Incident Commander
- July 16, 2020
- BreakAway Games
- 3h median play time
Get on SteamIn "Incident Commander," players take on the role of the incident commander, deploying and coordinating teams from various organizations to tackle crises in a small town. The light-hearted game features real-time operations and supports up to four players, with a tutorial and nine scenarios testing skills in dealing with various emergencies. Achieve success while keeping an eye on the public safety and incident budget.
Reviews
- The game has a great concept and potential for development, especially as a learning tool for emergency response.
- Visually appealing with a decent variety of units that can perform numerous functions depending on the scenario.
- Some players find it fun and engaging, particularly in multiplayer mode, and appreciate the strategic elements involved.
- The game suffers from a lack of content, with very few scenarios and a short gameplay experience, often completed in under three hours.
- Controls are cumbersome and unintuitive, requiring excessive micromanagement that can be frustrating and tedious.
- Many players report bugs and issues with AI pathfinding, as well as a general feeling that the game has been abandoned by developers after its initial release.
- gameplay15 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been criticized for its excessive micromanagement and unwieldy mechanics, which detract from the overall experience and make it feel unrewarding. Players express frustration over the lack of updates and content, suggesting that the game has potential but currently falls short compared to similar titles. Additionally, issues with the tutorial and command menus hinder the learning curve, leaving players feeling overwhelmed and underprepared.
“Assigning an operations section chief that can automate the tiny micromanaging features would be a realistic and gameplay-saving mechanic, allowing you, the incident commander, to focus on strategy rather than tactics.”
“The gameplay for that goes like this:”
“It's a bit of a shock that may add to gameplay, to be sure, but it did not seem to help when you don't have the chance to understand what you are doing before you can even affect anything happening in the scenario.”
“The game fails here as the scenarios and objectives in many ways are more realistic than that of the emergency series, but the game's mechanics are too unwieldy to allow for any praise.”
“Too much micromanagement for gameplay.”
“Unfortunately, the 4 total missions (including tutorial), and their approximately 60 minutes of gameplay do not justify $20.”
- story15 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The game's story is primarily mission-driven, with players expressing a desire for more diverse scenarios beyond the limited current offerings. While the existing missions provide a decent challenge, the overall narrative experience is hampered by the lack of content, with only a few missions available, leading to concerns about the game's value for its price. Players are hopeful for future updates that will expand the story and gameplay options.
“I did the train fire and the school/hostage scenarios, and felt adequately challenged to complete the missions with as few casualties as possible.”
“I enjoyed the current missions as well as I am sure I will enjoy the future missions to come.”
“Very good game like the new tornado mission hope they keep updating new missions and appliances.”
“With only 4-5 missions and no freeplay mode, this is a game killer in my opinion.”
“Unfortunately, the 4 total missions (including tutorial), and their approximately 60 minutes of gameplay do not justify $20.”
“I don't think the price fits the current gameplay status, as there's only 3 missions currently.”
- graphics9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally well-received, with users appreciating the art style and visuals, even at lower settings. While it aims for a Roblox-style aesthetic reminiscent of the Emergency series, players noted a lack of options in the menu, particularly for sound settings. Overall, the visuals are considered appealing and functional, allowing for clear interaction with the game environment.
“Firstly, I think the concept of the game is great and I love the art style.”
“I ran low graphics and the game still looked great.”
“It is trying to be like the Emergency series but in Roblox-style graphics.”
“I'm sure high graphics allows for more details, but I still felt I could easily tell what I was clicking on when working around different objects, buildings, and walls.”
“- Not enough options in the menu (there are no sound options, only graphic options 'high' or 'low').”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with users reporting numerous bugs and a lack of a comprehensive tutorial, which contributes to a frustrating experience.
“It's too basic, lacks a good tutorial, and is buggy.”
“Buggy.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and frustrating, primarily due to cumbersome controls that prevent queuing actions, making repetitive tasks feel unnecessarily annoying.
“It would be a nice and detailed game, but it feels like the controls are intentionally annoying and uncomfortably tedious to use.”
“There is no way to queue these actions, and when this is the case for every action, the game is unbearably tedious.”
- music2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The current state of the game's music is minimal, with no significant musical score present, and the voiceovers are likened to Microsoft Sam. However, this is generally viewed as acceptable given the game's early development stage.
“There's no real 'music' at this time, and the voices used remind me of Microsoft Sam, but it's not a real problem considering the early development stage of the game.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, users report that the game's performance is solid with no significant issues; however, there is a desire for improved indicators to better reflect scores and performance metrics.
“No problems with performance.”
“Needs a better indicator for score or performance.”
“Needs a better indicator on score or performance.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game offers a fun experience but can be completed in about an hour, leading to limited replayability.
“It's fun, but you can beat it in an hour honestly, and there isn't much replay value.”
“Once you've completed the game, there's little incentive to go back and play it again.”
“The lack of different endings or meaningful choices makes replaying the game feel pointless.”
