Neo Harbor Rescue Squad | PS5 Review

I love games that don’t take themselves too seriously and ask you to do the same. “This game is not intended to be medical advice. Seriously, one of your squad mates is a dolphin.” That message greeted me immediately on bootup. I knew I was in for a treat. When I had to treat a nosebleed because he was going to die BEFORE the unresponsive patient who needed a defibrillator, I reminded myself of that opening statement.

Neo Harbor Rescue Squad is an equal part comic book story with mini-game style rescue sequences all with a dash of strategy. The bright color and graphic style kept me invested through the end, although there were a few hiccups in between. Come along on a journey to see if you will find it as fun as I did.

My Name is Rookie and I Am a Rookie

Your name is Rookie. I’m guessing that’s the case because it never changes. Originally, I thought that your name might progress through a rank similar to how you started off as Dogmeat in the classic Sega CD live action rail shooter, Sewer Shark, and was given a new name based on how far you’ve progressed. Nope. You are Rookie and you’ve recently been given a job with the Neo Harbor Rescue Squad! The existing team of Queenie, the captain, Mei Mei, the dispatcher, and Finn, the software and tool designer who also happens to be a dolphin, are down on their luck being consistently overshadowed and insulted by the arrogant Fire Department. Their public image is shaken by the constant belittling of local news reporter, Betty Woo. She uses her popular television program to make the public hate the Rescue Squad. 

In walks Rookie who is both inexperienced and full of optimism. He’s going to make everything right AND save the patients along the way. Mei Mei finds him cute, too! But Finn is immediately jealous. Yes, there is implied romance between a human and a dolphin.

No time for love, Dr. Jones. There are patients to save! Rookie’s efficient handling of patients gains public trust as they begin to see the importance of the Neo Harbor Rescue Squad while also noticing that the Fire Department is only in it for the public accolades. Until, that is, Betty Woo shows up and ruins their progress.

Never mind that, there are more patients to save. As the game continues, the Neo Harbor Rescue Squad works to save as many people as they can, monsoon or shine!

Comic Book Style Medical Drama

As explained above, the game has a flow of story beat, save people, story beat, and so on. The story portion is delivered in a static comic book/manga art style as whoever is “speaking” via text pops up onto the screen. Occasionally, a voice pops up, in particular when the character has a specific emotional reaction. These small clips break the monotony of just reading a comic book on the TV. However, even these become repetitive and sometimes misused. There might be a scene where Rookie is talking with Mei Mei. If something disappoints Mei Mei, Rookie will use the same “Sorry Captain” that is meant for interactions with Queenie, the captain. Another time, the last patient that I was supposed to save died. While I still had a passing grade, the very recent death seemed strangely overlooked when Mei Mei cries out “Woo-Hoo!” 

The patient saving is done in a mini-game style. Defibrillation is done by simultaneously pushing both the L2 and R2 shoulder buttons when a target turns green. Even easier mini-games like pulse checking ask you to simply press a button when you “feel” a pulse. Wrapping wounds with bandages includes rotating the control stick but you must do it at the right speed. Too fast or too slow will deduct points and possibly kill your patient. There are quite a few other ailments that must be treated. Once I got past the opening segments, most patients had multiple ailments that needed to be addressed in the correct order. 

Since each level had multiple patients, the real skill was making quick planning decisions on the order of care. Some patients are dying faster than others. You must choose who to save in the correct order. I mentioned above that patients have multiple steps to save them. In some cases, I had to administer step 1 of the treatment plan to the first patient and run over to the second patient and complete all three steps before returning to patient one to complete their treatment. And don’t forget what I mentioned in the opening segment: Sometimes you need to make the people with minor injuries a higher priority because the game says they are going to die first. 

A final word about the mini game treatments: some were super easy, some were the right amount of difficulty, and a couple of them gave me a feeling that it was arbitrary whether or not I failed or succeeded. There didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to how to apply the bandage, the right amount to stretch it, the proper angle. Just sometimes I failed and sometimes I succeeded. I really didn’t think that I was doing anything different from one attempt to the next.

With the exception of the bandage application example, I found the controls to be satisfying. The strength of the button taps was important and the PS5 controller didn’t disappoint. Simple controls, for the most part. So it was pretty difficult to disappoint here.

Bright and Cheerful Environment

I mentioned the repetitive sound bytes. That being said, they were fun and fit perfectly with the overall aesthetic of Neo Harbor Rescue Squad. The music was very arcade-like and fit each scene. If it was a high-stakes rescue, the music was intense. When the team was back at headquarters debriefing or preparing, the music was upbeat. Certainly nothing to write home about, but still entertaining.

Besides the scenes that took place in the evening or in a dark building, the bright and cheerful graphics kept the excitement going. The mini game segments were consistent with the story portions, the art style looking exactly the same. 

Nothing outstanding but nothing negative, either. Both the sound and the graphics were solid and successful.

Final Verdict

It’s a good game! A little repetitive as there are only so many variations on the patients that need the help of the Neo Harbor Rescue Squad. By the end of the game, I was ready for it. It felt like a Michael Bay disaster movie; how many final levels are there? Besides that and a couple of misused audio clips, there is nothing wrong with the game. 

A shout out to their development team. As I was playing (before the public launch of the game), I came across some game breaking bugs. The game would freeze or the level would say that I would fail even though I didn’t and it would fall into a never-ending loop of retrying that level. Their team was responsive and I had a new version of the game to download by the end of the day!

Is Neo Harbor Rescue Squad going to crack your top 10 for 2024? Doubtful. Is it a fun game with an equally fun story that you’ll want to beat just to shove it in the arrogant Fire Department’s face? 100% yes. I hope you give it a try!

To hear me talk more about Neo Harbor Rescue Squad, be sure to listen to the November 14 , 2024 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:08:45 time stamp.

This review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy of Neo Harbor Rescue Squad provided by Evolve PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam.