Flashing Lights

Flashing Lights - Serve, Protect, and Save!

A Playable Emergency.

First Responders Only

There is no doubt that first responders are among some of the heroes of modern society. The people who show up to stop crimes, put out fires, and save lives put their lives on the line for others and many of them are often worthy of emulation. Flashing Lights takes the work that these men and women do and puts it into a massive video game world, though how well it honors their work is definitely worthy of debate.

The Real Heroes 

The concept behind Flashing Lights is undeniably solid. After years of open-world games in which players can run around causing all the havoc that they like, this game provides a counterpoint in which players are asked to undo some of that carnage by taking on the roles of first responders.

The game is more ambitious than perhaps even the developer realized, with not only three different types of gameplay but an open world to consider at once. The concept here is so big that it definitely needs a bigger team to pull off correctly, but there are definite points given here for the sheer scale of the game.

Concept Rating: 4/5

An Absolute Disaster 

This game is ugly. There's not really a better way to put that. Every single one of the vehicles and backgrounds in the game seems like they were pulled from cheap free-to-play mobile games, and those are honestly the best-looking elements of the game. Once you see the human characters, you'll wish that you could play something as graphically advanced as Grand Theft Auto 3.

Flashing Lights looks like it was a low-budget effort made in the 2000s.

There's no audio greatness to save players, either. You will hear quite a few voice clips repeated as you try to undertake various missions and the music is never going to win any awards, but at least nothing here is as offensively bad as the visuals. If nothing else, the game is proof that it's often a good idea to bring in a skilled art design time before you make an ambitious game.

Graphics & Audio Rating: 1/5

Back to the Academy 

The bad news is that nothing in this game really works as it should. The controls are subpar, the processes involved in accomplishing most of your tasks are convoluted, and some of the methods of completing your goals are just silly. Again, the fact that this is the work of a single person is really obvious whenever you sit down and try to play this game.

The good news, though, is that all of the faults of the game make it unintentionally hilarious. It might not be done on purpose, but there's a lot of joy to be found as you stumble your way through putting out a fire or giving someone a ticket. It's not necessarily great gameplay but it is memorable enough that you'll want to show it off to others.

Gameplay Rating: 2/5

A Noble Effort 

If there's ever been a game that defines the concept of biting off more than you can chew, it's definitely this one. The concept behind the game is incredibly solid but almost every step along the path of development falls flat. Though Flashing Lights is definitely worth a few laughs, it's hard to say that it is worth either the time you would spend playing it or the money you'd spend on the game.

Replayability: 2/5

TL;DR

Flashing Lights is a first responder sim that's in desperate need of some emergency services.