The Stretchers

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

The Stretchers is a family-friendly character-based Puzzle game where players take the role of a pair of emergency response professionals responding to various crises and bringing inflicted individuals back to a hospital to get fixed up. This is primarily done by carrying these people around on a stretcher the pair is carrying.

The presentation here is pretty good, featuring a somewhat cartoony, stylized world and characters. It’s nothing impressive, by any stretch (wow, I typed that out before I even realized I was making a bad pun… keeping it), but it works well with the somewhat silly gameplay here. This is paired with a lighthearted but forgettable soundtrack, cartoony sound effects, and character vocalizations (“wah wah waah”), all of which work well for the game’s presentation.

When it comes to the gameplay, there’s a lot of good stuff going on here, but also some frustration. The core mechanics here are clever, with players controlling each of the characters independently (or playing the game in couch co-op, with each player controlling one of the pair). Each of these characters can grab objects, duck down, whistle, and clap, and from those simple mechanics the game finds some interesting puzzles in its gameplay.

At any time, one of the characters can grab at the back of the other, which produces a stretcher. However, they’ll also be grabbing doors to open them, objects in the environment to move or manipulate them, and even injured people, if for some reason they’d prefer not to use the stretcher itself. If they are holding a stretcher, this game makes things a bit easier by having nearby people automatically shift over to it when you duck down, or shift off of it when you get close to an object you’re intended to move these people into, like the back of the ambulance.

However, while that feature is convenient, this game is filled with other inconveniences. The game is extremely picky about when you can and can’t grab objects, and you’ll often find yourself frustratedly moving your character around to try to get the little grabby indicator to appear. This is extremely frustrating, as grabbing objects is one of the most common actions you’ll be performing in the game, and this problem makes the task feel far more like a chore.

Also frustrating is the button assignments this game uses, which can’t be changed. Not using the ZL and ZR button for gas and brake when in the ambulance is one thing, but making Y the button to skip dialogue? Some of these choices just seem arbitrary, and serve no purpose other than to force players to fight against muscle memory.

Finally, one other frustration is one of missed opportunity – this game technically takes place in an Open-World environment, but I wouldn’t really classify it as an Open-World game. That’s because outside of the missions, there isn’t really anything to do here. Given the game’s unique grabby mechanics, this open world could have been made into a fun place for players to explore, but alas, it’s just something you’ll be moving around to get from one mission to the next.

At its best, The Stretchers offers clever puzzles with some challenging coordination – either with a second player or yourself. Unfortunately, far too often the biggest challenge in this game is simply trying to grab an object right in front of you, or struggling with the game’s odd control choices. There’s still some fun to be had here, but only if you’re willing to put up with these frustrations.

tl;dr – The Stretchers is a family-friendly character-based Puzzle game that has you moving around a pair of emergency responders picking up injured people and moving objects in the environment. It’s a clever concept that’s used in a variety of ways, but unfortunately it’s hard to appreciate it due to the game often having difficulty registering objects for you to grab, as well as arbitrary button assignments that will fight against muscle memory for many players. This game still has moments of fun, but you have to struggle with these frustrations to get to them.

Grade: C

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