A Squeamish Gamer’s Perspective
I’m quite a squeamish person when it comes to blood and needles, I have to admit. When I need blood drawn or spend time in a hospital, I mentally check out to avoid dwelling on the experience.
So, the idea of being a paramedic in real life, dealing with the chaos and high-stress situations of that job, doesn’t particularly appeal to me.
However, with Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator, I took a deep breath and entered the world of these everyday heroes, experiencing the challenges and rewards of emergency medical care.
Ambulance Life’s Tutorial and Story
The game takes place in a fictional city that, for some reason, reminds of San Diego. You begin your career as a paramedic, and a significant portion of the game is spent in a tutorial guided by a colleague who introduces you to the various procedures and equipment. After choosing your appearance from a selection of presets, you’re ready to respond to your first emergency.
The story unfolds through the various incidents you encounter, from minor injuries to life-threatening situations. While there’s no overarching narrative about coping with the long hours and constant stress of the job, the individual emergencies and patient interactions provide glimpses into the emotional and psychological toll that this work can take.
Lights and Sirens
The first part of being a paramedic, and often the most stressful, is driving the ambulance. You receive calls from dispatch with the location of the incident, and the GPS on your map provides the quickest route. Traffic is often heavy, so you can use your sirens to clear the way, but this isn’t always as effective as you’d hope. You see, some cars barely react, forcing you to drive on the wrong side of the road or even the pavement to reach your destination.
Pedestrians can also be unpredictable, occasionally running into the ambulance’s path.
As you progress, multiple incidents occur simultaneously, requiring you to prioritise based on severity and make difficult decisions about which patients to attend to first. This can create a sense of urgency and pressure, accurately reflecting the challenges faced by real paramedics.
Assessing and Treating Patients
Once you arrive at the scene, you must quickly assess the situation. You might encounter someone having a panic attack, a bleeding accident victim, or an attempted suicide. Each incident presents unique challenges, and you must consult your tablet, assess symptoms, and provide the necessary emergency treatment. This can involve bandaging wounds, administering medication, or performing more complex procedures like CPR.
One of the first steps is to get the patient on a stretcher and into the ambulance. Then, you determine the required treatment, which can range from applying bandages to administering life-saving injections. These actions often involve mini-games, such as following a squiggly line or pressing buttons at the right time to apply a bandage correctly. These mini-games add an element of interactivity and challenge, although they can sometimes feel a little fiddly and detract from the realism.
And once the patient is stabilised, you drive them to the hospital, navigating through traffic and ensuring their safety. After completing a series of calls, you can end your shift and receive a grade for your performance, providing a sense of accomplishment and progression.
Ambulance Life’s Presentation
Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator looks good, with a well-designed city that feels convincingly busy and alive. The character animations are generally decent, and I like the switch from third-person to first-person perspective during treatment sections, which adds a sense of immersion and allows for more detailed interactions with the patient. The ambulance and equipment look authentic, and the developers have clearly paid attention to detail in recreating the tools and procedures of emergency medical care.
However, there are occasional pop-up issues and a few minor bugs that can disrupt the flow of the game.
The audio is generally fine too, but the voice acting can feel a bit off and robotic at times, which detracts from the emotional impact of some of the patient interactions.
A Unique Simulation with Educational Value, But Some Rough Edges
Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator is both interesting and reasonably engaging. The mix of driving and treatment simulation is unique, and it can be educational to learn about the different instruments and medications used in emergency medical care. However, the driving sections can become tedious after a while, especially when navigating through dense traffic or dealing with unpredictable pedestrians. The increasing complexity of later incidents can also feel overwhelming at times, but this arguably reflects the challenging nature of the job.
There’s no doubt though, if you’re looking for a different kind of simulation game and want to experience the life of an emergency responder, give Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator a try. You’ll find an insightful glimpse into the world of the paramedic, even if it’s not always the most polished or refined experience.
Inject Those Links
Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator will be blue lighting it to Xbox, PlayStation and PC – https://www.thexboxhub.com/ambulance-life-a-paramedic-simulator-will-be-blue-lighting-it-to-xbox-playstation-and-pc/
Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator Delivers High-Pressure Rescue Missions – https://www.thexboxhub.com/ambulance-life-a-paramedic-simulator-delivers-high-pressure-rescue-missions/
Buy Ambulance Life on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/ambulance-life-a-paramedic-simulator/9N5R00S6HWW1
There’s a Deluxe Edition if you prefer – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/ambulance-life-deluxe-edition/9P6QFT8N15CD/0010
