Police Stories

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For the similarly-named Hong Kong action film series, see Police Story (film series).

Police Stories
Top-down shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Police Stories is a 2019

top-down shooter video game developed by Mighty Morgan and published by HypeTrain Digital for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game follows a pair of police officers
who come upon a major conspiracy.

Development was financed through the

crowd funding platform Kickstarter
in June 2017. Police Stories was released for PC and Switch on September 19, 2019, PlayStation 4 on September 1, 2020, and Xbox One on July 9, 2021, to generally positive reviews.

Gameplay

Police Stories is a

top-down shooter action game with tactical shooter
elements. The player controls a pair of patrol officers, John Rimes and Rick Jones, who are assigned to deal with resisting criminals. In singleplayer, the player directly controls Rimes while commanding Jones, while in co-op both are controlled by players.

Gameplay is similar to that of

foregrip increases accuracy if a long gun is equipped; the smoke grenade creates a smoke screen
that disorients enemies and hides the player's movement from them; etc.). Weapons and equipment are unlocked as the player progresses through the campaign.

In missions, the player is tasked with defeating a variety of criminals and differentiating them from unarmed suspects and civilians, as well as collecting

replayability
to get the most optimal score, lowest casualties, and highest performance ranking.

Every new run, criminals, hostages, and evidence are placed randomly, and most elements are hidden by a fog of war effect when out of line of sight. Additionally, enemy behavior can change beyond what the player may expect; for instance, some characters ostensibly presented as harmless civilians in earlier missions may attempt to flee or even fight back in later missions. This adds to tension in gameplay and forces the player to act fast and make split-second decisions instead of relying on planning and supposed predictability.

Police Stories also features a

Steam Workshop
compatibility.

Development

An

beta version
was released for Kickstarter backers who pledged $30 or more, including two new levels, online co-op, and regular updates.

A large update for a closed

beta version was released in July 2018 (still available for Kickstarter backers only), overhauling the equipment system and implementing new content such as commands in a row system and various gameplay improvements. By October the game was still under active development. Developers worked on visual effects, story mode, new equipment and pathfinding systems improvements. A new version of the open alpha was released on October 14 with new assets.[1] On December 11, there was another update regarding the development process, confirming in-game controller support, couch co-op, and a macOS version.[2]

In March 2019, the developers unveiled the

Steam Workshop integration, and teased a Nintendo Switch port with couch co-op.[3]

Reception

On Metacritic, the PC version received positive reviews,[4] and the Xbox One version received mixed reviews.[5] Sin Vega of Rock Paper Shotgun called it "tense and fast, almost to a Hotline Miami degree".[6]

References

  1. ^ "Police Stories :: Current Development Status, Open Alpha Update, and more". steamcommunity.com. October 1, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  2. ^ "Police Stories :: Controller Support, Couch Co-op, Mac, And More". steamcommunity.com. December 11, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  3. ^ "Police Stories :: Level Editor, Nintendo Switch, Final polishing". steamcommunity.com. March 22, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  4. ^ "Police Stories (PC)". Metacritic. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  5. ^ "Police Stories (Xbox One)". Metacritic. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  6. ^ Vega, Sin (September 27, 2019). "Unknown Pleasures: The only game in the office". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved February 15, 2023.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Police_Stories&oldid=1219153986"