Disgraced police detective Jack Kelly is back on the beat after an incident involving a murder and some stolen diamonds. If finding himself as a rookie once again wasn’t bad enough, on his very first day back on the streets, his partner is gunned down in broad daylight, and now it’s down to Jack (that’s you) to find the culprit while keeping up with all of the regular day to day stuff that beat cops do. Write parking tickets, catch shoplifters, deal with gang members, put things up priest’s backsides…

You patrol a single Brooklyn street lined with shops and apartment blocks. Jobs are sent to you through your radio, and you have to decide whether each one is worth either taking care of ASAP or if the crime is insignificant enough to ignore. Each day on the beat lasts for around 20 real-world minutes, and you’ll quickly find yourself running around juggling several tasks at once. Your actions affect your loyalty with the local criminals, and these choices might make all the difference between clearing your name and finding out who shot Fat Mike (that’s your dead partner, not him from NOFX) or remaining a beat cop for the rest of your days.

Set in the world of 80’s US TV cop shows, Beat Cop is filled with references to the era (try buzzing for Ripley in one of the apartment blocks). It definitely isn’t a game for kids though – the face that you’re based in Precinct 69 tells you a lot about the kind of humour to expect. A lot of the foul-mouthed dialogue is funny to begin with, but it does start to grate after a while, especially with some of the more politically incorrect statements (of which there are many) that are likely to be called into question by even the most liberal of folk.

There are only so many parking tickets you can write before it feels like a chore, and completing all of the tasks set for you each day can be an absolute nightmare – but then maybe that’s the point, and this actually adds a layer of realism to the daily grind? Beat Cop does a fairly decent job of being entertaining enough to pass the time, and it’s got an absolutely killer theme tune, but it might not be to everybody’s tastes.

BEAT COP / DEVELOPER: PIXEL CROW / PUBLISHER: 11 BIT STUDIOS / PLATFORM: PC, SWITCH (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW