I originally grabbed this game on Epic Game Store as one of their free weekly games. I never finished the game over there, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I wanted
112 Operator, so when I spotted the bundle on sale on Steam, I grabbed both. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my save file from the Epic Game Store edition carried over. As a result, my total hours on record on Steam is skewed about 20 hours lower than my actual play time. I've probably logged around 35 hours with 911 Operator between the two storefronts in total. On to my typical review!
I'll start with graphics and what drew me to the game in the first place. When I first spotted the game in EGS, I was intrigued by the premise of playing as a dispatcher. I looked up the game on YouTube and immediately decided to grab it. The overall set up strongly reminds me of combat missions from the
X-COM games; it's sort of a neat blend of the original and reboot of that series. You have your city map, your units to deploy as you see fit, and incidents that pop up over the duration of your shift. If you'd like, you can also take calls, wherein the operator must decide if services are necessary and which services to deploy if required. Each call has a few dialog branches, and they range from serious matters such as murder and sexual assault to the one caller who "just called to say 'I love you.'" Beyond this, you also have a screen before each shift, where you create teams of emergency workers and equip them. This is another thing that hearkens back to
X-COM for me, as it's set up pretty similar to the equip craft screens in the older game. Overall, the graphics are neat and clean, and while menus can be a little clunky, they're also fairly intuitive once you've finished a duty or two. Most interestingly, and a large part of the reason for such a high score in this area is the map downloading system. You can download an accurate or mostly accurate map of nearly any city in the world. I've played in areas ranging form New York City to my hometown, a tiny city in east Texas with a population of fewer than 20,000 people. My current city was available for download, but some of the smaller surrounding towns of my hometown were not available. I assume this is because they have populations of less than 5,000 and don't amount to much more than a stoplight and a gas station. I've found myself downloading maps just to check out, including places I've never been and countries I've never set foot in. I've mostly played maps of American cities, but international maps are also available. The only populated continent I haven't checked out at all is Africa, but this unique system brings a special element to the game. (9/10)
For the soundscapes, there is minimal music. You get the main theme during the menu, but not much else. The calls are fully voice acted, and the voice acting isn't always great, but it's definitely better than some other, higher budget games. The operator himself is well-done, expressing concern, sensitivity and annoyance in most duties, and if you play along with prank callers, even amusement. Sound effects are meaningful in the game, as listening to the background in a call can reveal clues to the operator's best course of action. Even during big, story-driven events, appropriate sound effects are inserted, giving the game a little more immersion. The sound generally lends to the feeling of being a dispatcher versus simply playing a simulator. (8/10)
Controls are mostly point and click; the game is mouse-driven. I generally use either a DualShock 4 or a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, but I wasn't able to do that with this game. As a result, I was not able to effectively play via remote play on my iPad, as I do with a significant chunk of my gaming time. The interfaces are mostly clean and neat, and as long as you can right or left click, you can play. Keyboards are rarely necessary, and I primarily used mine to download new maps, as I described above. Hotkeys are available, but I rarely used them. Still, having the option is attractive, and the fact that the hotkeys correspond to the conventional left-hand keys used in most PC gaming is a plus. (8/10)
In terms of story, you can have as much or as little as you want. I've turned off calls and stories in some duties, and I've played through all the available calls in the game, seen all the city-specific story events ranging from natural disasters to human-driven large losses of life and everything in between. Some of the stories are interesting while others are frustrating. One city's story even mirrors a popular television show that concluded around the time this game was released; this city is the city that show took place in. The game definitely keeps you guessing, and each interaction is interesting, whether it's a repeat call you're pushing to a new direction or an as-of-yet unseen event taking you by surprise. Getting the current events of your chosen city through emergency calls is a unique story-telling device that I've never seen before, and the only other game I'm aware of that does this is the sequel,
112 Operator. (9/10)
My final note reflects back to the customization I mentioned with the map. I have not opened the tool yet, but the game does come bundled with a separate utility to edit calls. I do not include this in the review overall for two reasons: firstly, because it seems to be distinct from the game itself, and secondly, because I haven't used it. I intend to take a look at it in the coming weeks and figure out exactly how tough it is to create my own calls.
Overall, this is a unique game that brings something new and exciting to the simulation genre by virtue of what it simulates. The overall mechanics are the same, but the subject matter is just so damn interesting that I can't help but be sucked in for duty after duty. (9/10)
4.5