Be a 911 operator! Ask the right questions! Assess the situation and send the police to save lives! Or just hang up on people in mortal danger…
I used to read Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy books as a kid. The ones in which you would reach the end of a section and would make a decision, turning to a page in the book to continue your story or meet a grisly end. The idea of influencing the story in a book was great and pandered to my video game obsessions. Obviously, I cheated by keeping my finger on the previous page just in case I died. You did it too. Don’t deny it, it’s fine. We’re all friends here.
H.E.R.O. Unit is somewhat like that, but on your phone and on a much smaller scale. The player starts by entering their name before being given a simple set of instructions explaining the various screens. The Phone itself, Profiles, and News (basically the results of calls) are where players will spend most of their time. Going to the phone will show an incoming call which can be answered to begin an episode of the game. Not answering it doesn’t seem to have a negative consequence that I could spot, so I’m not sure how severe these emergencies are. Anyway, answering will begin a story told in a text response style.
After each brief section of conversation, the player will need to decide how to respond. Should you ask for the victim’s name? Their Address? Maybe advise them to escape from their predicament? It seems there are a number of paths through each call that will culminate in a variety of results which are told through news reports. You often have a chance to dismiss the situation as a none issue (this was a viable option on some occasions), or even hang up the phone altogether! The choices you make will lead to one of a number of endings for each call, some of which can be rather dark.
The subject matter of each crime can vary from comedic to rather unpleasant. I expected this to be a light hearted game from the presentation, but my first call was a domestic violence incident that I ended up handling badly. Whilst there are fun calls to handle, this one did give me a moment to think about how those who answer emergency calls have a very difficult job at times. I didn’t expect that, but I was happy that the game gave me pause to consider this without making that message too obvious.
Thankfully, once you complete the calls on offer you can return to each one to have it play out differently and unlock a different ending and news story. This was a nice touch as the result of my first call made me feel a little uncomfortable and I was glad to be able to rectify it. The first play through each call felt like a combination of common sense, intuition and guess work (which may well be how it is in real life) but returning later with your knowledge of the situation allows you to make choices to influence the story in the way you want to, for better or worse!
During my play through of the game, there were 11 calls for me to play through, each with multiple endings, which I feel is reasonable for the £0.79 price tag. The developers also intend to release more calls over time which will give all the more reason to return to this in the future. I certainly wouldn’t mind having a few more stories to experience.
The game is fairly well put together, although I noticed some of the text on the instructions page dropped off the bottom of the screen forcing me to scroll up and hold the screen to make it readable. Other than that it seems in a good state. The visuals are fine but don’t expect anything spectacular. The same goes for the sound, with clicks and beeps to acknowledge button presses. I would have liked some voice acting for the people making the calls, but what is here is very functional. Certainly not bad for a 3 person team.
In all, H.E.R.O. Unit is a fun experience that can be had in short bursts. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but what it does it does well. If you’re tired of playing the same old mobile games with a different skin, then I suggest you give this little title a try. It was a pleasant surprise for me!
H.E.R.O Unit is available on Google Play for £0.99, and iOS for £0.79 (at time of printing)
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