Game Reviews

Emergency Mobile

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| Emergency Mobile
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Emergency Mobile
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| Emergency Mobile

If you've played the tablet version of Emergency then you already know what you're getting yourself into with this slightly shrunken version. If you haven't, then the long of short of it is that calamities happen and it's up to you to put them right.

Playing the role of some sort of super emergency service comptroller, you're essentially fighting real-time battles against fires, car crashes, terrorist attacks, and potential nuclear catastrophes. Your weapons are bandages and hoses, hazmat suits, and tow trucks.

Attack that crashed plane

Each level sees you sorting out one disaster or another, and you're given a set number of emergency workers to do it with. These range from firemen, who can fight fires with hoses or extinguishers, to stretcher bearers who carry the wounded away from ground zero.

There are always obstacles between you and successfully managing the situation, though. Sometimes fires will need to be put out before crashed cars can be dragged out of the way, or nuclear materials will have to be dealt with before your medics can tend to the injured.

Everything is controlled with taps. You select a unit by tapping on it, select one of its abilities, then set it to work. There's rarely any confusion about what you've selected, and the game greys out any abilities a unit can't use at that time.

Piece of cake

The problem is, you never really feel like you're in any peril -especially in the early levels, which you'll breeze through in no time whatsoever. When there are only 13 disasters to clean up, and another three available as an in-app purchase, that just isn't good enough.

Those extra levels are definitely worth the 69p/99c, though, as they weave together elements from different parts of the campaign to add the one thing the rest of the game is missing - challenge.

If you're looking for a strategy title that doesn't involve the slaughter of countless numbers of foes, then there's a lot to like about Emergency Mobile. It's just a shame that it fails to fill its encounters with any of the tension it needs to really sparkle.

Emergency Mobile

There's fun to be had here, but Emergency Mobile just doesn't put you in enough jeopardy to become truly addictive
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.