Game: Rescue Party: Live!
Genre: Action, Arcade, Party
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Tag Studio | 505 Games
Controller Support: Yes
Price: UK £8.74 | US $9.99 | EU € 9,99
Release Date: January 13th, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to 505 Games
Party Game in a Disaster Setting
Rescue Party: Live! Is a co-op party style game where you work together with teammates to rescue survivors from a variety of disasters. Yes, here we are again with another Overcooked inspired game, taking its own spin on the formula and I’m totally fine with more developers giving this a shot. Rescue Party certainly makes a great first impression with its cute graphical style and unique premise. But is this a game to bring your family and friends together or a general disaster in itself? The fireman’s bell is ringing so let’s put a hat on and jump in.
Search and Rescue
You play as a member of the team’s elite rescue squad tasked with rescuing survivors in the midst of catastrophic events. These include earthquakes, fires, floods, avalanches if there’s a disaster somewhere your team will be there to help. The game is presented with a cute chibi graphical design from a top-down perspective. Before you enter a level you will be given a little text banter from the team to inform you of the events you’re walking into. What I found kinda amusing in this game is the soundtrack is rather happy and whimsical considering the subject matter. Who would have thought levels engulfed in flames and injured survivors could be so happy?
Even if you fail to rescue a survivor, a character zips in on a rope to rescue them instead. It’s a presentation that’s suitable for all members of the family and features absolutely no blood or upsetting scenes., which is kinda surprising considering. For some reason, news reports scroll across the screen as you play, which I really didn’t pay attention to as they were quite distracting. These can be switched off moving them to the left side of the screen out the way where you probably won’t find time to read them. You need to rescue folk after all.
Provide Aid
The game is presented in multiple levels with the goal of rescuing as many survivors as possible and aiming for that typical three-star rating which we have all come to know in these types of games by now. The entire campaign is available with up to 4 players locally, invite players to your game online or a mix of the two. To rescue a survivor you need to cater to their needs such as bandaging them up, giving CPR and applying medicine. Bandages and splints can’t just be applied directly; you need to take them to a crafting table before administering them to the patient. Some medicines need to also be mixed in a colour combination in a centrifuge before administering. Once they are healed you carry them on your back to the nearest ambulance or rescue point to score some points.
With Some Light Puzzle Solving
You can even throw survivors (and teammates) to save some time. Fail to achieve this under the small-time bar next to the survivor and you lose points. But it’s not just healing and carrying. Some survivors are trapped under rubble, so you need to grab some tools to release them. You may also need to put fires out with extinguishers or put up ladders to form new paths across the level. The game soon becomes this enjoyable juggling act of solving light puzzles in the environments while rescuing survivors as soon as possible. Thinking ahead and planning on the fly are the strategies to getting that tricky 3-star rating. But if you do struggle a single star is all that’s required to unlock the next level which is usually not too tricky. Often levels will alter and change. Beginning fairly straight forward but as time progresses areas will burn down forcing you to rethink your strategy.
The game will sometimes throw a long formed level at you where you need to carry survivors through a sinking ship or exploding warehouse. While fun on paper these levels heavily rely on learning through failure. These levels will instantly surprise you with flooding or explosions which you really can’t predict will happen. So you may lose your survivors and have to repeat the tedious process again. It’s the typical ‘guess what I’m thinking design,’ that kinda soured the experience.
Controls
The game is easy to pick up and play for gamers of all skill levels. You can either use a controller or keyboard on a PC. There was a weird niggle where when I first fired up the game it would not play with the controller but every time I restarted it worked just fine. This bug doesn’t appear to be fixed at the writing of this review. There’s a very handy training mission that quickly sums up the game’s controls and mechanics in a tidy package so anyone can jump straight into the fun. If people do need a quick reminder the controls are clearly displayed in the options menu.
You just need to be a little cautious with the dash button. If you knock into another player you both become temporarily dazed and confused which can become a tad irritating. Another niggle was treating the survivors, it felt like you really had to force down the button pretty hard to start up the treatment which can be a pain when you’re under the clock.
Going Solo
For solo players, you are able to enjoy the game alone. If you do this two characters are present on the screen and you switch between them with the bumpers on the controller. I tried a few levels solo but as is often the case with these types of games it just lacks the excitement of playing with other people. The juggling act is much harder to do alone and the levels feel much more of a chore.
Online
It’s always welcome when developers include a single-player option, but I really wouldn’t recommend playing this alone. If you can’t play locally the option to play online is available. You can even risk playing with random folk online which I attempted. But you can only do this in the tournament mode where you cycle through several random levels trying to obtain the highest score possible, even though you also have to work together. Despite some lag issues I generally found most players very cooperative despite the game not providing many gestures for communication other than a cute clap.
Extras
The main campaign is nice and beefy and took me and my wife under 10 hours to conquer in 2 player co-op. With the money, you earn you can unlock several new characters. There is also the tournament mode briefly mentioned above where you can unlock further cosmetics for characters. For the price of this game, I think you get plenty of bang for your buck on what’s available. And I certainly recommend this if you’re looking for a good game night game with family and friends.
Now it’s easy for most to look at this and compare it to Overcooked so let’s do that here. I feel this game does enough to form its own personality from that infamous series. But if you’re not a fan of the stress of time limits like that series evokes, this game may not be for you. There are two difficulty settings but currently, no accessibility features to tone down the frantic gameplay which may be a consideration for some.
Conclusion – Game Night Sorted
Rescue Party: Live! Is very entertaining in co-op and will make for some memorable game nights. Whether you succeed or fail in your mission to rescue survivors. You will likely have many gaming giggles to share together. If you’re going solo I’d probably advise staying clear and currently taking caution with the online which seems a touch laggy when I was reviewing it. An issue that may be ironed out over time. There is still plenty of room for co-op games and I’m pleased to say Rescue Party: Live! is one of the good ones.
Final Verdict: I Like It
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