Welcome to the city of Brighton! Join the police force of this fictitious American city and experience the day to day life of a police officer.
First released in Early Access on June 17, 2021, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is an open-world simulation game developed and published by Bigmoon Entertainment. The player takes the role of a police officer and must perform the standard day-to-day duty of an officer including giving out tickets and responding to situations all while having to work their job responsibly and earing a good neighborhood reputation. The game has two modes, an experienced mode for those who want a very realistic experience, and a casual mode for those who want a far more laid-back experience without realistic "moment's notice" thinking.
It can be found here
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This game provides examples of:
- Acceptable Breaks from Reality: The more realistic aspects of police work are either simplified or excised often for gameplay convenience, even more so in Casual Mode:
- You don't have to escort subjects you arrest to the police station. You can just handcuff them, call for backup, and go on your merry way.
- Asides from the officers in the police station, the ones from arrest transports, and your partner during multiplayer, you're pretty much the only officer seen dealing with various things in the city. Even for major accidents or crimes like robbery.
- Anti-Frustration Features: In the game settings, you can adjust various aspects to make the game easier for you, like like receiving intuition feedback or ignoring crimes committed by you. Casual Mode has all of these options turned on by default.
- You don't have to worry about having to replay your entire shift from damaging vehicles or running over civilians (you'll just phase right through them) while driving in Casual Mode, in case you need to get the controls down or just can't avoid crashing into things. Like the other options, this can be turned on or off.
- The police car offers cruise control when driving so the only thing the player needs to focus on is steering.
- Once threatened or hit with a stun gun, a suspect will be fully compliant with further orders as opposed to continuing to resist arrest.
- Artistic License – Law Enforcement: The city of Brighton is stated to take place somewhere in the East Coast of the United States and the game is by-the-books in regards to procedure, so some liberties are noticeable.
- Normally in the United States, police do not perform drug and DUI tests on subjects of minor traffic accidents. In this game, drug and DUI tests are one of the necessary steps to take when interfacing with subjects of minor accidents. A case of Creator's Culture Carryover is likely at play here: Bigmoon Entertainment is based in Portugal, and performing drug and alcohol tests on people involved in road accidents is a common practice in many European countries.
- You can use the radar gun to report drivers who are going as little as 1 mile over the speed limit and it will count as valid with no points being taken off for conduct. Although the police in real life are technically legally able to pull drivers over and issue tickets for it, the vast majority of officers in real life aren't going to waste their time over something that small, especially since it's very easy for the ticketed driver to contest it in court. While it varies by state, it's generally recommended that the tolerance for speeding be no less than five miles over the speed limit.
- Bland-Name Product: The actual cars in the game are fully fictitious brands. Even the police car which is clearly modeled after the Ford Crown Victoria, the most popular American model for police cars, does not show a Ford logo. In addition, everyone has insurance from the fictitious Newton Valley Insurance company.
- From Bad to Worse: Due to the nature of the game, this can happen occasionally. You could be dealing with a major accident when another one happens close-by, or someone could even crash into the same vehicles already involved in said accident.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: Casual Mode and Simulation Mode.
- Pet the Dog: When you see someone commit a violation, like littering, you can choose to just give them a verbal warning instead of giving a ticket.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: If you don't mind losing Conduct Points, you can treat civilians like dirt, falsely arresting them and even tasing them with your stun gun. Casual Mode takes this further and gives you more leeway when it comes to violations, even allowing you to crash into other vehicles and damage your patrol car (the damage being cosmetic in this mode) with no punishment.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: You start out with 100 Conduct Points, which goes down any time you break a law, violate procedure, or otherwise act in a way unbecoming of a police officer. These affect how much your Shift Points get turned into experience points, with you getting less experience the less Conduct Points you have. Losing all 100 conduct points will result in you getting fired and having to replay your shift. Simulation Mode takes this further by being much more strict with how you conduct yourself.
- Even with the benefits of Casual Mode, you won't be able to get away with shooting your firearm at a pedestrian, since it will result in your shift immediately ending (and subsequently getting arrested according to the handbook) regardless of how much Conduct Points you have.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The city of Brighton is a fictional metropolis located on the East Coast of the United States but as for exactly where is not mentioned. In fact even the state the city is located in is known as the "State of Franklin".
