Can you compare this game to Papers, Please?

[luckeR]

I loved Papers, Please! Want to hear your opinion ;) thanks

[LordBlade]

It's similar in how you have very little time to take care of a ton of actions. You have to give out your quota of tickets, make enough money for payments, talk to the various people and do favours for them, respond to official police matters... it gets quite frantic.

Also it uses the same "daily save" system. So if you load a game it will always be at the start of a day. Which wouldn't be so bad if you could skip the whole precinct scene at the beginning. :p

[Bookmouse]

A little bit. Similar graphical style and sense of humour. You have to decide between being a moral, straight cop or taking bribes and working for gangs or the mafia to make sure you can pay what you owe. It has a twisted sense of humour, great audio character, and lots of sly little jokes in conversations. If you like the wry humour of PP, you'll like Beat Cop. I would suggest you play the first few days and refund if you don't like it, but I would recommend Beat Cop to anyone who likes PP. They have a similar spirit, if you follow me. When I write a review, it will literally contain the phrase "if you liked Papers, Please, you'll probably like Beat Cop."

Be aware that it doesn't contain nearly as much scrutinizing small details, but you do have to fill out parking tickets and can choose to give them out falsely or let people go based on their sob story or bribes etc.

Give it a try--I think you'll like it.

[LordBlade]

Originally posted by Bookmouse:

Be aware that it doesn't contain nearly as much scrutinizing small details, but you do have to fill out parking tickets and can choose to give them out falsely or let people go based on their sob story or bribes etc.

This is actually something I've been very much enjoying. Papers Please got insane with the number of things to check and reference, and could be very frustrating. With Beat Cop, giving out tickets can all be done at a glance.

Parking meters show a red mark in them when expired.
Cars with bad tires show skid marks where they park.
Cars with bad lights have little sparks coming off where the lights are.

So while you can for example do a proper "walk around" to check the tires, which has you slowly walk around the car and shows you each tire individually, you can skip all that by just looking to see if there's skid marks.

It would be like if Papers Please had each person holding up a sign to tell you exactly what they're guilty of when they approach your window. lol

[Offriender]

Agreed- Papers, Please could get very technical, while in this game you can check what you need at a glance once you learn how, but it keeps you frantically running around and tending to other things instead of just sitting in a booth.

[luckeR]

This is what I expected.. and thank you very much for your opinions and reactions. I am going to buy it then ;)

Have a nice day!

[Bookmouse]

Originally posted by LordBlade:

This is actually something I've been very much enjoying. Papers Please got insane with the number of things to check and reference, and could be very frustrating. With Beat Cop, giving out tickets can all be done at a glance.

I think that was part of the point/joke. I think it was supposed to be outrageously beauracratic and frustrating and meticulous, especially when you worked SO hard for one ticket and could still get completely screwed--and even if you did a perfect job, you barely got anything. It was really depressing and dystopian, which I very much enjoyed XD

PP was such a special little game that catered to such a specific set of people (like me). I'm so glad it got the attention it deserved.

Whether you think there was too much detail in it, not enough in Beat Cop--or you're like me and you think there's just enough in each, the main similarity I think is that they're both overflowing with character. In the sound design, the NPC remarks, the little background stuff. They're both incredibly charming games.

Bear in mind that while yes, you can see tires and lights at a glance, if you can't see any sparking lights or tire marks you can still inspect the cars and sometimes they'll have the defects you're looking for. It's time-consuming, of course, so balance your quota against the clock.

Let us know what you think!


I think I've come up with a new summary for BC: PP meets diner dash. XD

[battles_atlas]

There are similarities in the mechanics and world-building but PP is much the better game in my view. That had a really strong message behind it, whereas if there is a message behind this game, its a rather dubious one. It makes jokes out of the open racism of the time, without having the guts to be honest about it or its effects. It's racism as a punchline and nothing more, which is pretty dislikable to me. Sticking a "just have fun!" disclaimer at the start of the game is a weak attempt to duck this.

Still, there is enough to like about it that I am enjoying it.

[Bookmouse]

Originally posted by battles_atlas:

There are similarities in the mechanics and world-building but PP is much the better game in my view. That had a really strong message behind it, whereas if there is a message behind this game, its a rather dubious one. It makes jokes out of the open racism of the time, without having the guts to be honest about it or its effects. It's racism as a punchline and nothing more, which is pretty dislikable to me. Sticking a "just have fun!" disclaimer at the start of the game is a weak attempt to duck this.

Still, there is enough to like about it that I am enjoying it.

It's a characterization of a certain time period in which people were more openly racist, even in movies. And it IS open about the effects--you make choices, some of which are based on race. It could actually be interpreted as deeply insightful, if you cared enough to analyze. However, I really don't think that's the intention of the game at all. It doesn't exist to debate racism--it's not the responsibility of every piece of media to analyze the faults of society. If you expect every entertainment product you consume to dissect the ills of humanity....well you'd better start creating that media yourself, otherwise you're going to be sorely disappointed.

I also don't think that either game is meant to have a "message." You can interpret a great deal if you want to, you can go looking for meaning and indeed find it if you want to--but I seriously doubt that the creator of PP set out to make a statement about totalitariam regimes.

You should really take that messages from the devs of BC to heart. Just because you can find meaning doesn't mean someone set out to put it there--and there is a huge difference.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, dude.