Post by Tig on May 28, 2023 9:18:44 GMT -5
Contraband Police surrounds a fictitious communist totalitarian state of Acaristan and you play an unnamed commander of an entry point to your beloved mother country. Your daily tasks include vehicle and ID checks and finding contraband that may be smuggled therein. In the campaign, the occasional mission or incident pops up where you have to find someone or something and gunfire usually ensues. This leads to the game's low point with lackluster combat and poor movement mechanics, but the surrounding game is still a blast.
It sounds boring, and it should be, as you get a sense of the doldrums and repetition of life as a border guard. Developer Crazy Rocks did an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the less-than-dynamic true life of law enforcement that surrounds routine, paperwork, and mundane tasks. What they also nailed was vehicle searches. As a former law enforcement officer I found the cramped vehicle interiors where your camera is limited in movement and you have to shift about in the car to look under or between something was spot on. There are many nooks and crannies for smugglers to hide their booty and it's aggravatingly easy to miss something. Likewise, just going over the paperwork with your subject, you can easily miss a name misspelling or a registration number being off by one character. As the game progresses you feel yourself getting sharper and catching minute details more readily. There is a perception check function you can use when you're getting tired or having trouble deciphering a long name. It has limited uses but it's great in a pinch.
Then the alarm sounds and the rebels attacking your great state come flowing from the hills and you have to defend your tiny outpost. You can upgrade your checkpoint with better guards and equip them, which helps later in the game as the rebels attack in greater numbers. The combat is disappointingly basic, however, and I mean it's a half-step above Space Invaders from 1978. Bad guys will try to run to cover, even flank you, but when they take a shot they stand perfectly still for several seconds. Their aim is atrocious and I've walked through crossfire at point blank range unscathed several times. I'm past the halfway point and haven't upgraded from my pistol because I'm nailing headshots with it from across the map due to the sights being static and the target holding perfectly still.
The investigations missions are also a bit disappointing. There's a murder at a tavern and you're supposed to question everyone and determine the killer. The alibis don't add or subtract from anyone's guilt and the "crime scene" is pointless. In the end you randomly pick among six people or go to YouTube to find the answer as simple logic is lacking entirely. Add to this muddy graphics and stiff character movements and it's easy to lay some hate on this game, but you shouldn't.
It's not perfect but the actual checkpoint itself is a wonderful 3D puzzle of seek and find that has a hard time getting old. Every vehicle is different, every driver responding in different ways, and the occasional pursuit breaking out turns the game into COPS: Russia very quickly. I'm enjoying the game and I will continue to repress the rebels and ensure the safety and prosperity for my beloved nation. Come, comrades, join us, for the good of Acaristan!
It sounds boring, and it should be, as you get a sense of the doldrums and repetition of life as a border guard. Developer Crazy Rocks did an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the less-than-dynamic true life of law enforcement that surrounds routine, paperwork, and mundane tasks. What they also nailed was vehicle searches. As a former law enforcement officer I found the cramped vehicle interiors where your camera is limited in movement and you have to shift about in the car to look under or between something was spot on. There are many nooks and crannies for smugglers to hide their booty and it's aggravatingly easy to miss something. Likewise, just going over the paperwork with your subject, you can easily miss a name misspelling or a registration number being off by one character. As the game progresses you feel yourself getting sharper and catching minute details more readily. There is a perception check function you can use when you're getting tired or having trouble deciphering a long name. It has limited uses but it's great in a pinch.
Then the alarm sounds and the rebels attacking your great state come flowing from the hills and you have to defend your tiny outpost. You can upgrade your checkpoint with better guards and equip them, which helps later in the game as the rebels attack in greater numbers. The combat is disappointingly basic, however, and I mean it's a half-step above Space Invaders from 1978. Bad guys will try to run to cover, even flank you, but when they take a shot they stand perfectly still for several seconds. Their aim is atrocious and I've walked through crossfire at point blank range unscathed several times. I'm past the halfway point and haven't upgraded from my pistol because I'm nailing headshots with it from across the map due to the sights being static and the target holding perfectly still.
The investigations missions are also a bit disappointing. There's a murder at a tavern and you're supposed to question everyone and determine the killer. The alibis don't add or subtract from anyone's guilt and the "crime scene" is pointless. In the end you randomly pick among six people or go to YouTube to find the answer as simple logic is lacking entirely. Add to this muddy graphics and stiff character movements and it's easy to lay some hate on this game, but you shouldn't.
It's not perfect but the actual checkpoint itself is a wonderful 3D puzzle of seek and find that has a hard time getting old. Every vehicle is different, every driver responding in different ways, and the occasional pursuit breaking out turns the game into COPS: Russia very quickly. I'm enjoying the game and I will continue to repress the rebels and ensure the safety and prosperity for my beloved nation. Come, comrades, join us, for the good of Acaristan!