You’d think a police officer’s first day on duty would involve little more than reading training manuals, taking online courses, and shaking paws with the K-9s if they’re lucky. This isn’t the case for rookie officer Nick Cordell, however, who’s taken on a ride along to an armed bank robbery during their first day on the beat. Then again, this is a video game – staring at a blackboard and being introduced to Angela from HR wouldn’t have made for an thrilling opening.
Cordell finds himself paired with experienced officer Kelly. Together, they set about dismantling the crime syndicates currently dragging down the once fine city of Averno. In the build we played Kelly is powered by questionable AI, recalling GTA in the PS2 era. The day one patch will allegedly improve things. They’re smart enough to make an arrest when multiple suspects are involved, and will also use their taser when necessary, yet will often become confused when entering the cruiser’s passenger seat – even delaying car chases while they struggle to navigate the environment. Thankfully their delayed reactions shouldn’t result in a mission failure, and they usually don’t trail behind too far when on foot. Still, you can’t go tearing down Averno’s grimy city streets without them. They’re your buddy, after all.
Once the tutorial is out of the way, even giving chance to use the police helicopter (something that unlocks surprisingly early), The Precinct establishes itself as a halfway point between a simulation and an action game. Portraying the police in a positive light, Cordell has a handbook to follow where using inappropriate force on criminals and harming bystanders results in a fade to black and a mission restarting. Instead, you’re duly informed the appropriate methods to take down a suspect, using non-lethal means such as a simple tackle and use of a taser to deal with unarmed perps, and only resorting to using a pistol on hostiles brandishing firearms. A single warning is all they get.
Perps must be tackled or restrained – requiring a spot of button bashing – before going through a sequence of actions, such as checking their ID, using a breathalyser, and a body search for illegal items. Skip steps and XP will be deducted. By default you’re required to select the appropriate felonies, but this can be automated, helping to speed up the process. Radial wheels make menu navigation a breeze; having to pick up evidence off the ground, with various actions mapped to ‘Y’, not so much. A choice is given of transporting criminals to the station, with more XP to gain for doing so, or requesting that another patrol takes them away. Careful though, as some criminals are fond of running off while waiting for response units. Similar unscripted moments are common – at least during the first few hours – including perps hiding in dumpsters, and motorists kicking off after being pulled over for littering. Over time, fun moments like these become further apart.
As for the action game elements, in addition to unlocking faster and more powerful vehicles and a larger range of firearms, you’re also able to partake in street racers with an automatically assigned vehicle, along with time trial missions. Rival racer AI is aggressive, often ramming your car off course, and you may have to abuse the handbrake turn – which is satisfying to use in itself – to get back on track. Obtaining gold medals during time trials is tough, calling for taking tight turns. Don’t expect to beat many on your first attempt.
Other distractions are relatively few. There are ramps to find and jump over – visible on the map, requiring a lengthy ‘run up’ to make – while the in-game collectables include missing/stolen museum relics and readable location plaques. These are both far more elusive. So much so that I only found a single relic during my playthrough. Although the station is explorable, it doesn’t change much from one shift to the next, simply seeing you run out of the door and into the conveniently parked police cruiser outside.
While The Precinct is driven by the need to bring down to crime syndicates, it falls into an unchanging cycle at an early stage. You’re able to choose a location to patrol, the length of your shift, and whether to go out on foot, in a vehicle, or use the helicopter to assist ground patrols. A shift lasts around 15 minutes, ending by returning to your desk and witnessing a breakdown of your actions. There’s a bit of friendly competition, as you’re also shown the amount of XP other units gained during their shift. Patrols are supposed to vary from ticketing illegally parked cars to cracking down on drug gangs, but regardless, even when patrolling on foot it won’t be long until you’re forced to summon a cruiser and pursue a reckless driver. It certainly tries hard to keep things exciting as possible, with crimes taking place on almost every other street.
