On a general level when contemplating the games I review I tend to try to stay laser-focused on gameplay, the fun factor, and ideally all of the positives that make it enjoyable. Of course, since most games are by no means perfect, there will tend to be a mental list of problems both big and small that will chip away at that ideal vision. Where things can get more difficult, at least for me, is when there’s something about the overall experience that practically derails my interest in it, some aspect that I feel like I need to reject in some way to the point that any enjoyment goes out the window. Unfortunately, for me Quest Arrest falls into this category.

What you have here is a homebrewed RPG made in a Gameboy Color sort of style, where you’ll play the part of a beat cop out trying to clean up the rough city streets. While you will get into conversations with some people as you try to solve different crimes, on a regular basis you’ll instead need to get into a tussle of some kind. Armed with a few varied options, ranging from wimpy to more lethal, you’ll need to be careful to use enough force to subdue criminals and arrest them, since going overboard will rightly tend to rile up the locals. For the most part you’ll just be moving from crime scene to crime scene, trying to figure out what happened, who did it, and then catch the perps.

What really made it a challenge for me to play and enjoy though, is the extremely reductive view it editorially has concerning police and even criminals. Some of the dialogue borders on being almost cartoonishly ridiculous. In general, it almost feels like it was put together by someone who has never really been to a big American city, instead learning everything they know from bad movies and television shows. I suppose giving you the option to play a good cop or a bad cop in different situations gives the player agency, which has value and will influence the ultimate outcome of the game’s story, but the excessive negativity to everything just really made this a tough game for me to enjoy.