It’s time to be that hero you always dreamed of being as a kid and go save some lives. ‘Rescue Party: Live!’ is a new party game on the scene, developed by Tag Studios and published by 505 Games. This chaotic multiplayer has you step into the boots of a rescue team to save the lives of people in danger, or just throw your friends off the map, you know how it goes. Rescue Party: Live! is available on PC now from the Steam storefront.

Rescue Party: Live! is an extremely, chaotic multiplayer game much like the ‘Overcooked’ series. It’s up to you and your friends to stabilize and save the lives of victims affected by massive disasters all across the town. Whether it be a snowy mountain, a sinking ferry, or a chemical plant meltdown; the townspeople need your help. There are a few ways to play this game, it features online multiplayer in a tournament mode where everyone plays cooperatively to help save as many people as they can before time runs out, but also competing for the top score over 4 maps.

This mode seemed easily winnable by stealing people’s patients right after they had saved them and cashing them in for yourself or hanging back and saving the folks that wandered in. There didn’t seem like much merit in co-operating as the point system seemed to only really award the most points for being a patient taxi. At the end of the tournament depending on your overall star performance across the maps players were awarded 3 tiers of cosmetic items for their character ranging from nameplates to clothing accessories. Whoever had the highest score was able to pick first so if you wanted the best items you had to compete for that top spot.

If you aren’t in a competitive mood there is also a story to the game which you can play using local multiplayer, online multiplayer, or solo. There are no A.I. team members in the game, however, and trying to multitask 2 characters at once was downright tedious. The story mode of the game boasts a heavy 30 levels over 6 separate environments and completing one unlocks the next. There is also a star system on each level and if you want to hit that ever so sweet 3-star rating having a full squad of rescuers is essential.

While juggling with victims’ lives and occasionally yeeting your friends off of the stages to their demise, players must deal with impending natural hazards like gas, fire, toxic sludge balls, and the occasional electric eel. These natural hazards are usually easy to deal with, however, some aren’t explained and you are left to figure out what is going on. Some hazards and levels seemed almost impossible to clear without a full squad. The hazards aren’t too bad once you learn the mechanics of them, but usually the first playthrough you are left wondering how you keep dying.

The visuals are tailored for all audiences with chibi-styled characters and cartoon-like 3d levels. The colors are extremely vibrant and the game has very few graphical settings unless you want to set it in HD mode. In saying this the perspective of the game seems to be from a news recording and features a ‘live comment ticker’ and message system. The message system appears on the lower left screen and holds very little purpose, it’s extremely easy to ignore.

The comment ticker scrolls random comments across the entirety of the screen and is absolutely annoying. It’s one of the first things our crew noticed and we all had the same comment “this text scrolling the screen is rubbish”. I’m unsure if the devs added that to make the game feel more intense or not but even though it was opaque it was in the way and wasn’t really needed, having bodies pile up and natural disasters occurring while fighting the clock and teammates for the best score was enough intensity.

All in all, Rescue Party: Live! is a great little party game that holds some solid competitiveness. It’s a perfect game for kids and adults alike and I’m sure attempting to save lives after a few brews will make for an even more chaotic adventure. I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys games like “Overcooked” with its fetch and go problem-solving and wants a fresh experience.

Kids would love playing this with their friends and probably wouldn’t notice the few downsides I’ve mentioned this far. As an adult, however, the downsides like the scrolling text were blatantly obvious and downright annoying.

Written by: Bigfoot