After going back and forth on what I thought of this game, I've settled on letting it pass. It gets a thumbs up, but not by much.

While saying it's a mashup of WarioWare and Trauma Center is accurate, Neo Harbor Rescue Squad never really becomes as good as either game. It doesn't have the variety or the pure wackiness of WarioWare, and it doesn't have the intensity or creativity of Trauma Center. It feels like the game needed something more to push it over the top, maybe firefighter missions, or more detailed surgical operations, or simply more microgames in the mix. As is, I feel the game comes off as a little bland.

The story follows suit, with character dynamics largely familiar to kids shows. The well-meaning, but goofy protagonist. The bossy, hot tempered redhead, the pompous rivals that everybody loves. The talking animal mascot. All the classic hits. That said, the plot twist near the end did manage to surprise me, so points for that.

Also, I did like the background art for the different locations that you visit throughout the game. The game has a good presentation and functions without any additional configuration hurdles or hassles to deal with.

Unfortunately the game is soured by bugs that hamper the experience. I think I saw one typo, and one stage has no background music in it. Much more seriously, YMMV but the Heimlich and defibrillator games kept eating my inputs, making them much harder than they are supposed to be.

Also, I tried to replay the game to clean up the rest of the achievements, but the frustrating difficulty at the end of the game, combined with the bugs that only show themselves when you're constantly quitting out to the menu to try those frustrating parts again and again became a major pain in the butt.

I thought there would be a chapter select at the end of the game, but there isn't. So if you missed any of the achievements on the first, 8 hour playthrough, and you'll miss at least one because you need to both pass and fail a part of the game to get both of them, then you'll need to start a new save.

While ultimately, I did warm up to the game more as I played it, I still think it feels like the sort of game that you should pick up for free on Amazon Prime, or the Epic Store, or Humble Choice. You can do much worse than picking this game up, but you can probably do a lot better too.

Competent. Inoffensive. Unimpressive.

Mehcommended.

Patients in blocked off areas don't take damage until you gain access to them. If you're struggling at City Hall, it's because you're immediately opening every room instead of treating the patients you start with. I wish I figured that out sooner.