No, really: Emergency Response Unit is a Flash game intended to promote the Red Cross (and Red Crescent) and educate people on what they do. A tutorial and two levels are available free, with the full game $19.95. I played another Red Cross game a couple of years ago (think it was called Response Force) but that was more a collection of minigames. This is designed like an RTS, only saving refugees and distributing medical supplies.
In practice, the interface is so streamlined that it plays like Diner Dash: tasks appear at the bottom, and it's easy to move from alert to site to response by pressing the right buttons. Also, it presents the work of the Red Cross as a series of tasks to be done. It doesn't present any dilemmas that must be faced in the field - the answer is always clear. I suspect that in a real earthquake, the response to a group of wounded civilians is not as simple as 4x4 + Medical Team + Medical Supplies.
Still, this is a sophisticated offering, it shows what the Red Cross do in the field and it is a diverting game. I hope it's a success.
Saturday 1 November 2008
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