Police Precinct: A city full of crime, but only one Murderer!

For a kickstarter game, this is actually a pretty well balanced and tested offering, in coop mode anyway. The artwork is decent enough and the gameplay is only just slightly more involved than the game I consider to be the best for people new to board games, Flashpoint: Fire Rescue. In Police Precinct everyone is plays as a cop (with each officer having some semi-unique special ability) and are either depicted as a marked police car (moves faster) or an unmarked police car token (better for investigation) as they drive around the medium sized city.

To win the game the cops must collect enough evidence to fill up their investigation board and catch a murderer. This is slowed down by the ever increasing thug numbers on the streets as well as what appears to be an insane crime spree as literally emergencies ranging from traffic accidents and gas leaks to car thieves, bank robbers, and kidnappers. If the crime meter goes to high or the murderer escapes without being caught the good guys lose.

In the groups I played in we found victory as the murderer was halfway through his escape. What really takes the cake though are the unknown circumstance cards which play in addition to an emergency. For example you can try deal with a suicidal employee but when you get there find that he or she has an angry dog, or try to nab a pickpocket who also has a bomb. These WTF moments actually make the game better for me as you can share the laughs all around the table.

There's also a version where one or two players could be "dirty" cops where they secretly try to let the crime escalate and the murderer escape but being a coop guy I haven't tried that out, nor do I want to really. With a bigger variety of things going on but still being easy to learn and pretty quick to play (1 - 1.5 hours at most per game), it's a pretty fun experience all around. I just wish the manual was a bit easier to read. Overall I give it 2.5 out of 5 police sirens, and my tick of approval.

Score after re-review: 1.5 out of 5 police sirens.