Enforcing the Law: Simulator Style

Recently Felix Games was offered a steam key to Enforce: Police Crime Action, to test and try out, review and break! And that is exactly what we have done.

A little overview; Enforcer is a “life-simulator” game, with an emphasis on the police force side of things. You are a police officer, starting out in a new little mountain town, and the aim is to advance your career in the force with the ultimate goal of being the chief. However, in addition to this you can also live your life, designing your home, having fun with your pals and visiting the town. Lastly since this game is a simulator, everything is done with hyperrealism (as far as possible). Right now the game is in beta, so lots of features are currently unimplemented and there are still lots and lots of bugs.

When I was offered this game I was super excited. I get to play as a police officer (maybe rampage a bit, GTA style), as well as do some of that stuff that makes the Sims so fun. However, almost never playing any simulator games I did not know exactly what to expect.

I jumped into the game as Frank (the most generic policeman name ever!), and saw how efficient the existing police force was in my town. After pulling out my sub-machine gun and gunning down some people, I came to the conclusion that they were pretty useless. No sirens, no calls not even the bystanders seemed to care! Hmm, I definitely would not be relying on my colleagues here. So I promptly changed into my uniform and started policing. As I drove my car into town, I immediately got a call to pick up a drunk who had been causing problems. After scanning my HUD I realised that I could find this menace on the minimap. And So I did. However, midway through my handling of this rowdy character I was called in to take care of some murderer who was wondering the streets. I had to make the hard decision which one was the bigger menace to society, and in the end I decided that the drunkard definitely could cause more harm (also I was like right next to him so…yeah). However, when I tried to apprehend him and send him to the can, the game crashed. Maybe the game judged me on my ethics?

Oh well, so I started the game up again and tried to make the good choices. This time I was trying to arrest some woman who had stolen from the bank. Not only did I end up chasing her for about a mile, the game ended up crashing once again when I tried to send her to jail. So it wasn’t my choices!

The experience of the constant crashing really ruined the game for me, especially since it was one of the major mechanics of the game that caused the crash, meaning that I almost couldn’t play.

So presently I am pausing the game and waiting for it to be in a better state before I play it again. Currently, the AI is quite stupid, there are quite a few bugs and lots of crashing. I mean, the potential is definitely there. I felt really badass (yes okay I know I am sad) when I was breathalysing people and giving them tickets, but on the other hand I couldn’t really send them to jail because the game would then crash.

So I would advise y’all, as much as you love simulator games, to wait this one out. The game will be awesome, but not in its present state.