Summary

Set in the fictitious Averno City, The Precinct is a police simulator where you play as rookie, Nick Cordell Jr, the son of the legendary Chief Cordell, who met his untimely death. Learn the streets as you walk the beat, memorize your "rook book" front to back, work with the detectives, and climb the ranks – you have big shoes to fill!

Plotline

The Precinct kicks things off with your very first rollcall – this is where you’ll learn about your character’s, Officer Nick Cordell Jr’s, backstory, including the fact that his dad was Chief Cordell, the legendary Chief of Police for the Averno City Police Department (ACPD), who was unfortunately gunned down by a mystery assailant.

Of course, as the rookie, your training includes doing everything a cop would need to do, from patrols to ticketing traffic violators, to even thrilling car chases and, better yet, helicopter chases... well, you’re in the helicopter and the criminal is in a car. While you’re out and about performing your normal duties, you’ll be occasionally roped in to help the detectives take down criminal organizations that will hopefully make the city safer… perhaps safe enough for any scared witnesses of your father’s murder to finally decide to speak up.

Gameplay

Being a rookie, you’ll need to go through all the basics before you’re fit to go out on your own… though, at that point, your mentor would become your partner instead – blame the Watch Commander for pairing you both together. This part of the training doubles well as a tutorial for the player to learn everything there is to learn about being a cop in Averno City.

Granted that the devs had to simplify parts in the actual rook book, I’d say they did a very good job. You see, unlike in Grand Theft Auto where you can basically do whatever you want as long as you don’t get caught – you have no such liberty here. As a cop, you’re supposed to be held to a higher standard, after all. This means that not all criminals can be dealt with the same way.

A compliant criminal can’t be shot at, for instance, and even if he decides to throw a punch, you can’t just tase him or beat him up with your baton. The game takes police brutality seriously here, and any infraction will cost you, though it won’t immediately result in a suspension from the force (a.k.a. a game over). However, if a vandal, which should be slapped with a fine, decides to leg it, then he has committed an arrestable offense and needs to be booked.

You’ll get to choose which assignments to take, especially once you’ve upgraded yourself to P1 and above (a.k.a. graduated from being the “boot”). These assignments will usually have you patrol certain districts within the city limits, and some may even restrict what you can do, such as patrolling strictly on foot or focusing on issuing parking tickets. From time to time, dispatch may call out some nearby criminal events that you can then decide to respond to, regardless of your assignment, though, you’ll usually get a fairly limited time to reach said location.

For me, at least, it’s surprising how many criminal events I respond to resulted in a chase – a foot chase, a car chase, or a foot chase that turned into a car chase… it doesn’t matter. All that matters is you’ll likely end up doing a whole lot of running and driving. It’s fun, though – you get to tackle them if you time it right and get close enough, and if you have the skill upgrade, which allows you to refresh your stamina while you’re using it, you can really do pretty well in foot chases. It only gets tricky once the criminal jacks someone’s car and everything turns into a high-speed car chase. Note that you can invest the points you get when leveling up in rank into unlocking new skills and upgrades. The game doesn’t really mention this ,but you can press U to open up the skill tree menu.

For chases, you also get to earn support tokens if you manage to stay on the tail of the criminal,l be it on foot, in a car, or in a helicopter. You can then use those tokens to call in additional support like attaching a police cruiser or officer to the chase, or having them set up spike traps at some location – unfortunately, you don’t get to choose where. Personally, I find driving in this game a lot harder than in real life so the extra support helps. The car just feels too… “drifty” and it swerves a lot even when I’m trying to keep it still.

However, there are times when the perp decides to up the ante, not with a chase, but with weapons. They may bust out their guns and start shooting. Some may even grab a passerby and hold him or her hostage. In this case, lethal fire is totally allowed, but now, it’s all about trying to minimize collateral damage and not getting yourself killed. The shooting mechanism in this game seems a bit off though, since it looks like the devs designed it to be more joystick-friendly for those playing on controllers. But if you’re on keyboard and mouse like me, it does feel off.

Finding cover is also crucial here. Getting caught out in the open would guarantee that you’ll end up riddled with bullets. However, knowing when to break cover and get a few shots off is important too. Ammo is limited as well. Although there is a way to have them refilled, it can be a hassle sometimes if you’re parked way back. For scripted and, sometimes, instanced scenarios, such as during boss-level gunfights, the game made things easier for you by strategically placing ammo crates.

Once the perp (or perps) is caught, you will then have to read them their rights – or risk a demerit – and then decide what crimes to book them for. Note that considering what they have done, including those they might have done while escaping arrest, they can rack up quite the rap sheet, so if you don’t want to deal with the hassle, you can just let Kelly, your mentor, handle it for you. However, if you do decide to take charge and earn the experience points for yourself, know that you need to book them for the right crimes – and only the right ones – since any incorrect charges will result in a demerit.

Doing cop things is fun in this game, but there’s a bit of a bonus for those who enjoy some puzzles with their games. In The Precinct, you’re tasked with finding and recovering stolen museum artifacts. These artifacts are usually found in a sealed briefcase with a 4-digit passcode that you’ll need to crack. The thief in question, who calls him/herself The Seraph’s Prince, will leave a clue, often containing some riddle, that you’ll need to solve to get the passcode. As you collect the artifacts, you’ll eventually learn more about this thief and his/her obsession over the museum curator, Spencer I. Sharp. If you love the thrill of a chase but you want other racers to pit your skills against, well, there’s also an undercover angle for you to be street racing at night.

As fun as the game is, The Precinct does have a few glitches here and there that mostly pop up whenever criminals act unexpectedly. For instance, criminals who acted suspiciously while driving could end up caught after a foot chase, but at that point, you can’t order them to open their trunks even if their car is just a short while away. This is the same for criminals who ditched their vehicles and stole another’s. Interactive points that are too close together can also sometimes be a hassle to accurately target, especially when collecting evidence is involved. That said, it’s not really a huge issue considering the stellar overall experience.

Graphics/ Sound

The Precinct captures the gritty atmosphere of a crime-ridden 1980s city with a bold, stylized look. The game uses a top-down isometric view paired with a cel-shaded aesthetic, giving everything—from flickering neon signs to rain-slicked streets—a unique, almost comic-book vibe. It’s clear the developers drew inspiration from classic cop films and retro urban settings, and it shows in the way Averno City feels alive with detail.

In terms of sound, the game features the ambiance, various sound effects, and even quality voice acting for all the important characters in the game that successfully provide players with an incredibly immersive experience from start to finish. You could be arresting a criminal, for instance, and hear the distinctive pop, pop, pop sound of gunfire nearby only to find another crime in progress when you rushed to the scene.

Conclusion

A game that is as impactful as it is fun, The Precinct is a police simulator that provides players with a fairly realistic experience of being a cop in a fictitious city... well, at least within the context of a video game. The developers even took pains to ensure that they cover as many grievances the public has about real-life policing as possible. As a massive fan of cop procedurals with a recent renewed obsession over Season 7 of the hit cop dramedy, The Rookie, I’m completely head over heels in love with this game even with the minor issues mentioned.