When comparing Hexcells Infinite vs Beat Cop, the Slant community recommends Hexcells Infinite for most people. In the question“What are the best Puzzle games on Steam?” Hexcells Infinite is ranked 17th while Beat Cop is ranked 22nd. The most important reason people chose Hexcells Infinite is:
The game has a random level generator to create a near infinite supply of levels, and the built in level solver makes sure that every level is beatable.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Level generates infinite solvable puzzles
The game has a random level generator to create a near infinite supply of levels, and the built in level solver makes sure that every level is beatable.
Pro Clever twist on minesweeper
Hexcells Infinite is like minesweeper mixed with picross on a hexagon grid with clever layouts and hints to keep the puzzles interesting.
Pro Resizable window
You can change the window dimensions arbitrarily after the game has started which is great if you're playing a game on the side of doing something else. The game board also resizes to fit the height of the window. Only problem is that some HUD elements don't re-position based on the width.
Pro Features challenging handmade puzzles
The game also features a "campaign" mode with different worlds and hand made levels that provide some challenging and interesting puzzles.
Pro Can be solved with pure logic
In games like minesweeper, sometimes you run into a 50/50 chance situation where you have no choice but to guess at the solution. The generator in Hexcells runs every puzzle through a solver to make sure that all puzzles can be solved with logic alone without any guessing or brute forcing a solution.
Pro Ambient noise soundtrack
The music in Hexcells is slow and relaxing for a great zen puzzle session so you can zone out if you're on a break or traveling. The sound effects also procedurally match with the music in tempo, so they aren't distracting, and they actually add to the music.
Pro Layered logic
The clues provided in Hexcells come in a variety of forms. They can be based around number of active cells around an inactive one, the row, or the number of active cells up to two spaces away from an active cell, and all these have potential modifiers on top of it. The game introduces you to the concepts slowly so it isn't too overwhelming, but all the different possible mechanics help keep the puzzles fresh and interesting, and makes you think in more ways than games like minesweeper will.
Pro Deals with relevant issues
Even if it's set 30 years ago, Beat Cop manages to make a statement about issues relevant today. Problems like race, police brutality, and corruption are dealt with with a good dose of satire and introspection. It throws the player into a hostile environment and asks them to make important decisions under extremely high pressure and difficulty where doing something immoral is often seen as the simplest and fastest way of reaching your goals.
The quota-based system is reminiscent of the statistics-based systems many countries employ to measure a cop's performance. This blurs the line between moral and immoral choices. Do you choose to take the high road? Or do you make an immoral choice in order to reach your goals faster? This way, Beat Cop shines a light on the many difficulties policemen have to address every day and the game does so while remaining impartial and without throwing needless accusations around.
Pro Players are required to make meaningful decisions that have meaningful consequences
In order to progress in the game, players have to make a variety of difficult decisions. For example, accepting a bribe may improve your relations with the Mafia but reduce your overall reputation with your fellow police officers. You can choose to play a good cop that plays by the rules, but it's not easy. You can issue tickets even for cars that are not breaking any laws, but those tickets count towards your daily ticket quota. Issuing them may have long-term consequences.
In order to reach their daily goals, the player must make the choice they think will get them closer to it. Whether that is the moral choice or not is entirely up to the player themselves. The right choice will reward the player, the wrong choice however can greatly penalize and set them back.
Pro Perfectly captures the feel of classic cop shows and movies
Beat Cop successfully captures the general feel of '80s shows and movies about cops. It's got all the stereotypes people find and enjoy in those shows and movies. All the cliches make it seem like it's straight out of Miami Vice.
Cons
Con Randomly generated levels are not as intricate as main levels
While the randomly generated levels are fun, they are not as involved as the main levels designed by the developer.
Con In-game time management could have been handled a bit better
Five minutes in-game are equivalent to a couple of real-world seconds. This makes time go awfully quickly in Beat Cop. The idea is that time needs to go quickly in order for the player to strategize and think hard about which choices they will make during a single day. This fact is further emphasized by NPCs repeating again and again that you will not be able to complete all of your tasks. The problem is that it's perfectly possible to complete all given tasks in even such a small timeframe.
You have a daily minimum number of tickets you have to write, if you reach double of your daily quota the game will reward you for that. But because in-game time management is poor, it's quite easy to even quadruple your daily quota which seems to not have been predicted by the game creators since the game gives no rewards whatsoever for reaching more than double your ticket quota.