Cool Cop Chaos
I've been playing this police procedural game for a number of hours now, and I must say that I am enjoying it a great deal. As a rookie cop, you have a broad variety of activities to occupy you, from walking a beat to issuing parking tickets to investigating crime scenes and engaging in violent shoot-outs. As you progress in your career, you upgrade your capabilities, get better weapons, and unlock new neighborhoods to patrol. You're also trying to bring down some street gangs that are causing havoc, a major goal in the game. Even when you're just issuing parking tickets or fining speeding motorists, chaos keeps erupting as you are given the opportunity to respond to crimes in progress reported over the patrol car's radio. There's a slight learning curve with the controls and procedures, and I have encountered a few rough edges, notably a chase on foot early in the game, where some platforms you're supposed to run across are delinquent in loading and you have to guess where to run. But still the game is a ton of fun, and now that it's selling for half price, it's definitely worth a purchase... I should mention the highly detailed graphics as well -- the aerial views of the city as you get around by foot, car, truck, or helicopter are stunning, with what I assume is ray tracing illuminating puddles of water on the streets. Recommended! UPDATE: probably the worst knock you can make about this game is how short the story part is: I finished the story in probably a week, playing the game an hour a day. The good news, though, is that all the other fun stuff continues -- the daily patrols related to various police activities, all punctuated by random crimes reported over your police radio that you can handle, often with crazy car chases, shootouts, and melees... UPDATE NUMBER TWO: well darned if the developers didn't release an update Dec. 2025 that introduces a new K-9 squad to your resources!!! I first became aware of this new addition when I summoned up support options and saw K-9 squad. The dogs are VERY effective at chasing down and subduing criminals -- much better than officers on foot! In addition, if you head to the helicopter stairs in the station house -- but take the corridor to the left -- you'll find the entrance to the dogs' kennel, next to the garage. There you can promote one of the dogs to be your new partner on patrol -- they open the passenger door or tailgate on a police cruiser or wagon and hop in when you drive off. Your new furry partner can also sniff out a bad guy -- you let him smell the miscreant's scent, and then off goes your four-footed friend to hunt the suspect down. I understand that the tow truck detail was another new capability introduced via a free update earlier on. I sure hope they keep these updates coming, making a good game even better... Read more