Using the helicopter this isn’t as exciting as it may sound. The controls have been kept purposely simple, making it easy to manoeuvre while inadvertently removing some needed tact. You’re basically reduced to aiming the spotlight on speeding vehicles and requesting spike traps and blockades to bring perps to a standstill. Collide with a tall building, and you’ll merely bounce off it. Fine for keeping the pace flowing and the frustration level low, but not so much for those expecting realism.
Patrol vehicle handling feels far more accomplished, with even the basic police cruiser being quite weighty when thrown around corners. The city has been constructed in such a way that dead ends are uncommon, with most fences and walls breakable during pursuits. Cause a tailback and drivers will sit and wait patently while you manoeuvre around them, while pedestrians will always leap out of harm’s way. There’s no human roadkill here.
It takes a while to get into the groove of progressing the story. Each gang has lieutenants to flush out before taking on their head honcho, achieved by either finding evidence or periodically checking in at the local dive bar for info – one of the few indoor locations. Evidence simply turns up randomly during a patrol, sometimes dropped by suspects or gained just by ticketing illegally parked cars. Once enough has been gathered, a unique mission will appear on the daily roster. These are, essentially, boss fights against named individuals. If you’re lucky, you may even be treated to an explosion; a sight not seen here as often as you may expect. Gunfights involve getting into cover and aiming headshots manually, with ammo limited. Most of these battles end with a car chase before escorting the lieutenant back to base to be interrogated, revealing the next suspect.
Progression can halt suddenly, spending entire shifts with no new evidence whatsoever. I might be wrong, but it seems that only by reaching certain XP levels do unique events trigger (there’s also a string of murders to solve) which means a lot of shifts are spent going through the motions waiting for something new to happen. The ability to level up and unlock new skills does give something to focus on though, and there is a compulsion to max out as much XP per shift as possible by making the right choices and even taking down an extra perp while returning to base. Pro tip: the fire hydrant adjacent the station is often illegally blocked by a parked car.
Visually it’s pleasing, with attention clearly put into the reflections and lighting. The low camera gives a perfect view of the action, giving a clear view of the street ahead while purposely obscuring what’s around the next corner, helping to keep things lively and not too predictable. While the shop fronts are unique (featuring some delightfully subtle ‘80s pop culture references), many streets are very samey – Chinatown and key locations such as the stadium notwithstanding. Don’t expect much in the way of cut-scenes that use in-game character models either, as instead static character portraits are used. The voice acting is decent, and while the music is fitting, becoming more upbeat when time calls for it, it didn’t leave all that much of an impression. Classic ‘80s tunes wouldn’t have gone amiss; something the game’s seemingly modest budget didn’t allow for.
Looking through press releases, The Precinct is intended to be a “a love letter to classic cop movies” and that’s something I didn’t notice much evidence of. Sure, it has car chases and the occasional shootout (plus it’s possible to slide over the car’s bonnet!) but there isn’t much chemistry between Cordell and Kelly with our rookie lead being something of a blank slate. The station is oddly lacking in drama when there was potential for memorable scenes; a ruckus in the jailcells, a feud between officers, missing donuts – anything would have been better than the radio silence from your colleagues when punching in and out. The unscripted moments that do occasionally occur on the streets help salvage things, such as attending a mugging only to witness your cohorts engaged in a high-speed chase. When the time comes to looking back at The Precinct, hopefully this is what I’ll remember the most.
It’s easy to see what Fallen Tree Games wanted to achieve with The Precinct, mixing simulation with action, but my experience mostly skewed towards the former. Choose a patrol, arrest a few perps before becoming mixed up in a car chase, clock out. If it wasn’t for the destructible environments, optional street races, and the duck ‘n’ shoot firefights, it wouldn’t be all that far removed from the straightlaced likes of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and Highway Police Simulator. The foundations here are solid, and it certainly succeeds at making you feel like a handbook-abiding officer going about their job, but never did it make me feel like a badass, or even an individual for that matter. Just another cog in the machine going about their daily grind. In preparation of a sequel, which is something I would like to see happen, Fallen Tree Games definitely needs to watch a few more buddy cop movies.
Fallen Tree Games’ The Precinct is out 13th May on PS5, Xbox Series and PC. Published by Kwalee. A retail release is being handled by Microids.