Beat Cop - Review

I recently finished playing Hong Kong Massacre.  While making the purchase other games were suggested to me, including Beat Cop.  A pixelated point-and-click adventure about being a beat cop.  It seemed like an interesting game and thought why not give it a go.


I like doughnuts.  Some admittedly are a lot better than others.  Donuts have become the latest food trend, along with burritos, in Cork city (where I live). There are tons of donut shops, which all offer delicious looking donuts with creative fillings, but a lot of them fall short of expectation, being a bit dry or made from mediocre dough. However, for any doughnut lovers reading this you know it takes something special to make a truly tasty doughnut.  Playing Beat Cop I found myself asking was it enough to be considered a tasty doughnut?

Story


The storytelling mechanic is interesting and perhaps even unique.  The game offers you a quick set of storyboards that set the premise for the game.  However, if you miss this somehow and want to know the entire idea of the game including the story just listen to the track 'It's Gonna Change The Game'. The game is set in the eighties and you take on the role of Detective Jack Kelly, he is called to a Senator's house to stop a robbery, however, things go awry.   Kelly is quickly demoted to a beat cop after being suspected of the theft.   It sounds interesting, right?  It is but starts to falter from this point onwards.  The game has you deal with the mundanity of your day to day duties, keeping the peace with the people including people, store owners, and local gangs.  Unfortunately, it loses sight of the main story, it jumps in and out of it and can be easy to miss certain parts.


Overall the idea is interesting but is not executed very well.  The game has multiple endings none of which left me feeling satisfied.  When I tried to complete my final day I was unable to do anything which essentially meant I had to be a beat cop until the end of my days.  I feel the story could have been a lot stronger if it decided to focus either on the main story or being a beat cop, as overall it is not very well balanced.

Visuals

I love the visuals in the game!  I'm always amazed when a pixelated game manages to have so much detail in it.   There is graffiti on the walls, there are fumes from traffic, the walls of buildings look beaten up.  Easily the strongest part of the game is the visuals it provides.  They manage to be fun, quirky and gritty.  It feels like a living world, which for a pixelated game is quite impressive.


Overall the visuals are amazing and help create an impressive world, even if it is only one street.


Music

The score is a blend of Beastie Boys, cop show music and old retro games from the eighties and nineties.  The score was composed by Piotr Musial, who works include Witcher 3, This War of Mine and one of my favorite games of last year Frost Punk.  Working along with Musial are composers Patryk Grzeszczuk and William Bradford


The score comes in at around twenty minutes long and features a handful of tracks.  My favorites being, 'Beat Cop Theme', 'Corpus Delicti' and 'Get Even'.  Overall the soundtrack isn't especially amazing but certainly isn't the worst.

Gameplay


Beat Cop is a pixelated point-and-click game. The gameplay is a bit of a mixed bag, in a similar way to the story itself.  Each day you will get a briefing as to what you need to achieve that day.  Some days are okay, others are a bit more awkward.  For example, you might need to write ten parking tickets, other days you might have to write five tickets for broken lights, four for damaged tires and get half of them towed.  This is not to mention you will have to deal with requests from people.  There is also having to deal with gang requests, you can ignore them or help them, no matter what you do something will have to be sacrificed.   Time management is key.


One review I read was fairly negative and disapproved of the game for its amount of language, racism, and general bigotry.  It is important to remember this game was set in the eighties where much of this did in fact exist.  It doesn't mean it was right but it can't be ignored either.  I don't think the aim of the studio was to be political, but simply to highlight how some things were and to a degree still are now.


The beat you have is just one street, but with so much happening that is more than enough.  One of the biggest things you will do is write tickets, which is pretty mundane and can take time.  Playing you have the choice of writing up false tickets to hit your quota, and even take bribes to turn a blind eye, sometimes you will get away with it other times it affects your pay packet.  The gang requests I feel are some of the toughest because it is difficult to toe the line and keep everyone happy.  I never got the gangs to completely hate me fully if I had I think it would have been detrimental to my health.


