This is a strategy/adventure game in which players assume the role of a police chief (Jack Boyd) commanding a force in the fictional city of Freeburg. Players manage their department, assign police units to tasks (e.g., emergency response, hunting criminal gangs), and make various decisions affecting the outcome of cases/investigations. Some cases can lead to the interrogation and/or torture of criminals: players are directed to use various instruments and means (e.g., electrical shock, water boarding, sounds) to extract information from characters; torture of characters occurs off-screen and is never shown, though screaming can be heard. The game sometimes depicts bloodstains on or near victims' bodies. Some crime scenes (e.g., serial murder, sexual assault) depict stylized images of victims with exposed breasts and/or buttocks. One sequence depicts a brief still-image of a woman on top of a man; squeaking sounds are heard, though no sexual act is ever displayed. During the course of the game, players can seize cocaine from drug manufacturing and drug trafficking cases. The words "f**k" and "sh*t" are heard in the dialogue.