Full-on simulators that allow you to literally try walking in the shoes of someone on the job in some random profession are pretty niche overall, but there’s no question that they’re a thing and with their target audience they’re quite popular. I get that whether people enjoy the simple repetition of certain tasks, or are simply looking to better understand what being on the job in some profession is like, there can be some appeal. That said, the other thing I’ve learned over time is that more often than not these titles tend to cut corners and aren’t implemented in the best ways.

In the case of Patrol Officers there’s no question that the general basics are in place, as you will get the opportunity to put on your uniform and hit the streets as a cop on the beat. Early on you’ll be doing this on foot, looking to write up parking citations or rid the city of the scourge of jaywalkers and litterbugs, which hardly make initial impressions very positive. The thing is, even while performing these relatively simple tasks I ran into some issues with the game’s implementation. In a few cases, after checking street signs and some details pretty carefully, I got dinged for incorrectly handing out tickets, and without meaningful feedback on the problem it left me confused as to what the issue was. In another case, after seeing an in-game hint saying to look for people with a fake ID, I had someone who seemed to fit that crime but I couldn’t find any options in my command wheel to address that. While I suppose neither are game killers, small issues like this did get irritating when they’d stack up.

As you make some progress you’ll then be able to go on patrol in search of fender benders, people driving under the influence, and more, but that just tends to demonstrate further problems. While on foot the city isn’t particularly a looker, a problem I’d imagine is exacerbated by the Switch hardware, but being able to move around more quickly just shows deeper issues. Pop-up and other visual quirks aren’t tough to spot, and in general the impression of the game on a technical level continues to sour little by little as you run into them. While I suppose a desire to get a taste of what community policing could be like could override concerns with the game’s implementation, even if it’s less “simmy” I’d still recommend a title like Beat Cop over this without question.