When the cops get involved youll notice a pretty basic star system kick in, similar to what youd expect but with some key differences. As soon as you do something illegal like hurting civilians or breaking into restricted areas, police will start spawning nearby with more dangerous units showing up as your star level increases. The trick to dealing with them is pretty straightforward, break line of sight and get moving since they dont actually chase you that far.

Something worth knowing about combat encounters, you can actually scan enemies to check if they have bounties on them which is a nice way to earn some extra eddies and street cred. Just remember that taking them down non-lethally wont count for the bounty, so you'll need to finish the job if youre hunting rewards. Since the 2.0 update the police got smarter with roadblocks and theyll try to hack your car during chases, but its still not super complex like some other games where actions have lasting consequences or bounty hunters track you down.

Maxtac squads are the ones to really watch out for when youve got max stars, they hit hard and can take a beating so your best bet is usually just getting out of the area entirely rather than trying to fight them head-on. The system resets pretty quickly once you break away which makes it feel more arcade-like than a proper wanted system but it gets the job done