Rebel cops, the game that i did not expect it to be at the first glance
It’s essentially a turn-based strategy with intense, complex gameplay where you’ll find yourself saving and loading quite a lot. Almost one wrong move can turn into a whole mess.
The music is a sort of Noir Thriller theme. nothing much but it serves to raise the intense gameplay. Graphics are very simple and You cant really see the difference between units. Almost everyone looks the same and the only way to remember which is which is by clicking their icon on the top.
The story is nothing much. A town controlled by a crime lord. And a group of cops who refused to be on the payroll slowly waging a guerilla war against said crime lord. But it’s enough to start the game.
The gameplay is highly complex. I was expecting X-Com style. But turns out it’s a bit deeper than that. If you don’t spread out. your buddy cop can warn you if there’s enemies nearby the place you’re ordering your unit to walk to (once per turn) allowing you to cancel your order and rethink your position. There are many takedown options. such as Taser, Baton, or even ordering the suspect to hands up. which will essentially “stun” them for 2-4 turns. You can then arrest them which makes them disappear and keeping your stealth status. Or just shoot them and risk alerting the whole building.
And when it comes to combat, one shot will down anyone. including your teammates. They will lay there bleeding to death in 3 turns. And you have to make a decision whether you want to waste a turn to save them (and risk the rescuer getting shot). or just try to eliminate the enemy first before rescuing. which in turn risking them bleeding to death.
When you decide to shoot. Cover plays a big role in accuracy. And you can pick which body parts you want to shoot at. From hands to legs to disable them, chest to make them bleed to death. or a headshot. lowest accuracy but instantly kills a suspect. Funny enough, they will also try to resuscitate their bleeding friends. Which gives you a chance to play slightly evil. let the enemies bleed and shoot the ones coming to rescue them.
Rushing in guns blazing is always a good way to get your team killed.
There’s also the Reputation system that will decide of the locals will help you or think you’re just another murderous thugs (if you kill too many suspects instead of arresting them). Ammo is limited and you have to buy them with money, You can accept side missions and such. Making this slightly more interesting when you have to complete missions instead of just “kill everyone” map.
So far, i find the game to be intense but taxing and ridiculously hard. I got too much dead cops on my hands. Maybe if i restart in the lowest diffliculty level it wont be as punishing?
If you’re a fan of tactical turn based team strategy game. You dont wanna miss it.
