Software:Matchbox: Emergency Patrol
| Matchbox: Emergency Patrol | |
|---|---|
 Game Boy Color version cover | |
| Developer(s) | Sandbox Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Mattel Interactive |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Game Boy Color |
| Release | Game Boy Color 5 June 2001[1] PC 22 August 2001[2] |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, |
Matchbox: Emergency Patrol is a 2001 racing video game for Microsoft Windows and the Game Boy Color developed by Sandbox Studios and published by Mattel Interactive. The game is a Mattel-licensed title for the Matchbox series of toy cars, allowing the player to respond to emergencies whilst driving police cars, ambulance trucks and fire engines. Upon release, the game received mixed reviews, with critics finding the game fun but critiquing its gameplay as simplistic and repetitive.
Gameplay
Players command emergency services and are required to dispatch police cars, ambulance trucks and fire engines to respond to emergencies or disasters across the city.[3] Players drive freely across city streets, and are given a limited amount of time to receive a mission, and dispatch the relevant vehicle to the site of the emergency.[4] A directional arrow and map guides players towards the mission objective.[1] Missions include firefighting, requiring players to aim a firetruck in the direction of burning buildings whilst shooting water from a firehose, or police pursuit missions, chasing a getaway car and ramming it until it stops.[1] The PC version features 27 separate missions.[2] The Game Boy Color version features a sequence of missions, increasing in difficulty and earning the player ranks from 'rookie' to 'chief' when completed.[3]
Reception
| Reception | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Matchbox Emergency Patrol received mixed reviews, with several critics describing the game as fun to play but simplistic.[3] Total Game Boy felt the game's racing mechanics contained "plenty of fun" and was "intricately designed", but considered the game's controls were "frustrating" had an "aimless and repetitive" structure that lacked achievement or extras.[4] Jennifer Beam found the game's animations surprisingly detailed, but felt the missions were repetitive, time consuming and had limited variation, as firefighter and police officer modes had fundamentally the same.[1] John Hagerty of Game Boy Xtreme considered the game fun to play but stated the gameplay was simple and lacking challenge, also finding the roads were difficult to see.[3] PC Action critiqued the game's "bad" graphics, "terrible" controls, and "annoying" sound.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Beam, Jennifer. "Matchbox Emergency Patrol". Archived from the original on 15 November 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141115160301/https://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=28748&tab=review. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Deci, TJ. "Matchbox Emergency Patrol CD-ROM". Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141114175630/http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=35188. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Hagerty, John (August 2001). "Matchbox Emergency Patrol". Game Boy Xtreme (2): 26. https://archive.org/details/gbx-02/mode/2up?q=%22Matchbox+Emergency+Patrol%22.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Matchbox: Emergency Patrol". Total Game Boy (19): 74. July 2001. https://archive.org/details/total-gbc-19/mode/2up?q=%22Matchbox+Emergency+Patrol%22.
- ↑ "Games to Go". MANiAC (96): 83. October 2001. https://archive.org/details/MANiAC.N096.2001.10/mode/2up?q=%22Matchbox+Emergency+Patrol%22.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Matchbox Emergency Patrol". PC Action: 96. March 2002. https://archive.org/details/pc-action-2002-03/page/96/mode/2up?q=%22Matchbox+Emergency+Patrol%22.
External links
 |  |
