Johann – I can understand why you would prefer Walls as a designer on a new police game. I find that his design with PQ1 has been the most true to life portrayal of a cop’s daily grind than any other game since. I chuckle when I remember that you even had to remember to shower before suiting up and remember to perform a vehicle inspection before driving out into the field otherwise it was game over. The humor was great too…some of the jokes are funnier to me now that I’m older and can apprectiate them better. And how often in any game do we see such tragic events unfold such as Jack Cobb’s daughter OD’ing on cocaine?
Ants – I agree with you to a point. Yes, I agree that there are lots of click-happy dolts out there that have a hard time spelling the word “a”. What I don’t think is that these people comprise the majority of gamers. Unfortunately, it is the rude, 133t d00d who is the most vocal about his play experience and therefore, the most influential to the marketing boys who keep tabs on this stuff.
All of that is kind of inconsequential though. Why not make a game that, in a way, caters to both crowds? Lets say, we make the gameplay open-ended where a player can fire up the game and just vehicle patrol for drunk drivers, speeders, crimes in progress, and stuff like that? Of course, good tactics and attention to detail would be a must because a situation could get hairy at any time. That kind of thing could be a fun, quick kind of play, especially if you throw in a co-op feature in there where you roll an adam unit with your buddy.
For someone who likes to get deeper into things, maybe let the player get into the investigations side of the house. Let the player properly collect and analyze evidence and use that evidence to build a case. With both scenarios, teach the player about good police work and reward the player when they use their skills properly. Maybe the rewards would entail unlocking a SWAT mode of play or allowing you to drive an interceptor vehicle or have a K9 unit or something.
I dunno…I’m just rambling. As I’m sure you can tell, I really dug PQ and would camp out at the game store if someone came out with a cop game that had the authenticity of PQ with an updated look and feel and a visceral play style.
