Here comes the unmistakable black and white paint and the intimidating siren that rips through the fabric of any criminal's steady thinking and replaces it with a major problem. It's the police: the cops, the pigs, the fuzz, the law that is out to get you.
I've been playing Mafia 2, however, and its police are quite strict. Taking out a few street lights and running a red light is enough to get them to cite you. They'll even go after you for openly brandishing a weapon. When compared to other open world action games, this is very unique.
Grand Theft Auto wrote the book on artificially intelligent police: drive long and far enough, and your problem tends to solve itself. But in Mafia 2, the process is a bit more involved. You may have to tend to changing your license plates. The game features a strange kind of suspense when making a break for the nearest body shop: Will the police seen your plate and jump back on the trail?
These modifications to the standard formula spawn questions and hesitations: Isn't Rockstar's arcade feel what made police A.I. fun in the first place?
Speed limits are a substantial addition. One of the standard, most-developed elements in any open-world game is transportation. Whether it's a sports car, a jet, or even a horse, reliable vehicles are always a necessity. But what happens when you place limitations to these gameplay necessities? How far can you toy with the formula?
I've found that it comes down to balance. In most sandbox titles, the police either kill or bust you, or you escape. Making this scenario more prevalent though increased enforcement can be dangerous. But adding the option to pay a small "fee" to go about your business can reformat the binary strictness of the police.
Mafia 2 features realistic police A.I.
The simple option to pay up or run away is extremely effective: Often, I've found it a much more liberating to have the ability to end the chase at any moment. Making the police more strict, while making player options more varied, is effective.
That said, an easy escape from punishment is extremely unrealistic. It doesn't make much sense if one considers that the primary goal for creating harsher police A.I. is to make the experience more realistic and singularly unique.
[aditude-amp id="medium1" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":681953,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"A"}']
Grand Theft Auto 4…not so much.
It's tough to create a definitive line that determines when police A.I. begins inhibit the experience rather than enhance it. A lot of variable are up in the air, and in the end, it depends on the game. Grand Theft Auto 4 has an arcade background. Therefore, it utilizes a less realistic formula. Mafia 2 takes cues from its era-specific style and tries to uphold a realistic sense of anti-organized crime law.