I did have a number of issues with the gameplay.  If a robbery occurred at the Hi-Fi Store ninety percent of the time they would get away.  This is due to it being right at the end of your beat and the thief would run off screen straight away.  Occasionally the game would glitch not registering what I had done, or halfway through one day all the parked disappeared and I couldn't hit my ticket quota. Eating can help restore your stamina but I felt it was unnecessary as I never saw any improvement.  Some days are almost carbon copies of each other making it feel like a bit of a slog at times.

Overall there are some interesting elements to the gameplay but similar to the story it seems to spend too much having you write tickets and not enough time working on things that matter.

Final Thoughts

After ten hours of playing how did I feel?  Meh.  The game has potential but both story and gameplay need a bit of work.  The visuals are great, and the music is okay.  It's not the worst game in the world but never seems to realise its potential.  This one scrapes a 3 out of 5

Life Is Strange - Review

Back in late 2015 I played the opening chapters of Life is Strange, I had meant to go back & play the game in its entirety but as normal got distracted by other games.  Recently I was remind about the game & thought now was a good to time to get playing it.  The biggest reason for wanting to play the game was that I had always wanted to know what it would be like to be an awkward teenage girl with time manipulating powers.  I also quite like episodic style games, it reminds me of watching a TV show.


As we all know doughnuts are awesome, of course if you say otherwise, you are dead to me.  I really like having them with a cup of tea or coffee it just feels like a perfect match.  One of my favorite types of doughnuts are apple & custard filled ones.  The only thing that can be disappointing is that sometimes you bite into them & there is almost no filling at all.  While playing Life Is Strange I found myself asking was this a tasty doughnut so full of stuff it was dripping off my chin or was it just dry & disappointing.

There are many characters in Life is Strange, some likable, some not so likable. The main character is Max who is; kind, caring, shy, & loves photography.  Then there is her best friend Chloe who is; self centered, angry, childish & is kind of a punk rocker.  There is Kate, who is; quiet, troubled, sweet & comes from a heavily religious family.  Let's not forget the Queen Bee - Victoria, who is, lets say not very nice.


The biggest part of the game is the story, like with any previous reviews I have done I will try to keep it all spoiler free.  That being said I will spend a little time discussing each of the five episodes as they really are the meat of what makes up the game, without further ado here they are:


Episode 1 - Chrysalis


Enter Max Caulfield, who is returning to Arcadia Bay after living in Seattle for the last few years. She loves photography & Blackwell Academy is one of the best places in the country to study it. After a slightly dramatic experience Max discovers she has the ability to manipulate time, as we all know nothing bad can ever happen from doing this.  Of course if this was not enough Max needs to adjust to life at Blackwell, she manages to make some friends & enemies straight away.  She also manages to be reunited with her best friend Chloe that she had to leave behind years ago (which she mentions, a lot).  The end of episode one is rather intense & the whole episode feels absolutely jam packed but in a good way.


Episode 2 - Out of Time


Max is still reeling after episode one but like a trooper she is determined to move forward.  We find out pretty quickly that Victoria is not only Queen Bee but is also a massive beeatch!  The best part about this episode is that we get to learn about Kate who is probably my favorite character next to Max.  Kate is having a tough time of things & is clearly being bullied.  We also & unfortunately get to learn more about Chloe who I don't know if it is just me but does not come across as a very likable character.  This episode is a lot slower paced but does help to round out some characters & gives you a better idea of both Arcadia Bay & Blackwell Academy.


Episode 3 - Chaos Theory


Max needs to break out of Blackwell Academy so she & Chloe can then break into Blackwell Academy before later breaking out of Blackwell Academy - say what?  The missing girl Rachel Amber is discussed more & you are trying to slowly workout what happened to her & how it is linked to Blackwell Academy.  Max being the kind person she is tries to help Chloe with her problems but inadvertently creates some dire consequences.  The end of the episode gets really interesting & takes a surprising turn.


