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Being a 911 Emergency Dispatcher must not be an easy. You’ll never know what kind of trouble you’ll hear from the caller, if they’re not drunk or just some kids and other unaware individuals. In “H.E.R.O. Unit” you take the role of the dispatcher and handle emergency calls that come your way (God help them).

As odd as having the 911 Emergency Service handing out smartphone apps this is at least more applicable than YouTube Heroes.

“H.E.R.O. Unit” is a text simulation game; you’ll mostly see lines of text throughout the game. Everything is told in text, with only one sound effect for clicking on buttons on the interface, with different colors to distinguish what it’s for (white for dialogue and everything going on with the call, azure for dispatch to police calls, and so on). There are some graphics in the game: there are the monochrome portraits of the callers under profiles, the interface, and the HERO Unit’s seal in the background. There really isn’t much to see aside from the text but the game clarifies what’s going on during the calls.

Things can easily go wrong if you’re not careful. One choice could kill one person to several people.

As a HERO (Hotline Emergency Rescue Operator) it’s your job to respond to incoming emergency calls on your Portable Rescue Device (your smartphone with the game on it) and help them by using the best responses for their particular situation. Some of them are easy to resolve but many of them will challenge your wit, with those including armed robbery, domestic violence, and premeditated murder. These calls, while they should be taken seriously since they’re the kind you’d expect from a 911 call, are fun to resolve but there are some cases where it seems like they’re futile to get right. There are more calls to come for the app, with about 12 calls as of writing (they come in a random order when starting the game).

Believe me, these calls are more welcoming than some of the other cases.

As you go down certain branches with the calls, you unlock news articles to see the epilogue of your success or failure. After completing all the calls from your first run you can go through the archive and replay them to unlock the multiple endings and articles to the cases. And all your dedication to saving lives can be completely wiped away by logging out. Everything from your statistics to news articles are erased, and you have to begin from scratch again when you log back in. This is such a strange oddity because this game encourages you to play out the scenarios, try each branch, and collect new articles.

Pros:
+ Realistic situations that encourages players to resolve the case.
+ Multiple endings with several news articles to unlock.

Cons:
– Progress is wiped after logging out.
– Some calls seem futile for a good ending.

Gameplay: 3.5/5
Graphics: 2.5/5
Sound/Music: 1/5
Controls: 5/5
Replay value: 5/5

tgg grade 3.5 out of 5

Verdict: 3.5/5
“H.E.R.O. Unit” is an interesting experience as it challenges you to think like a dispatcher, as a sort of mystery game (just not in the field). There are more cases to come in the future but the current ones in the game at the moment require an HERO to save the world, one person at a time.

Title: H.E.R.O. Unit
Developer: Jassim Albuarki and co.
Format: Android
Genre: Text Simulation
Resolution: 480 x 854
Release date: 2017-01-09
Difficulty: Moderate
Spent time: 2+ hours
Average grade internationally: Unavailable as of writing (Gamerankings.com).
PEGI/ESRB age rating: PEGI 16+/Mature 17+
Price: $0.99