This Is the Police

This Is The Police is a gritty, uncompromising narrative about the dark depths of obsession that drive a man and his demons. Fiercely addictive, the tale of one’s man final bid for redemption in a city spiraling out of control is this summer’s surprise indie breakout hit.

This Is the Police is an atypical management simulations, typify by a deep storytelling, about events that occurred to a tormented police chief. The emerging developer Weappy has embarked on a risky road and we want to reward it.

This Is Police is a highly entertaining and unique game. [Sept 2016]

This is the Police is a living proof that a fairly simple concept of managing a police station can be presented in a very interesting manner, with a well written story and lots of difficult choices to make. Studio Weappy has created one of the most interesting indie games of the year. A game that surprises the player with constantly changing conditions.

I want to be clear that I really enjoyed This Is the Police; the story is very well done, your choices feel as if they have real weight in the game, and the dispatch sections are a great twist on traditional strategy puzzle games. However, This Is the Police’s major problem is its casual use of racism in the story and dialogue.

Sometimes relaxing, sometimes satirical, often unfair – This Is The Police succeeded not only with interesting and comprehensive insight at police work, but also is one of the freshest genre experiments of the year - despite some flaws. [Issue#266]

An original, addictive and working management strategy looks at the work of police from somehow non-standard, but amusing angles. Try to resist the temptations of corruption and the mafia teasing, when you have a city that lives by crime. This is the police is ideal for lovers of smaller strategies and on the top it doesn´t contain many bugs.

This is the police is a bold game, innovative and creative. It has an impressive style and a compelling narrative.

Although it's not unforgettable, This is the Police is a good journey through strategy, particularly relevant for those with little experience in the genre.

Almost in every of 180 in-game days our chief of police will have to dispatch officers, assist detectives in their investigations and play politics with various influential people. Of course, over 20-hour story that type of gameplay grows stale – but it’s the only way to really immerse yourself in character and know his pain when his favorite detective decides to go PI, – or pride when you shape up an alcoholic into an exemplary policeman. [Issue#212, p.53]

Fans of police procedurals and stylish games will definitely enjoy this original hybrid of management game and a visual noir novel.

If you don't mind a drip feed of soul-crushing events, then This is the Police will work for you. The actual gameplay is littered with questionable content, but the core is engaging for both quick and marathon sessions. The story is what holds things together; the many twists are fascinating, and the presentation is charming due to its artistic simplicity. It may not be for everyone, but for those looking for something a little different, This is the Police is worth a shot.

Judged purely as a strategy or a simulation game, it is mostly a failure. It suffers from too many game design mistakes and it has too many broken systems to survive on its gameplay alone. Judged as an overall experience, however, and the game fares better.

A great attempt at merging a superbly crafted story, exceptional acting and pressurised decision making.

This Is the Police continually presents you with memorable and important choices that impact the story, and even though its most intriguing conflicts could benefit from more examination, the game is carried by a captivating antagonist.

This is the police is a very daring project indeed. The purpose of telling a dark story using the mechanic of a management game is full of original ideas and it's enriched by a laudable artistic direction. However, excessive repetition and the high rate of difficulty are aspects that can not be ignored.

This Is The Police leans on cliched scenarios and characters, but it represents some of the real struggles a police force has to deal with, like budgets being cut and a city with a lot of social problems.

It is a pity: This is the Police has a massive potential, and a brilliant story supported by a great voice acting. Too bad the gameplay feels repetitive after some hours of playing. It is definitively worth trying, though.

It might rub some people up the wrong way in light of the current sensitivity surrounding US law enforcement, but it should be said that, while it might exhibit less tact in dealing with some of those situations that hit closer to home, This Is The Police still gives the player the ultimate choice: they can choose to do what’s morally right or… not.

I like the theme. I like the narrative and I think it is an interesting approach to combine storytelling and management. It is in desperate need of variety, though.

A mediocre gameplay forces the player to wait a lot and this overshadows the great decision making.

This Is The Police looks and sounds gorgeous, but becomes dull and repetitive after the first couple of hours.

A great idea with a somewhat sloppy execution, This is the Police has tremendous amounts of potential that's currently squandered by pressuring the player to go through a linear route instead of having more open gameplay.

This Is The Police is a challenging portrayal of law enforcement that falters when it comes to meaningful commentary. While it constructs a good form and addresses topical concerns, it fails to say anything definitive. Starting a conversation is worthwhile, but that only carries the game so far before its menial nature drags it down.

This Is The Police is a game that contributes very little in terms of gameplay. Its gameplay relies more on the narrative than on the management mechanics, and that's not always good.

Manage your staff, respond to emergencies, and investigate crimes in a city on the brink of chaos.

They're all poorly constructed scenarios in a middling management sim. [Oct 2006, p.81]

A clash of approaches that doesn't quite work. [Issue#179, p.84]

A promising premise but falls short of its full potential by overreaching itself.

Even though events like a serial killer and political intrigue pop up to break up the action, the day-to-day monotony of the gameplay takes its toll. Content is repeated, and causes the experience to drag on. If the goal was to convey the drudgery of this kind of work, I was sick of it halfway through. It all culminates in one of the dumbest imaginable confrontations.

This Is the Police is mechanically sound on the surface, but digging deeper leads to disappointment in the randomized events and a lack of meaningful decisions to make.

This is the Police presents situations that aren’t deep enough to invoke social commentary, yet it still takes the opportunity to arbitrarily throw them out in the open. It’s missing key storytelling elements that allow for that kind of messaging, and in the mundane yet slur-sprinkled missions those ideas fall apart.

Accessible and routine, This Is The Police is simultaneously a rich video game and a poor depiction of its subject matter. Whether the game's creators welcome it or not, at times like these, when police officers in the US are under intense scrutiny, This Is the Police's representation of their work bears similarly close examination. By that measure it falls short of relevance and borders on removed.