izigame.me

This is kind of pathetic.
Were this game in this state a year or two ago, fine. It's playable (most of the time), there are basic features, so on. There are a few different scenarios to be put in (off the top of my head, I want to say 8-10) and none of them involve the use of the firearm. While that wasn't an issue for me in the first year or so of playing the game, it's been a CLEAR sticking point within the community. The game is and has been a meter-maid sim and it's taken way too many disappointing moves from the devs for me to finally come to the conclusion that this game is probably as finished and fleshed out as it will realistically ever be.
Development has stagnated, and it's stagnated BADLY. This is a loosely organized list of some of my issues with this product:
-While this has never been a huge issue with me, we've still not any reason to use the firearm, or really to ever even draw it because it either stops a fleeing suspect, or if you discharge it for any reason (fleeing included) you lose your shift. Use the taser instead, because you can taser citizens and lose conduct points. Some serious suspension of disbelief there. I think if I were a cop and willy-nilly tasered people, I'd at least get a couple weeks off paid.
The firearm has no place in the game. Whether you may think it's a case of "Well police almost never have to use their gun in their careers" or "Good, then the game isn't just a murder simulator," is irrelevant. My gripe is that the gun is completely pointless and shouldn't even be in game; another asset for no reason that takes up a slot on the equipment wheel, again, for no reason.
-The game is an asset flip. It feels stiff and like your character always has a blackboard in their beltline causing them to be as stiff as they feel. Movement feels clunky as shit, and the controls themselves feel unresponsive. Sometimes while driving it takes a couple button presses to shut a turn signal off or turn a siren on. It also struggles with multiple inputs at times I've noticed, though that could be on my end.
--Sidenote: Driving is... awful. No other way to put it really. I wish they'd do something with the car physics, which desperately need reworking. They claimed a couple of updates ago that they adjusted cars, evidently not well enough. They're too easy to spin out going around a corner at (relatively) high speed, and they're unresponsive and stiff at the same time. Beyond traffic patrolling, there is very little use for a vehicle. No chases, just a transport.
-Same three of four (maybe more but it certainly doesn't feel that way) faces per gender in the game. This is less of a problem because it's boring or immersion breaking, but more so in that it makes distinguishing your suspect in some instances borderline impossible, and yes, the faces are that similar. I have not seen one beard or mustache, the biggest variation in people is between haircuts.
--Example of the above being "suspect LP says suspect has no gun permit, check ID, ID is stolen but now they "have a gun permit" even though the actual person does not. You will be penalized for charging them for the gun, because the ID they have stolen says so. This is inconsistent and doesn't really make any sense. Beginning to see a trend?
-People who complain about the bugs aren't lying. In the 67 hours I've played this at the time of writing this review, I have had the game crash on me no less than 20 times, outdoing FNV by a long shot on my PC. I have experienced so many bugs at accident scenes, I just will not address an accident that involves more than two cars because odds are, one of the suspects will be on top of their car and out of reach, or another car will appear within the scene and then become part of the accident, increasing the amount of work you have and it becomes an actual nightmare to navigate these scenes, all of the models in the game just clipping through other models casually, whenever they like to. Nothing looks right. Nothing feels right.
-We have now the option, for 2.99 USD eeach, to buy three separate dlc vehicles, none of which offer any real reason to buy them. This is just laughable. The game has so many core elements needing addressed, bugs needing fixed, hell, it shouldn't even have left early access yet.
-Immersion and by extent, consistency, is and always will be an issue for this game. Take the screenshots for the police tape update they just released (which was BARE-bones for the amount of time it took, adding the poles/tape/evidence markers. That's IT.) In the screens for this update, civilians were walking around within the crime scenes that had already been taped off. Tampering with evidence. I don't think it would be that hard for a competent dev team to prevent npcs from walking into your crime scene. But, if the tape works even 50% as well as the traffic orders/flares/barricades for accident cleanup, then it won't work at all.\
---Minor issues I have:
-Stop calling my radio when I'm on a call. I've told you in the same one of three voice actors that "I'm currently busy with another issue.
-I don't know why it's not possible, but last I knew, you cannot open your tool selection and run. If a suspect flees from you, either have the hotkey memorized, or be prepared to lose your suspect. The hotkey is also conveniently RIGHT next to the gun hotkey ;)
-Getting out of a car might as well be forfeiting a chase too. Much too slow to jump out to run after someone. Car needs to borderline stopped to exit it. I'm not looking for GTA jumping out of a car, just to let it roll a bit and actually have a chance at catching the fleeing suspect.
Overall, is the game playable? Yeah. As playable as you are willing to put up with the crap. Is it fun? No. Not really. Not after you've done the same 6 calls 300 times, all while putting up with the bugs and crashing.
As much as I hate to say it, because I wanted to enjoy this game and see it succeed (I even bought one of the car dlcs that I don't think should exist, tbh) don't waste your money on this. It really is a meter-maid sim and I hate how long it took me to accept that. Game's a solid 5-6/10 at best.
I've typed the word "suspect" more times today than I wanted to.