Rebel Cops (english)

X-Convicts

Flirting with X-Com, the Rebel Cops sets its story to 1994 and small American town. East mafia boss Victor Zulev has taken over Ripton city, and everyone seems to be under his heel. Except you. Group of former cops and pensioners are actively fighting against organized crime. Games developer Weappy Studios has earned its merits by producing 'This is Police'-series of games.

Game information:

Name: Rebel Cops Publisher/Developer: THQ Nordic/Weappy Studio
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS4*, Xbox* Type: Strategy, Stealth
Age ratings: n/a
Reviewer: Rami
Links:
Trailer

The perspective of the gamer

X-Com style of gameplay is apparent. This means each of the characters has two actions, so they can move, shoot, pick up items, club, or read the rights. The system is simplistic enough and works like a charm. Slightly merciless as characters who get the receiving end of barrel bleeds out in few turns. The focus is in police work, meaning that targets are captured free and rebel cops can tell suspects to raise their hands before cuffing them. Roleplaying elements are present, some cops have feats, and not all criminals freeze when they are confronted. The success probability is shown as meter, which is far better UI choice than an arbitrary percentage.





Nobody supports the rebel cops, so they do jobs for the community and sell the excess items. Ammo, guns, medical kits, and protective gear are in short supply. Found objects can be donated to the poor, making Rebel Cops as modern-day Robin Hood simulator. However, if something is promised, it should be done; otherwise, their reputation might suffer. Tasks include rescue kidnapped person or find video game during a firefight.






Game design is slightly dated and merciless. Nobody can take hits without ballistic protection. Everything wears out, like silencer, which is good for only seven shots. The missions are pretty challenging, for example in the higher difficulty player gets only three saves for whole 30 rounds mission. At worst missions can take up to 60 rounds which is in stark contrast with X-Com 2 10-15 rounds.

The enemies are active in their patrolling, and they outnumber the cops. If the guard notices something, there's one turn time to silence him before everyone knows where rebel cops are. This illustrates the two distinct gameplay style. At first, the game is stealth as the player tries to keep the advantage as long as possible. When rebel cop is found the game switches to more familiar hostile wargaming with everyone gunning at you. At times it feels like playing puzzle game, a player tries to solve situations by clubbing and capturing the criminals.

Rebel Cops is indeed quite interesting interaction of the old game genre. It aims to bring something new to the squad-based strategy by introducing innovations. The old design can be seen from the fact that resources are light and the player can deal with the situation as he sees fit. Police action is well simulated as the mission is to capture leaders of the mafia to questioning. The interaction between levels and the player works well, and there are lots of extra items to do, like find code and open safe. If bodies are left behind, they will raise the alarm. Criminals get resupplies at times, and even third party might come crashing.

The perspective of the ratings

Term 'distancing' works here. Bird's eye view means that the player doesn't see action from close. The graphics are stylized and low-poly. The 'hard stuff' happens in text format with some implication to human trafficking and hardcore criminal activity. Surprisingly lot cursing happens, which might have an adverse effect on PEGI-age rating.

Parents and game education?

The developers have described the content in Steam:

"This Game may contain content not appropriate for all ages, or may not be appropriate for viewing at work: Frequent Violence or Gore, General Mature Content."

Like we spoke earlier, this kind of games rely heavily on 'distancing'. Distancing is a movie term which puts the audience to the role of a consciously critical observer. This choice bars them from feeling immersed from empathy towards the characters. In the case of gaming, the question might be if the distancing is already in the effect just because the format of the media is a game? Rebel Cops requires strategical thinking rather than emotional intelligence. Of course, there exist many games that are emotionally loaded, but a strategy game observed from a distance isn't one of them.

Picture: Prime example of distancing. Point of view, UI-effect telling what
happened and general lack of disturbing imagery.

Chess is chess, even if it is cloaked as police versus robbers. This means Steam warnings overshoot a bit in this case. Of course, on the rule of thumb, parents should follow their guide, but general knowledge about gaming would tell what kind of gameplay and content is generally seen in these type of games.

During the game, you can talk about...

(These are topics that you can think or you can think with a friend. Talking about game elements is a good way to push forward the media literacy in your family).

• Why we can't save everyone in the game?
• Are these arrests all illegal ones?
• What makes this game more police game than a war game?
• If the fictional situation would become real, in your opition, what would be ethically acceptable resistance?