The Precinct Review

For the past week or so, I’ve had the pleasure of delving into The Precinct for our full review and common-sense parent’s guide. This one has a few rough edges, but for those looking for an action-heavy police procedural you should certainly look into it.

I’ve been excited for the release of The Precinct since I first saw Fallen Tree Games posting about it on Tik Tok quite some time ago. For a relatively small team, players should temper expectations a little here, but it’s one that I’ve definitely had fun with.

As ever, you can find our full review for The Precinct just here, alongside our common-sense parent’s guide. So, if you want to know if The Precinct is any good, or if it’s safe for kids, read on below. As the new trailer is age-restricted, you can find it over on YouTube.

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The Basics – What is The Precinct About?

In the Precinct you’ll play as Officer Cordell Jr. A rookie cop in the dirty, neon-soaked streets of Averno City. As a low down beat cop in the ACPD’s finest, you’ll begin with chasing down a known fugitive, under the watchful eye of old-hand Officer Kelly.

The introduction and buddy systems gives a great intro to the mechanics you’ll be using to police Averno’s mean streets. Given the nature of the new-to-the-force training this blends seamlessly into the beginning of your adventure.

After returning to a regular beat, it won’t be long before you’re policing the streets on foot, as well as by patrol car and even helicopter. It feels a little odd that a rookie cop would be trusted to fly a helicopter over a densely populated area, but for the sake of gamification we’ll roll with it.

As your time on the force progresses, you’ll work your way to higher busts alongside the precinct’s detective team and maybe even one day, avenge the death of your father. Who knows, you might even just want to remain a beat cop for life, but where’s the fun in that.

Policing Averno – How Does it Work?

To clean up Averno, you’ll have a number of tools at your disposal. The system works a LOT like Police Simulator: Patrol Officers, though The Precinct is much more action oriented which is welcome.

To start with, you’ll have several radial menus which will allow you to select actions. This could be choosing which ticket to give a parked car, but it’ll also allow you to search, breathalyse and bust your perps in person. When arresting or fining a citizen, you’ll earn XP for picking the correct justifications, and lose it for conduct unbecoming an officer.

When you’re chasing, the radial menu also gives you support options. You’ll start with basic ones such as additional patrol cars or on-foot colleagues and spike strips. You’ll also unlock more support options as you level up. Support tokens are earned through performing well within chases, and let you bring it all to a close safely and without endangering the lawful Averno Citizens (if you can find any).

You’ll be able to find things to do on any beat, pretty quickly. This could be parking tickets, crimes you witness or crimes called in by 911 dispatch (though it’s also possible to turn those off). You’ll also be able to run plates and check IDs to find other arrestable offences.

Perps may give up on the spot. They may run. They could even begin a shoot out where you’ll have a slightly awkward but functional aiming system and a decent cover system as well. Whether you’re on foot, by car or helicopter, you’ll also have the option to try and talk them down – wearing down their resistance and leading (maybe) to them giving up.

Is The Precinct Safe for Kids?

The Precinct is rated by PEGI as an 18 and by the ESRB as T for Teen. This is a pretty large disparity and while I respect PEGI I’d definitely lean a little more towards the US rating.

The top-down view and the distance between players and violence makes it a fair amount less graphic than if it were a first- or third-person title. With that said, there is a substantial amount of violence in game, and this does include some blood as well as bad language and threats from those you’re arresting as well.

What I do like here is that Fallen Tree Games actively chose NOT to include a “choose your own morality” function, and players will be marked down for any conduct which goes against the ideals of the Averno City police department. This means that players are railroaded slightly, but it also means that the game doesn’t glorify what the developers refer to as the “ugly side of policing”.

It’s a tough one for sure, and it’s definitely not one I’d let our younger Micro-Bandits play currently. I might not personally wait until they are 18 to let them see it, but that’s a personal choice here.

The Run Down

Our Five-Point Quality Check for The Precinct

Gameplay – 4/5: Things run pretty well for Xbox and PC, but The Precinct does suffer somewhat from some slightly clunky controls. Arresting and cautioning mechanics are well thought out, but it can also be awkward sometimes to make sure you’re interacting with the right people and objects. If you can look past these, the faster action-oriented gameplay brings a lot as a police procedural. The Precinct takes concepts from titles such as Police Simulator and speeds them up well providing a good police sandbox to have some 80s fun with.

Visuals – 3/5: Overall this is pretty good, and I love the detail on the streets and environments, even being able to see partially inside buildings around the city really gives it a sense of depth. There are some visual glitches here and there though, and up in the chopper animations feel a little basic, but it hasn’t got in the way of gameplay.

Audio – 4/5: The soundtrack for The Precinct is exceptional, with some incredible 80s vibes really completing the “cop movie” experience. Voice acting is similarly well executed, though at times it will play the wrong dialogue (telling you perps are clean when they are wanted for a crime etc.).

Narrative – 4/5: I have definitely enjoyed the narrative here. It’s a little tropey – avenging your fallen police officer father – but again this leans in perfectly to the cop movies of the 80s which were not exactly trope averse. The story does slow a little at times, and pacing could be improved a little, but for me it has felt very faithful to source materials.

Replay – 5/5: There’s a great amount to be getting along with in The Precinct even as you start playing. This gets better with more crime responses, weapons and story unlocked as you go. What I love about the replay here is that it is so easy to drop into The Precinct for just one beat (though it’s really really hard to stop after that one beat), and you can customise it to fit whatever you feel like playing.

The Verdict

Is The Precinct Worth Grabbing?

Overall, our Pixel Bandits’ 10-04 score for The Precinct is a solid 8 / 10. This one pitched itself as a love letter to the cop movies of the 80s. Having grown up with Axel Foley, Riggs, Detective Turner and the various ranks of Mahoney I think they really nailed that feeling. While it’s definitely rough around the edges, if you can look past slightly clunky controls and a slow story, it’s still one to look at.

I still love Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and its slower, methodical gameplay. The Precinct provides an excellent blend of police procedural mixed with the action of Grand Theft Auto. It has a little awkwardness in places, but the policing mechanics and neon streets of Averno more than make up for them.

While it could do with a little work, the five-person team at Fallen Tree Games have done an outstanding job here. I really enjoyed American Fugitive and it’s clear that they have carried that experience through to The Precinct. There’s been some real thought here as well to modern sensitivities regarding policing, and how to make a game which reinforces what the team see as “proper” policing.

Fallen Tree’s goal was “to build a living, breathing city that never sleeps—alive with patrol calls, foot chases, and moment-to-moment decisions” and I have to say – 10-04 Officers. while there’s some polishing to do, this is probably the best police “sim” out there currently.

As ever, to provide our Pixel Bandits review and common-sense parent’s guide for The Precinct we received game codes for Xbox and PC from the folks at Kwalee