Episode 4 - Dark Room


The start of episode 4 is quite heartbreaking, both Max & Chloe have to suffer more pain than they can possibly endure.  Max as always does her best but is met with a grim decision.  We get an insight into Chloe's family & the kind of people they are.  A darker shadow grows over Arcadia Bay & it seems like there is no way to lift it, some shocking discoveries are made.  There are some man size beat downs, a crazy pool party & a killer ending to episode four.


Episode 5 - Polarised


Things go from bad to worse & it's hard to see how Max can get out of things this time.  Max must go above & beyond to do all she can to make things right.  We go back to the past & forward onto what can only be hoped is a better future, but at what cost?  The lines of reality blur & it becomes harder for Max to know what to do next.  If this was not enough already there is death everywhere.  There is only one way to fix everything but will Max be able to do it?

When I first started playing Life Is Strange I found it to be a little under whelming visually, it just looked really plain & overly simple.  Part way through the first episode I realised how wrong I was, the characters & backgrounds all look hand painted.  If you really look at the characters you can almost see the different brush strokes that make them up & give a great artistic look.  Arcadia Bay looks like a sleepy town that has fallen on some tough times but there is still a beauty there.


Throughout the game Max has the opportunity to take pictures of certain things, I really liked this as it forced you to slow down & take a moment to enjoy the visual delights of the game.  I was glad my first impressions were proven wrong, I feel games like these mean they will never need to be remastered.

The music in the game has a very indie folk sound & features a lot of acoustic guitar, as the game darkens so does the music but the acoustic sound is always present.  While the style of music is not really for me, probably due to years being spent in Galway & being unable to move with out falling over someone playing an acoustic guitar I cannot fault the musical style chosen for the game as it suits the game really well.

The musical score is split into two parts; the main composition & licensed songs.  The main part is assembled by French composer Johnathan Morali who has worked on a number of film scores including; Möbius, Long Way North & The Adopted.  

Outside of this he is also part of the group Syd Matters, the other members are; Jean-Yves Lozac'h, Olivier Marguerit, Remi Alexandre, Clement Carle.  Their albums include; A Whisper & A Sigh, Some Day We Will Foresee Obstacles, Ghost Days & Brotherocean.

The artists who make up the licensed songs are; Syd Matters, José González, Angus & Julia Stone, Sparklehorse, Local Natives, alt-J, Breton, Bright Eyes, Mud Flow, Message to Bears, Amanda Palmer, Mogwai & Foals.

  

Between the main composition & licensed score the game boasts over 3 hours worth of music, my favorite pieces included; 'Track 7', 'Track 19', 'Track 31', 'Timeless', 'Max & Chloe' & 'Obstacles - by Syd Matters'.

As with any episodic game it is more about the story than the gameplay itself.  That being said there is definitely more to do than in most games using this style which was refreshing.  The ability to go back & change certain decisions was interesting & for the most part I enjoyed, however I did feel on occasion there was certain lack of control when rewinding time.


There were a number of times in episode 2 that I got a little annoyed with what you were asked to do by Chloe & if anything just soured my feeling towards the character.  I had a helluva a hard time hearing Chloe say 'hella' every 5 minutes. I realise teenagers can use annoy phrases a lot but come on.


I am sure this will sound like a weird complaint but when two characters were standing beside each other & you went to talk to one of them the other never seemed to notice even if you were talking about them.


While the picture taking element was really interesting & added depth to the game I felt the last two to be really awkward & really helped disrupt the atmosphere of what was happening in the game.


When the ending came I had mixed feelings about, I didn't hate it but there was something that nagged at me.  It's like when you have a loose tooth & keep running your tongue over it, you know you shouldn't but you do anyway.




So after 15 hours of playing how do I feel about Life Is Strange?  Was it the best game in the world? No, but it was far from the worst, there was some interesting concepts, great characters & the music was in sync with the game.  Unfortunately a slightly under developed ending, one really annoying character & some off putting gameplay stopped it being all it could be.  Perhaps the follow up can rewind back time & correct some of these issues. Overall I would score it 3 out of 5