This is The Police

Law and disorder in Freeburg City

- Stephen Ashby

A police chief a few months from retirement. A corrupt and sleazy mayor. Mob bosses running the city. A gentle jazz soundtrack. Yes, this is a list of cop drama clichés, but they are also the foundations of This Is The Police’s storyline. Against the odds, this isn’t entirely a bad thing.

This Is The Police revels in these tropes. The chief of police smokes cigars, has a gruff voice and suffers from what we will delicately describe as an ‘over-reliance’ on painkillers. The mayor swans around in tennis whites. There are moustaches all over the gaff. Weappy Studios has turned every cliché up to 11, and for the most part, they get away with it. This is mainly because the game is incredibly stylish. The design is intentionally simplistic, with few details and an angular aesthetic. Cut scenes play out in comic book like panels, with simple animations, copious use of shadows and excellent voice overs. Characters don’t have faces, but features like glasses or a beard stand out.

It all works really well, partly thanks to the excellent vocal performances, such as Duke Nukem’s voice actor, Jon St. John, who voices brilliantly realised police chief Jack Boyd. You’ll spend most of your time listening to his grizzled lines, and he carries the narrative effortlessly. With time you’ll start to enjoy the company of the tired, burnt-out Boyd as he serves out his final days in the bureau before a forced retirement.

Being the boss