earch and rescue missions are supposed to be a test of skill, patience, and strategy. But when glitches and design flaws transform your valiant efforts into a 45-minute exercise in futility, it’s hard not to feel like the game itself is the real emergency.
Take a recent experience: a straightforward “save the victim in distress” mission that, on paper, seemed manageable. However, instead of a heart-pounding race against time, I found myself battling the environment—and not in the fun way you’d expect. Impassable rock formations, impossible-to-land slopes, and inexplicably dense tree cover turned what should have been a heroic rescue into a comedy of errors. Or would it be a tragedy? Because the real victim here is the player’s sanity.
The core issue is this: these missions are clearly designed to rely on the hoist—a trusty tool meant to pluck survivors from precarious perches where landing isn’t feasible. But for some baffling reason, the game demands you complete ten search and rescue missions without using the hoist. Imagine threading a needle with boxing gloves on; that’s what these missions feel like. You end up inching closer and closer to the victim’s location, only to find that there’s nowhere flat enough to land. Worse, if you get too creative, your helicopter can clip through a tree or rock, and suddenly, you’re respawning back at square one.
This isn’t just a small hurdle—it’s a colossal waste of time. Forty-five minutes of careful navigation and patient searching can end in abject failure because the terrain and mission design don’t cooperate. It’s one thing to fail because of poor decision-making or piloting errors, but another entirely when the game itself is actively sabotaging your efforts.
And don’t even get me started on how the mission logic works. Sometimes the game doesn’t register that you’ve located the victim unless you’re right on top of them, and yet, in trying to get close, you risk a crash. There’s a thin line between challenge and frustration, and these missions dive headfirst into the latter. The idea of a steep learning curve isn’t inherently bad—it can make the final success all the sweeter—but when the mechanics themselves feel broken, it sucks all the joy out of the experience.
Search and rescue missions should be the pinnacle of immersion, giving players the satisfaction of conquering the elements to save a life. Instead, they too often devolve into an infuriating cycle of trial, error, and resignation. Developers, take note: this isn’t how to create a sense of accomplishment. If you want players to endure steep slopes, tangled forests, and precarious terrain, at least give us the tools to succeed—or don’t make it a mandatory side quest.
It doesn’t stop with search and rescue, even crop spraying missions are glitchy – fill up on fertilizer (if you can).
Until these missions get a much-needed patch, you might want to bring some extra patience along for the ride—or, better yet, a sturdy stress ball. You’re going to need it.