[h1][b] TLDR: A tactical cop game with a fun premise undermined by laser accurate enemies, a braindead AI partner, and a brutal early difficulty curve that punishes new players relentlessly.
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[h1]PROS: [/h1]
➕Steam Workshop integration
➕Create your own missions and publish on Workshop
[h1]CONS: [/h1]
➖Atrocious partner AI
➖Unbalanced enemies - Insane accuracy/reaction time/durability
➖Standard difficulty is too hard
[h1] [b] Content (Game world/Narrative) – [5/10] [/b] [/h1]
The game world takes place in various locations, but they generally look the same: square rooms. Sometimes they have different assets and setups, but that’s pretty much the entire game. It’s also very restrictive in exploration - you cannot venture outside the bounds or where you should be due to invisible walls, you’re completely bound to the square room setups.
There is a narrative, and I found it okay, though it was super obvious. It’s a typical good cop/bad cop story of corruption.
[h1][b] Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) – [4/10] [/b] [/h1]
The gameplay loop consists of stopping suspects and disarming bombs. It’s similar in a way to Hotline Miami how you dispatch enemies, but the similarities quickly end there in favor of more tactical gameplay here.
You unlock a variety of weapons and gear, such as shotguns and sensor grenades, respectively. You often have a split second to react to a suspect to decide if you need to shoot or if they are surrendering, as you get more points for capturing suspects rather than killing them.
I played and Standard difficulty and found it a bit too hard at the start. Enemies have near perfect accuracy with such quick reaction time. It doesn’t help that your AI partner is either dumb as bricks or as strong as the Hulk, with little in-between. Once I unlocked better weapons and gear, things became easier, but it still wasn’t uncommon to constantly have to retry levels upwards of a dozen times, as opposed to 20+ times before. So yeah, enemies on Standard could definitely use a nerf.
[h1] [b] Graphics (Quality/Technical) – [6/10] [/b] [/h1]
Okay, it’s pixelated-style, I’d say around PS1-era, but it does look good. Everything is easy to make out and the “Cutscenes” have good art style.
Technical side, the game ran well, not a lot of graphical options though.
On the controls, I didn’t like how “E” was both the interact and yell button. I would often be trying to open doors and accidentally shouting “GET DOWN!”, but this didn’t bother me enough to try to rebind (I think you can?).
I did encounter many bugs, nothing game breaking though. I had times when my partner and enemies would go through walls. Doors opening can be annoying and can “warp” characters a small distance. Enemies under the condition of flashing can get an animation bug, causing it to be hard to tell if they are surrendering or aiming a weapon.
1440p @ 240hz | installed on SSD
[h1] [b] Audio – [5/10] [/b] [/h1]
Audio seemed okay, nothing really noteworthy here.
Sound effects are fine.
Not a lot of voice acting, just a few lines that the police yell.
[h1] [b] Replay Factor (Longevity) – [4/10] [/b] [/h1]
There’s some okay replay value. You can redo levels with different equipment setup to try to get a better score, and there’s co-op to try it with a real person instead of your dumb AI companion. There’s also the Steam Workshop where you can make your own levels and upload them and try others levels (of course the American levels consist of school shootings lol…).
It does lack an online component which would help - having leaderboards for score would be cool. Or online play, I think you can only play with a friend via code, not search for lobbies.
[h1] [b] Final Verdict – [5/10] [/b] [/h1]
Police Stories (PS) is an interesting title, though admittedly I almost retired it in the beginning. When you start out on Standard, the difficulty can be so overwhelming that you’ll get frustrated constantly getting to the last enemy and them 1-shotting you with a shotgun faster than you can blink, then redoing the level over. Put that on repeat a dozen times and that was pretty much my experience for the first hour or two of PS. Thankfully, it does get better after you unlock some gear and get more options available to you, but is it worth it?
Ehh, kinda. I enjoyed it enough to finish the game, but the beginning difficulty really soured the experience. The game should really be rebalanced to where the enemies' accuracy at the end is unchanged, and the beginning maybe make it like -30% accuracy.
The price is too high without a sale.
There’s a severe lack of longevity beyond the ~6 hours it takes for the main story.
Despite all of this, I enjoyed it enough to finish it. It’s smack in the middle of a recommend for me, but I’ll go with a yes in the end, the $4 price tag is enough to justify the fun I had with the game. Otherwise, I’d probably say skip and just play Hotline Miami instead.
[h1] [b] Recommend? (Price) [Y/N] [/b] [/h1]
[h1]Yes[/h1]
$20? No way, José. I completed the game and all side content within 7 hours. $20 is way too much. $4 on sale is ideal, but I’d say this is worth around $10 if you make use of co-op and Workshop.
You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR
