The police make a lot of sense in the early game so that they can introduce each player character slowly but still have significant combat.

however IMO is the nature of police slowing down levels, a level with 8 player chars, a summon or two and 4 police takes ages to resolve. Add in 100+ enemies and it's 2hrs a level.
The ability to pick up and put down the game at any point helps for sure but it's a bit much.

You can dismiss police, shift + control 6. And it will get rid of them. Early game, they are a good help, but later, they are useless.

Looking forward to the next game, hopefully it will be another gem.

But yeah, would have been cool if you could call in some senior help. You do get Jane in some missions, but would have been nice if she was an option for more.

Still, I'm sure the devs have learnt a lot from the first game, and hopefully refine the experience for the second.

I agree, considering the number of balls in the air in terms of systems in this game it's amazing that almost none of them are dropped considering the fact that this is a first game.

Really looking forward to a second game that is a little more streamlined and polished, not that this one is bad, far from it.

Personally, I liked the police for a few reasons.

1. Part of the story is how none of the other troubleshooter companies are really functioning anymore. Albus' company pretty quickly become all that's left, and it isn't until after the main story that other companies start to pick up steam again. Heck, the police had to legally grant these companies all the loot (something we in the real world would call "evidence") to motivate them.
2. There are a lot of mechanics in the game. Masteries being the biggest one of course, but there are also things like character skills, speed, AT, equipment, crafting, armor/resists, weather, why anne/ray ignore cover(fall attacks), etc. Plenty of experienced people get overloaded with it all, let alone rookies to the genre. The police themselves may be "basic", but I think they are a good buffer between having too many characters to try and learn at once, and having far too few characters while the game builds up the difficulty.
3. Most games with police, specifically where they are outmatched(which let's be honest is like 95% of the time), you either don't see them or do see them lose. For all intents and purposes, they aren't there. Here, it at least shows that they ARE functioning and attempting to keep order (even if they're outmatched), and shows how they cooperate with troubleshooters (little tidbits like the one officer checking Albus on the legality of recruiting civilians to manage crisis situations, or their favoritism towards anne).
4. If you don't like them but still need them, you could always have the ai control them to hold position or automatically advance. So the "problem" kinda solves itself anyways.

For me it more felt like the levels where we have 4+ police had too many additional enemies added and it bogged down the pace of the level. IMO going over 50 enemies can get a bit much, not in terms of difficulty, just time.

I can't recall where, but I believe the devs have stated that they are working to make the stages for the next game a bit shorter.
I wish I remembered where it was so I could reference it, but they're aware that a lot of people want shorter missions and are trying to comply. No idea if that involves guest characters like the cops, though.

The idea isn't bad. It could be combined with the multiple route options in the game to make it optional, for those who want a faster clear, or a different approach to the mission. Or siding with different groups / factions.

Originally posted by Midknight22:

For me it more felt like the levels where we have 4+ police had too many additional enemies added and it bogged down the pace of the level. IMO going over 50 enemies can get a bit much, not in terms of difficulty, just time.

The police do slow things down, because they're not customizable and so they'll remain slow and ineffective while your own characters progress through the game.
But I have to disagree with the number of enemies. I love that stuff, give me as many enemies as possible. 100, 200, the more the better. Need bigger maps though.

I like that Troubleshooters work with the police on missions, I just wish their builds weren't so bad. There's one map - the level 35 Magenta Shopping Street story mission - where their power level is high enough to be useful, but the rest of the time they either don't do enough damage, lack important masteries like Lightning Reflexes on maps full of responsive fire enemies, or both.

Originally posted by Hemmingfish:

I like that Troubleshooters work with the police on missions, I just wish their builds weren't so bad. There's one map - the level 35 Magenta Shopping Street story mission - where their power level is high enough to be useful, but the rest of the time they either don't do enough damage, lack important masteries like Lightning Reflexes on maps full of responsive fire enemies, or both.

Similarly the melee police have counter but not forestallment, when the later is both cheaper and largely better.