Quick Look: Beat Cop

Honestly think this game would have been better if they didn't try so hard to appear gritty and racy in their dialogue, and to try and defend that with "don't take it so seriously," like jeeze it's like they know it's bad. Again, a shame, because the game seems like it's pretty well-made aside from that.

If you go around getting offended about everything out there, life is going to be pretty tough for you.

@none_braver: If I was offended, I would have said I was offended. I didn't. I said it was gross--and the expression of disgust is different from taking offense. Your kneejerk reaction to the expression of disgust (not even a claim that it shouldn't exist or shouldn't be allowed to exist, but personal disgust) is...well, it's pretty illuminating, isn't it?

Art is social commentary. The social commentary here is lousy.

A very unchill comment section as of late. What a shame.

Anyone else notice that black people are depicted with jet black skin and bright red lips, and once they're on the beat there's a black npc sitting on a stoop casually munching on some watermelon? This shit is pretty blatantly racist.

God damn. That's some obnoxious garbage.

Brad and Jeff not catching on to the shit this game's slinging is pretty disappointing.

Yup. It definitely makes me question the developer's politics.

I get that "taste" can ruin the message in a piece of art, but if the devs thought they were using racism and stereotypes for social commentary then they dropped the ball here because they're coming off like poseurs making a contrived "Hey, look at us! We 'get' the 80s!" kind of joke rather than an insightful or meaningful observation about the era. And if someone is like "Just lighten up, racist and stereotype language in art doesn't need be insightful or meaningful" then that's a sign of privilege and a lack of empathy right there.

I wonder how old these devs really are, their nationalities and religions, and where/when they grew up.

In case anyone thought he was joking. But we shouldn't take art seriously, I guess.

This comments section is further proof that a lot of this community has no understanding of race whatsoever and really needs to listen to marginalized people instead of doubling down on telling people what they should or shouldn't be offended by. Stay classy, y'all!

Exactly, and hopefully this shitshow of a comment section maybe makes people realise that this shouldn't be on YouTube. Imagine the waterfall of racism that would be that comment section; I don't imagine GB wants that on their more public presence (not that I speak for them).

Homage and parody don't require the newer material to be 100% accurate. Neither forms are a method of historical preservation - 80's cop shows, despite whether they threw around racial epithets or not, aren't going to disappear without Beat Cop. Ideally, they should be looking at the source through a modern lens, and that includes the language used and stereotypes represented. Sure, there's a chance that the game uses the casualisation of slurs and racially-charged imagery to make a point (and ideally it would) but the tactless way it's handled and presented at the start, as well as the ham-fisted disclaimer at the start make me think that no, they don't have a grasp on the intricacies required to do so. Instead, it appears to entirely be played off as humour, and I want to hope (possibly against hope) that we've moved past the shock-comedy equivalent of someone walking in the street and yelling "NI**ER" at the top of their lungs.

The disclaimer that it's all in good fun simply doesn't land with this taken in mind. As mentioned, homage, parody, or whatever you want to call it requires more than just carbon-copying the source material, especially with invective that have changed in the 35+ years since the source. Trying to pass racism and stereotypes off as "it's just a joke" simply seems lazy and a cop-out considering how intricate incisive comedy is required to be, because if it doesn't land it presents a whole bunch of uncomfortable questions. Given that art is rarely if ever able to be apolitical coupled with the current political climate, it's either a complete misunderstanding of zeitgeist by the developers, a huge swing-and-a-miss on humour, or something more sinister. Whatever it is, it's not good.

Man... I wish a tow truck would show up that fast. It would make my job a lot easier. Usually it's call up tow truck, they give an ETA of one to three hours and show up in four and a half.

It's not awkward, this was 100% the 80s man. Not a good time.

@sabeau: It's the 80s that's how it was man.... did you grow up in the 80s? Racism was very socially acceptable.

@avidwriter: It's 2017.

imagine if in mario someone randomly walked by on the world map and called you a spaggheti eater

for no reason

thats the problem here. it doesnt need to be in the game. this isnt about free speech or anything it is about the developers being lazy with their writing. the conversation in the police room where the guy sexually harasses some lady and talks about how big his dick is has no place in any of the game. it isn't even funny or useful it is just the devs being bad at writing dialogue.

@sabeau: current year

@afashionablehat said:

@ohsohologramic said:

Anyone else notice that black people are depicted with jet black skin and bright red lips, and once they're on the beat there's a black npc sitting on a stoop casually munching on some watermelon? This shit is pretty blatantly racist.

In case anyone thought he was joking. But we shouldn't take art seriously, I guess.

YIKES! One of my favorite Giant Bomb moments ever was when Ryan Davis in exasperation said a slur on stream, felt immediate regret, had the archived video edited, and wrote a blog post apologizing to the community. To do that without kicking and screaming showed me what a standup guy he was and what a good site this is. Another moment was this past GOTY during the "Hottest Mess" deliberation, when the mostly-presented-as-apolitical staff realized the sticky situation they'd found themselves in and Editor-in-Chief Jeff Gerstmann, sighing for the fact that Giant Bomb's apolitical nature would be left behind but realizing he must take a firm stance on such a serious topic, said, "There's no hotter mess than white supremacy." While I've been a fan of this crew for fifteen years, these were incredibly proud and validating experiences for me.

Though it's clear the forum community needs to be cleaned up ("I don't see what the problem is!" isn't acceptable if it exists to step on others's legitimate feelings and pain) it's also disappointing to see such a virulently racist game not be called out as such by the editors. I understand they'd rather focus on mechanics and show games in a vacuum, but to truly be objective and honest about the product would be to address the obvious hate-mongering and gross attempt at invalidating criticism. Giant Bomb needn't "get political" in terms of speaking on actual policy or politicians, of course, but race here isn't subtext. It's the text.

I think you're on to something here. You can't be a critic and not looking at a product in certain angles. The Story and its tone is certainly a important part, expecially if its about the police, the social work they do subsequently the racist tones they have to face. So yeah, I do agree that the racist and offensive undertones are are indeed "the text" that should be properly analyzed by critics and the playerbase aswell.

Of course all in mind the "80's feeling" the devs intended to create and how well the developers pulled that off. I think that Jeff already implied how subpar the writing is at the beginning of the QL but I would've wished he would've go deeper, expecially how much the game does rub this this sort of thing in your face almost every time the main chracter speaks, how the artwork implies stuff, etc.

I think the GB staff would be best off to just call a spade a spade, you know. I think nobody in their right mind would be offended if the GB staff would stay honest in their views (even if the comment section would imply otherwise, i'm speaking in general terms here). I dunno what is going on in America right now that they cannot even be honestly speaking about a Video Game that is supposely a parody of 80's police shows anymore. If people are so offended by the staffs views about a product, they should learn to chill out and take it. Its just a dang opinion after all.

When I saw another notification in my feed from this thread, I was ready to sigh.

But this is a really good post and I'd hope that this earns some reflection from the staff.

They say they base it on 80s cop shows and the literal first thing that pops up after that is a "fake news" joke

Yikes this game is gross and the boys waving it off is also gross.

This seems great. I'm missing the 80's cop aesthetic and Police Quest. I made a list about Policeman's Gaems a while back and this would probably have made it on there, had it been out at that time.

Saw this in the list that Jeff tweeted of April's most watched videos, so I gave it a shot. This seems like it might be a fun little game. It's unfortunate that some of that dialogue exists, though... Not only because it has little to no reason to be in there, but also the fact that it's repeated so often. That cleaner line was seen like 6 times over the course of just this QL. Lazy and supremely unnecessary. Still, might think about getting this game on a sale.