Contraband Police sees you playing the role of an officer trainee assigned to the border post of Karikatka, in the year 1981. Unlike other sims, there is a legitimate narrative arc here. You are caught between the iron-fisted Acarist Government and the Blood Fist rebels. Throughout the campaign, you are faced with moral dilemmas: do you arrest a man for carrying “subversive literature” to earn a promotion, or do you look the other way because his family is starving? While the writing isn’t the best, it does do a good job at providing a narrative that works for this kind of simulation game. Your choices actually matter, leading to different endings that reflect your loyalty or your humanity.
The gameplay is split into three distinct sections; inspection, management, and action. Inspection is the heart of the game. You compare passports to entry permits, check cargo manifests against actual crate counts, and look for technical violations like broken mirrors. The satisfaction comes from the “Perception” system—using a UV light to find hidden smuggler marks on a vehicle and then physically tearing the car apart with a crowbar or axe to find hidden drugs or money. Management has you managing the post. You earn a salary for every correct decision and lose it for mistakes. This money is pumped back into your station. You’ll upgrade your prison cells, hire more guards to help during raids, and buy better tools.
On the Xbox Series X, the game benefits greatly from the SSD. Loading times are nearly non-existent, which is vital when you are frequently moving between your post and the open world. While there are some more visually impressive games on the platform, it’s not a bad game, but not spectacular either. The character models are stiff and the textures can be muddy, with the lighting being rather excellent. The way your flashlight cuts through the foggy mountain nights looks atmospheric in 4K. When it comes to frame rate, the game targets 60 FPS. While it holds this during the “quiet” inspection moments, the frame rate can stutter during high-speed chases or when multiple explosions occur during a rebel raid.
The audio design is a standout feature for immersion. The soundtrack is a heavy, synth-driven dirge that perfectly captures the 1980s Eastern Bloc aesthetic. The sound of the vehicles is appropriately “clunky” with engine sputter and rattle sounds as they idle at your gate. There is a tactile “thud” to stamping a passport and a satisfying “crunch” when you use a saw to cut open a suspicious fuel tank. The voice acting uses a fictional “Acaristan” language (similar to The Sims or Signalis), which avoids the cheesiness of bad English accents and keeps the player immersed in the foreign setting. The audio is really where the game shines and does a great job of keeping the player immersed.
Contraband Police is a game that is not for everyone. It offers unique and compelling gameplay, but is rather repetitive. It successfully blends the tension of a detective game with the management of a tycoon sim and the occasional burst of a first-person shooter. But even as much as the game tries to give players a good experience, it’s a game that I personally couldn’t sit down and play for more than about an hour at a time.
The game punishes you for not doing things correctly at your job. There is a lot of waiting around for things to happen sometimes. This game really feels more like a job and less like an interactive simulation game. You play sim games to escape real life. This becomes an issue when a simulation game blurs the line of realism and entertainment too much. It becomes much less fun and causes the player to just get up and walk away or gravitate towards a more fun and interactive experience.
If you’re looking for a fun simulation game that has a lot going for it, I would say look elsewhere and stay clear of Contraband Police. If you don’t mind mundane tasks and want to play a game that’s more like a job at a Soviet military facility, then this is the game for you.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.