Go! Go! Rescue Squad!
Go Go Rescue Squad is an arcade-puzzle game with a large slice of humour where you have to rescue people from various disasters. (And what a great name!)
How To Get It:
You can download Go! Go! Rescue Squad! from Ovi Store by selecting your phone's Ovi Store icon, or by going to store.ovi.mobi on your phone's web browser.
Alternatively you can go to store.ovi.com on your computer's browser.
If you can't see the game displayed on Ovi Store, it probably isn't compatible with your phone model.
For more info about using Ovi Store, see our Unofficial Ovi Store FAQ page.
Ovi Gaming Review:
Phone Used For Review - Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (game may be different on different phone models)
Gameplay - Go! Go! Rescue Squad is a cartoon puzzle game based around a team of firemen who have to rescue various kinds of people (called "The Darwins") from various kinds of danger, with each level consisting of a single puzzle screen. You control one fireman at a time, but you'll usually need to use many of them together to solve a particular puzzle. Much of the gameplay revolves around throwing fire extinguishers onto fires and throwing Darwins into places of safety, with different kinds of Darwin behaving differently (a bit like Lemmings in this respect). There are several game worlds and a total of 64 different puzzles, along with a comprehensive set of well-designed interactive tutorials which teach you every single aspect of the game clearly and one step at a time.
On touchscreen phones you control the firemen by touching one to select it and then touching the screen where you want it to go, with context-sensitive thought bubbles displaying various options when needed. Perhaps the biggest innovation in GGRS is its rewind system, where a puzzle can be rolled back to a previous state, and such "rewinds" are required if the puzzle becomes unsolvable (for example if a Darwin dies). Rewinds are also a good way to avoid the frustration of having to redo part of a level, they let you skip back to wherever things went wrong. Another useful part of the interface is the throwing gauge which shows you exactly where an object will land and how it will fly there, letting you quickly judge how to make complex throws to other ledges or firemen.
Graphics & Sound - GGRS was developed by a British company, but it has a very strong Anime feel to it (even the name sounds Japanese) and its presentation is very much like a Game Boy Advance title. The graphics are fairly pixellated on the 5800, possibly because they're being scaled up to fit the very high resolution screen, but this shouldn't be as noticeable on phones with smaller and lower res displays, and it doesn't affect the gameplay. The graphics are slightly slow but typical of Java platform games, and speed isn't as much of an issue in this genre anyway (also worth noting that the game only seems to work in vertical/portrait mode, at least on the 5800). The game's soundtrack is made up of several pleasant MIDI tracks but there are no sound effects or digital samples.
Multiplayer & Online - None.
TV Out - As it has 2D cartoon graphics, GGRS looks quite nice on a television screen and reminds this reviewer of games from the PC or Amiga in the early 1990s. The soundtrack sounds nice through TV speakers. Note that if you're playing on a touchscreen phone you may not be able to control the game easily through TV Out because you'll need to watch the phone itself to see where you're putting your finger or stylus.
Overall - GGRS sets very high standards in many ways, it has cute graphics with a smooth and clever interface (especially the rewinds and throwing gauge), and excellent tutorials which introduce the entire game one concept at a time. The tutorials in particular set an example for all mobile games to follow, and any publisher thinking of releasing a complex phone game should use GGRS's one-concept-at-a-time tutorial system as a model. As a game GGRS is good value for money, there is a vast amount of gameplay which will keep you going for a long time, and it involves a lot of lateral thinking as well as some dexterity. However, the one thing that's wrong with the game is the learning curve, which is far too steep. Even the second puzzle, out of a total of 64, had this reviewer completely baffled, and the game got even harder very quickly. If you're looking for something casual or easy then this definitely isn't it, but if you're a serious puzzle game fan who doesn't mind a bit of frustration then GGRS will be right up your street.
Ovi Gaming Score - 80% (but only if you're a fan of difficult puzzles!)
Ovi Gaming Video:
Ovi Gaming Screenshots (taken on Nokia 5800 XpressMusic - games may look different on different phones):
