and translation errors to be found. The 1980s had a very distinct style, and it’s not captured very well here. As for the gameplay, the point is that you’re balancing a boring work life and a stressful private life, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring to play. There are some interesting choices to be made here, and some of them have real consequences, but actually getting to them feels too much like hard work.

A charming premise and tongue-in-cheek exploitation writing, stumble on frustrating bugs and repetitive gameplay mechanics. There is value here for the dedicated 80’s exploitation cop film buffs but the kinks will have to be ironed out to make this game worth recommending to a broader public.

I had high hopes for Beat Cop. As someone who loves Tarantino’s over the top nonsense, this title held so much promise. If the gameplay was tweaked here and expanded upon there, this review would have an entirely different tone. But as it stands, Beat Cop drew its own chalk outline and willingly laid inside it.