I’m curious as to your thoughts on Crackdown, too – perhaps an over-glamorization of a role in governmental society that is tantamount to complete fiction? Not of the weapons or super-cars, but of the actual role the police play?

I find police are always either obstacles to liberal, experimental gameplay (i.e. GTA IV) or Bruce Willis idealistic stereotypes, more at home in Time Crisis than downtown Los Angeles. I look forward to exploring the role of the police in All Points Bulletin, and I’m hoping it’ll be a more “go your own way” experience than the somewhat disappointly Crazy Taxi-esque vigilante experience offered by Rockstar’s GTA III.

I’ve never played SWAT, but I plan to after hearing your description. The idea that a player could be punished or penalized for the unjust use of force is nothing short of a fascinating concept, and one I think developers should be more willing to explore if they are to break out of the mould set for them by people like Thompson and the Daily Mail.

I love your highlighted portion of GTA IV – the cops chasing random criminals down the street – well, if they even ARE criminals in the first place, as you quite rightly asked. I used to follow them on foot for blocks at a time, just to see where they’d go, eventually intervening and allowing the cop to make his arrest. Oddly, when you take the cop out, the AI of the citizen entity being chased simply defaults back to “pedestrian” – there’s no thankful attitude or sprinting, just an AI “shrug” equivalent and a return to normality, which I found disappointing after the alternative been given some form of closure, even if the handcuffed criminal never actually moved for hours after being apprehended.

Again, great article, and I’d love to see your take on the reality and game takes on the role of a special agent at some point.