Beat Cop Review (Switch)

good
key review info
  • Game: Beat Cop
  • Platform: Switch
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
  • Reviewed on:

If you're over 25, then you've most likely gone through the "Saturday night movie with the whole family on your only TV" era.
Those were captivating moments that had their own unique charm, a charm further emphasized by the fact that one out of four of those movies were always cop movies or cop shows, most likely from the 80s.

That's precisely the same feeling the Beat Cop tried emulating when it launched in March of 2017, and it seems that there are plenty of players out there that appreciated it enough for the title to merit a 2019 release for the Switch platform.

The premise

So for those of you who haven't played the game (you should),  you play as police officer Jack Kelly who's been demoted down to the NYPD because of a case involving high-profile characters and some missing diamonds.

The main story takes place over 21 in-game days, where you must solve the main case, as well as attend to your daily police duties (solving crimes, giving tickets, etc.), while also trying to deal with personal problems (friends, ex-wife needing alimony, etc) While this may make Beat Cop sound like a simple time management game with a few extra steps, those "few extra steps" are quite plenty, and the game won't seem like a grinding fest at all.

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Of course, each day has its own theme, and they sometimes feel like episodes in a cop TV show that follows the "villain of the week" formulae, and if you've watched your fair share of movies when you were younger, then you'll also catch quite a few references here and there (Read Heat, The Godfather, etc.)

So predictable and stereotypical that it is funny

Staying true to the 80s theme, the Beat Cop boasts an art style similar to the games you'd see in the arcades of those times. More so, the environment is designed to be as 80s as possible, as the city is designed to include elements such as movie theatres that are showing Top Gun, a place called "Moonwalk" seems to be the hottest thing yet, and the streets are filled with vintage cars.

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The 80s feel is further enhanced by the characters you meet and the dialogue you have with other people, although admittedly if it weren't for the 80s settings, these stereotypes might be considered offensive by today's standards. For example, black people use ghetto speech and are involved in gang activities; the Italians run a pizza restaurant as a cover for their mob activities, Arabs run electronics stores and the cops sure love their donuts.

The name of the game, "Beat Cop" is also a bit of a foreshadowing of what's to come, since occasions to turn dirty arise at every corner. You have an alignment bar that fills out at the end of the day depending on the actions you take. This includes the "Police" bar which is theoretically the only bar you should ever try to fill out, but the story isn't designed to allow you to make any neutral decisions. This means that doing your job will usually involve favoring the Mafia and angering the gangs, or vice-versa, since gaining a reputation with one criminal faction usually means losing reputation with the other.

Tons of moments to laugh about

Beat Cop is full of hilarious moments that come in the form of dialogues between you and the various people you meet, as well as Jack Kelly's thoughts. Although there is no audio dialogue, you can almost imagine the character's voices spewing out the nonsense they go on and on about, and they are driven by such stereotypical desires and plots that despite being predictable, they are impossible not to love.

The Switch version of the game

I've played the game before on PC, and I have t admit that Beat Cop controls feel way clunkier when trying to use the Switch. While the PC version felt like a simple point-and-click title, the Switch version is a whole other story. You can't help getting the feeling that it gets confusing sometimes trying to remember what each button does, and during your first days, you may even lose some precious day-time cycling through the various buttons trying to remember each command.


The Good

  • The nostalgia-inducing graphics
  • Good OST
  • Hilarious dialogue
  • Neat reputation system
  • The hilarious screensaver

The Bad

  • The Switch version's controls are a bit counter-intuitive.
  • 8 hours of game time is not enough

Conclusion

Before starting Beat Cop you get a brief disclosure as to what the purpose of the game is, and it states that it tries to be a homage to the police shows and movies from 80s' Hollywood. The graphics style, soundtrack, general direction of the story and the crude and extremely politically unfriendly dialogue makes the game stay true to its intentions. While the controls may not be the best, the story and dialogue stay the same, and if that's what you're in for, then that will just be a minor oversight.
story 8
gameplay 6
concept 9
graphics 7
audio 8
multiplayer 0
final rating 7.5
Editor's review
good
 
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Beat Cop Gallery (19 Images)

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