This is the Police 2

A veritable Matryoshka doll of dark delights, executed to perfection. The turn based combat completely engrosses and could have been a game on its own, but Weappy went the extra mile: they delivered one of the darkest, truest video game narratives of the year.

It has all the drama you’d want, all the corruption you’d ask for, and the same gameplay as the first, but expanded upon to make it much more enjoyable. The new squad strategy mode is a huge surprise that was neither asked for nor expected, but it gives the game so much more.

Before the balance patch, I really did think the game was just too hard. However, if you are a fan of the first This is the Police you will enjoy the second game.

An excellent sheriff simulator that should be a little shorter.

It can be cruel and insufferable, but if you can bear the abuse, you’ll find yourself engrossed in a unique, compelling experience that is unlike most other management sims.

A solid police management game, playing to its strengths and providing a well-rounded experience for players.

This is the Police 2 is a great sequel that polishes the original concept of the first entry. It’s more complex and mature, and also more enjoyable, and we think it deserves an opportunity.

This is the Police 2 is a big step forward for Weaapy Studio, who delivered a much better experience compared to the previous game.

This is the Police 2 is a title deliberately difficult to approach, imperfect but fascinating.

A sequel refined from all points of view: This is the Police 2 is a successful mix of genres in noir sauce.

Crisp, gloomy genre mix with challenging tactical elements, but still suffers from problems regarding balance and clarity.

This is the Police 2 had tried various new ways of narrative and performance, but none of them went far.

For fans of the original, This the Police 2 is undoubtedly a stronger game. For new players, if you want to understand some of the characters in this game you might want to pick up This Is The Police for the story, but in terms of gameplay, this is a far more polished, in-depth and immersive experience than This Is The Police. This Is The Police 2 comes recommended to anyone who wants a cop-themed game that has an engrossing narrative and fun gameplay hooks that is easy to get to grips with.

This is The Police 2 is Fargo mixed with X-Com. Managing all your cops is fun, but sometimes it's a bit too harsh without any reason. Like life.

In one of the interviews, the developers stated that they wanted to start different project originally, but later decided to do This Is the Police 2 instead. Well, the sequel is not slopwork in any way, but you can’t help but feel a certain lack of enthusiasm and concentration of the game’s creators.

The creators of This is the Police 2 were not able to dismantle the gameplay routine of police chief's everyday work. The game's new feature - tactical missions - is well-made and really fun but this feeling ends very quick. You can't save your game during these missions which is very frustrating. Still, the story is great and the fans of the previous game will be happy.

While it’s far to long, This Is the Police 2 is a cool little game, with a interesting scenario and lot of different situations to work on. But most of our reproaches for the first game stand still.

A good game, but it has some deep flaws. Is not made for everyone, mixes too much genres and its argument could be better focused but, still, it is an entertaining adventure that can be followed with great interest.

This is the Police 2 is a very interesting game, full of new and compelling ideas but packaged in a badly tested final product bound to infuriate players as much as it will amaze them.

While there are a couple of problems when it comes to gameplay pacing, This is the Police 2 manages to tell a relevant and enthralling story that stands out within its genre and as better than the original.

Interesting and direct, this game offers an intense management experience trying to make the Police Department work and also to discover the main character's past; it's also a little repetitive from the first release... and that is not sexy.

First trailers gave the impression that this would be a fresh take on the familiar police chief formula, putting us in the shoes of the young Lily Reed. But no – once again we’ll be playing as Jack Boyd, doing the same old job with some half-baked new features. [Issue#232, p.60]

Despite its beautiful art and promising gameplay, it's weighed down by poor pacing and storytelling. [Oct 2018, p.81]

The issues with This is the Police 2 mostly boil down to pacing. The cutscenes are so long that you can forget that you're playing a game at all, and they serve to space out the moments of gameplay a bit too far, creating a disjointed feeling between the other aspects of the game. Trimming down the dialogue and letting players have more interaction in each cutscene could have gone a long way toward tightening up the pacing while keeping the world and character building just as strong.

An overall improvement on the original but the lack of focus encourages too many unwanted features, that dilute an otherwise interesting portrayal of law enforcement.

I’m not going to remember this game fondly, as it left me bored, annoyed with absurdities and frustrated by burdensome tactical missions. [10/2018, p.68]

I haven’t played the first This Is The Police, but I can’t help but feel like the sequel simply adds too much. The game feels like it needs to refocus on the day to day policing and the small storylets that accompany it, which are great. Unless the message is that running a police department is an impossible task, in which case: mission accomplished.

A competent sequel that adds some neat touches, but doesn't fix enough of the first game's problems.

A wrong-headed sequel that doesn't really address most of its predecessors' problems. [Issue#272, p.48]

This is the Police 2 is presented well, featuring a great visual style, accompanied by an equally great score, but a poorly penned script, coupled with gameplay that is not engaging, keeps it from realising its full potential.

The game is lacking lightness, is unclear and too forced. The original gameplay is surrounded by shallow innovations that make the game hard to like and undermine the new plot. [Issue#290]

I would never go so far as to say that This is the Police 2 is a poorly or incompetently made game, but it is by no means a fun one. Even if you loved the first game, I cannot recommend this sequel to you, either for its gameplay or its story. For what it's worth, the game's story ends on a cliff hanger, and I am still interested in seeing how the next game turns out. I don't know if the third game will end up being a good one, but I do know that I have no desire to ever go back and play through the second one.