Police Simulator: Patrol Officers

As far as simulators go, it's not the worst. To the game's credit, it does offer the dull, mundane day-to-day routine that a lot of actual police officers call a career. If you want to spend hours writing tickets and slowly progressing in a meaningless career in law enforcement, you can do it here without the risk of being vilified on social media. But it could have been so much more had the systems in play been deeper and more robust, not to mention, fun. Instead, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is a bit of a buggy mess that feels half-baked and not ready for patrol just yet. Back to the academy with this one.

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is a game that should not have been made. It provides a core gameplay experience that is neither realistic enough to be a simulation nor interesting enough to be an actual game. At the same time, it unironically tries to cater to a fantasy that positions everyday people as enemies to be dealt with. Shamelessly borrowing the trappings of the Grand Theft Auto series without any of the satirical overtones leads to an unsettlingly pro-violence experience. It is even difficult to enjoy the game’s impressive environmental design thanks to a litany of visual glitches. Police Simulator: Patrol Officers misses the mark in almost every regard.

It’s a unique mix of challenging, fun, repetitive, and broken gameplay that somehow grows on you.