By Alec Meer on April 29th, 2011 at 10:09 am.
Bad cops, bad cops! Whatcha gonna do when they… No, I don’t know any more words. I should just stop this spurious introduction right now. Except I can’t. I’m trapped in my own cliche. Help me. Help me.
Ah, that’s better. So: attention, fans of leftfield point and click adventure games. While Hector: Badge of Carnage may be published/distributed by Telltale, it isn’t part of their curiously unchanging formula. It’s a satirical, foul-mouthed and resolutely 2D game starring a bad-intentioned copper, made by a couple of chaps from Northern Ireland, and it allows you to indulge yourself with sociopathic delights such as “hit a tramp with a crowbar, steal a young man’s trousers, kick a heroin addict into a cardboard box, enter a porn shop without embarrassment, carry a designer handbag… all in the name of justice.” It’s a British game too (well, Northern Irish), and on this day of ULTIMATE BRITISHNESS you should show your respect for those posh goons who are all over the telly today by playing this.
It’s out on PC now, having spent a few months chained to those posh little telephones everyone seems to have these days. We have some review code here at RPS Mansions, but for one reason (Portal 2) or another (Portal 2) we’ve not been able to look at it yet. However! The eyeTelephone edition garnered significant plaudits, including a coveted 9/10 on Eurogamer.
While you wait for us to have something meaningful to say about it, here’s a trailer for you:
On Steam now, yo. Yeah, I went there. I said ‘yo.’ What’s it to you, dawg?
This is just episode 1, by the way. Episodes 2 and 3 will follow “soon.”
29/04/2011 at 10:18 Kaira- says:
I’ve seen that trailer earlier but it was not until now it hit me real good. I guess I’ll have to buy it.
29/04/2011 at 10:22 Tomo says:
I played this on the iTelephone and it was absolutely brilliant – Hector is one of the best point’n'click characters in a long while and it is genuinely hilarious in a very British way.
Thing is, I paid about 3 quid for it then so charging upwards of £7 is taking the piss a bit. It is really very well implemented on the iPhone too. It’s not the longest game either, maybe 3 or 4 hours at most.
29/04/2011 at 10:51 mawna says:
Thanks for the info!
It does look good and it’s surprsing too that telltale release it. Only, I wish there were subtitles not sure I can understand all the lines without help.
8.99$ 3-4 hours… not bad but I might wait for a cheaper deal.
@Alec how can you watch movies like that?!
29/04/2011 at 12:36 Stevostin says:
Same question : subtitles, any ? English voices + txt is fine by me, but just voices would be a little too tough for me poor froggy.
29/04/2011 at 16:46 mawna says:
@Stevostin There are subtitles in game, there are no subtitles in the cut-scenes. There is no option to turn on/off the subtitles – Telltale forums
29/04/2011 at 10:30 arghstupid says:
Hmm well that trailer made me laugh approximately zero times. Am I broken?
29/04/2011 at 11:16 sneetch says:
Maybe, compare the checksums on your personality routines and if they all seem good then reboot your secondary and higher functions and try again. Do you have three solid or blinking red lights in your left eye? You may have to be returned to manufacturer.
29/04/2011 at 11:46 qrter says:
No, it looks thoroughly unfunny to me, too.
Oh well, we can’t all like the same things. Except for Portal 2.
29/04/2011 at 17:03 Teddy Leach says:
Interesting, because I liked the trailer and didn’t like Portal 2.
30/04/2011 at 05:33 Eightball says:
Compare the checksums on your personality routines and if they all seem good then reboot your secondary and higher functions and try again. Do you have three solid or blinking red lights in your left eye? You may have to be returned to manufacturer.
29/04/2011 at 10:34 Atic Atac says:
Looks good. Hate the fact that it costs 60% less on and iPad than on the PC. That’s just stupid. Will be waiting for the price to go down on PC….or up on iPad!
29/04/2011 at 10:45 HexagonalBolts says:
bad boys – inner circle (not bob marley, a common mistake)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4MRmEPNUxY
29/04/2011 at 13:00 Matt says:
COPS is filmed on location with the men and women of law enforcement
29/04/2011 at 11:55 magnus says:
Yes another definite perchase from steam. At this rate soon I’ll be living on just Gravey Granules!
29/04/2011 at 12:29 The Pink Ninja says:
Where’s the next puzzle agent game Telltale? :(
29/04/2011 at 13:38 Lars Westergren says:
They’ve announced it is on the way, happily.
As for this, I started playing it yesterday. Was ok, except for the “Now you are just being an idiot!” barks from Hector whenever I tried something that didn’t work. That got old really fast.
29/04/2011 at 12:45 Brumisator says:
I saw the trailer, and really…no, this is not for me. the humour just falls flat. It’s trying to be funny but failing so abysmally. There’s a reason why blundering foul-mouthed buttholes are usually restricted to sidekicks: identifying with a character that has no endearing traits whatsoever is hard.
But as always, feel free to enjoy this game if you want to, I won’t say you’re wrong in your opinion.
29/04/2011 at 17:25 afarrell says:
This game is definitely in the Great British tradition of identifying with characters with no endearing traits whatsoever :) I suppose the closest American equivalent would be McNulty: The Videogame.
29/04/2011 at 18:55 qrter says:
The US has a pretty good track record in this case, you know – Seinfeld.. Curb Your Enthusiasm.. The Larry Sanders Show.. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.. Archer..
29/04/2011 at 23:07 laikapants says:
Dammit, you had me briefly hoping there really was a McNulty: The Videogame, even if it was just a NewGrounds type deal.
30/04/2011 at 10:51 afarrell says:
Okay, like those but funny.
29/04/2011 at 17:23 A-Scale says:
Very funny and entertaining on the ipod touch, but eventually I stopped playing it. The puzzles aren’t exactly obvious (in my opinion) and the fun drained out of it after a while.
29/04/2011 at 20:38 phuzz says:
“Bad cops, bad cops! Whatcha gonna do”?
I dunno, cavalry charge protesters maybe?
30/04/2011 at 02:34 Rock Tumbler says:
I had a lot of fun with this on my iPod. It’s one of the few genuinely funny games I’ve played.
30/04/2011 at 05:34 Eightball says:
I snickered at the last bit, but I’m UP TO NO GOOD