Thursday 18 January, 2018

*NOTE: I was on the waiting list and didn't really know how to do the assignment because I didn't have access yet. So the dates will be added here. Before, I hit 'New GameLog' for each entry that I did per day and had my thoughts/entry in the optional 'Opinion' section. So I'll be rehashing what I've said here. I started playing Tuesday, January 16. I installed the game around 3:52 P.M. and started playing at around 4 PM. Also each day's entry is it's own separate GameLog that has one entry for that day.

First Entry: January 16, 2018
First impression so far, the game is quite interesting. The game's story so far hasn't shied away from serious topics like racism, sex, or corruption so far. I'm about 66 minutes into the game, because 30 minutes was not enough to form a first impression opinion. In terms of gameplay pacing, it was a little slow in the beginning but it picks up a little bit. I don't think I've seen all the mechanics yet, I hope so. The gameplay is pretty simple, you choose which officers/detectives go to what scene. And you really have to watch out who you use. Off the bat of the game I used my not so good officers because I thought it'd be fine early game. Nope, they failed capturing the perpetrator. The game at times feels like its RNG, random, on how my successful my cops are. Except when I use my best cops for certain things, they typically get the job done. But when I pair up two decent/average cops together on what seems to be a simple task, they fail. Sometimes you're given choices on how to approach a scene when your cops arrive the area you assigned them, and for me those are the most fun. You see pictures of what's going on and what's happening because of your decision. While you do kind of get that kind of feedback when you regularly send cops around, you just see them drive around town and you get an outcome. Fun at the beginning, but it seems to repeat throughout the game so far.
Overall, it's been a pretty good time because of an interesting story that doesn't avoid serious topics such as sex, racism, political corruption. It showed me a sex scene pretty early in the game. It has decent mechanics that play into the message of the game and that's corruption, I believe.

Great work here Jdao! I like how you both considered the morality of your choices as well as what choices would give you the most desirable results. This is the foundation of an interesting ethical question: Are the choices you make in the game different than the one’s you would make in real life if you had this level of authority? Would you make different decisions with real world consequences? Also, you mentioned that it bothered you that officers and criminals would follow your orders and not think for themselves. Do you think the game developers did this intentionally so the full weight of the consequences would be on the player? Or was the game trying to show that there are non-violent ways for officers to end conflict (such as the criminal dropping the gun when you demanded it)?

Clay