Responding

Become a first responder in Responding! I have played tons of games over the years where you get to play as a cop, firefighter, or whatever, some kind of everyday hero that steps up to keep their community and people safe, and that is pretty much what we have here. I love and I mean love the idea of this game, and I was given the chance to take part in the early access build of the game, and when I say that this is a game that is in early access, I mean it! This has to be as close to being a pre-alpha build as you can possibly get, while still being able to release the game as it is very, very early in its development as I write this.

For My City

From what I experienced, there was no big overarching narrative at play here in Responding. The game takes place in a fictional version of New York City, and we play the role of a cop who is trying to keep the city and the civilians safe. The official page does make mention of a firefighter and an EMT, but I was only able to play as a cop. When it comes to games that let you play as a cop, for me, the gold standard will always be Sleeping Dogs, although I guess there you are an undercover cop. Anyway, the point here is that you are on the street and right in the heart of any trouble that is going down.

Moments Of Terror

I cannot remember where I heard it, but once I heard someone say that being a cop is like 90 percent boredom and 10 percent sheer terror, I do not know why, but that always stuck with me. In Responding, you get to roam the city in your car as you take calls and try to stop crime. In the early build that I played, you were able to pull over dangerous drivers and give them a ticket or even just a warning, and this was something that I thought was a lot of fun. You were also able to tape off a crime scene and speak to witnesses to get statements, too. And, you could even get into shootouts with dangerous criminals. There were only a few types of crimes to deal with in this early build, but the potential was there, speaking of which.

I Want To Save This City

I really do want to save this city, just like Batman in the underrated game, Batman Begins! I have played tons of early access games, many of which are like Responding and super early in their development. However, I cannot, off the top of my head, think of another one that has had as much potential to be as epic as this. Even if this whole game was just playing as the cop, and they fleshed that part of it out with more stuff to do and crimes to deal with. I think that would be awesome. But there is the firefighter stuff and the EMT services that are going to be a huge part of this game, too. I think that sounds so awesome, and you can also play this with others, so you can work as a team trying to keep the people and the city safe from danger and accidents.

How Early Are We Talking Here?

Ok, so, I have mentioned a few times that the version of Responding which I am talking about here is in very, very early access, and I actually think I may have understated just how early this is. The build I played was buggy as hell. I would say that the majority of vehicles on the road could just drive through each other; there was no structure to anything, and it was like I was just going around the city doing whatever I wanted, and then, at random, something for me to do would pop up. There were frequent crashes. One time, I fired the game up, played for about 30 seconds, it crashed, I fired it back up, and then it crashed even quicker! To be fair, this is the point of an early access game: to find stuff like this, but you do also have to remember that there are a lot of people out there who have actually paid for this game.

Pros:

• I liked being a cop
• The whole first responder thing is cool
• The city was pretty large
• The potential for this game is through the

Cons:

• This early build is very buggy, with tons of missing features
• No word on how quickly it will all be completed