Contraband Police is a zany, indie simulation game where players take on the role of a border guard whose job is to inspect people entering the country and make sure they don't have any contraband with them.
This sounds simple enough, but the game is actually a surprisingly complete, fleshed-out experience in a number of ways. Players can upgrade their gear, drive around the countryside, and have a number of important responsibilities to attend to as part of their work at the border. The game has something of a learning curve, so these are some tips for beginners to Contraband Police.
8 Always Carry An Axe
Easily one of the most useful tools for players to carry on them at all times is the axe. A surprising number of events crop up where players need an axe on them. One of the most common is fallen trees across the road. Having an axe handy allows players to hack these up and move them out of their way.
Efficiency is key in a game like Contraband Police where resource and inventory management are such a massive part of the gameplay experience, so something as simple as having an axe goes a very long way.
7 Invest In A Prison Guard
Actually making arrests and transporting prisoners away from the border is only part of the challenge that players have to tackle in Contraband Police. It's fairly common for prisoners to escape after being arrested, which can result losing a substantial amount of income.
The easiest way around this is hiring a prison guard. It's definitely something of an investment, but when weighed up against the cost of potentially losing prisoners and money, it's an investment that is absolutely worth making.
6 Check Animals For Contraband
There is a surprisingly wide array of methods to conceal contraband used by smugglers, with one of them being dead animals. Believe it or not, players can occasionally find drugs and other prohibited materials stuffed into animal carcasses - it's usually possible to tell whether an animal is being used for this purpose by finding markings on their bodies that indicate they've been cut into.
If players suspect that an animal carcass is being used to store contraband, try whacking it with a crowbar or similar.
5 Be Quick To Make Arrests
A big part of adjusting to Contraband Police is figuring out when to arrest people at the border who the player suspects may be hiding something, have committed a crime or been found to be carrying some form of contraband.
Oftentimes, it's worth arresting suspicious people sooner rather than later, especially if they haven't made any type of bribe to the player. People who don't make bribes but are in possession of contraband will often try to escape before they can be arrested by players. This attention to detail in the gameplay genuinely puts Contraband Police up there with some of the best sims in the genre.
4 Drive Safely
It probably goes without saying, but Contraband Police isn't GTA. Players will need to pay to repair damage to their vehicles in the game, and cars in need of repairing provide far worse protection than vehicles that are in good condition if (or rather, when) players get attacked in the game.
So, players should focus on driving as carefully as possible. Contraband Police has a semi-open world and has a fairly unique exploration mechanic worked into it. Keep speeds to a reasonable level, for instance; plotting out one's route before setting out can also be helpful in this respect.
3 Ambushes Usually Aren’t Worth The Money
Resource management is a crucial part of Contraband Police. Players need to weigh up the cost of investing in new gear against the potential profit they might be able to extract from the various situations they come across in-game.
Ambushes are a great example of this. Players will frequently get ambushed in Contraband Police, and they'll be rewarded for taking out their attackers. However, this is usually more trouble than it's actually worth. Rather than spending time and ammo on dealing with ambushes, players will often be better off simply driving away and taking care of whatever they were doing in the first place instead.
2 The Makarov Is Seriously Underrated
As far as fights are concerned, players should be able to handle themselves just fine with the Makarov, which is a type of pistol. Using the Makarov, players can usually take enemies down with headshots, and the ammo for the Makarov is exceedingly affordable.
This frees up more capital for the player to use on other resources and upgrades. Note that, once players have purchased upgrades in-game, then their daily cost of running operations at the border will permanently increase in kind. Saving money wherever possible is a vital part of succeeding in Contraband Police.
1 Cross-Reference Message Board With Traveler Information
Just like in Papers, Please, players should diligently check the message board at the start of each day of work before beginning their shift.
Much of the information on the message board will be crucial to the player's success, and plenty of it will be impossible to discern otherwise. The rules applying to who can and can't cross the border change frequently, and players need to make sure to enforce them in order to meet performance standards at work. So, it's important to make a habit of checking the message board daily.
Contraband Police is out now on PC.