Posted on: January 21, 2021
googoogjoob
Games: 617 Reviews: 24
A minor classic
(This is gonna be based primarily on my experience with the original, non-HD version of this game, but since I'm not gonna bring up anything technical, it shouldn't matter.) I think this game is a minor, goofy classic. The way it's marketed makes it look like a very dry, straightforward firefighting sim, and I guess it sort of is, mechanically, but what really makes this game stand out is how absurd and deliberately silly it is on top of that. This is a game where one of your firefighting squadmates is played by Jenette Goldstein- who you might know as Vasquez from Aliens- and her character is named Vasquez, and really is functionally the Aliens Vasquez if she were a firefighter. This is a game where you have to save a man's chinchillas from a burning building as he neurotically frets about their safety to you. This is a game where a mid-game boss is the model sun from a museum planetarium, caught on fire and spewing gouts of flame in the lobby. There's a surprising amount of banter between your fellow firefighters, too, which is frequently funny. The developers absolutely knew what they were doing. Mechanically, the game plays as a very simple FPS with one real enemy type- fire. There are pretty impressive fire simulation mechanics. Sometimes you will have to use a saw or axe in minigame-like interludes to progress. There are collectables (you can, for some reason, get alternate skins for your gear, which is weird since this is a single-player-only, first-person game). There's nothing really outstanding about the game, mechanically. It's very serviceable. It's relatively short, and there isn't a ton of replay value (you can go back and get collectables you missed, I suppose); it's like watching a fun action-comedy movie. If you want to play this game- and you should- it'll be for the memorably funny, weird writing, scenarios, and performances.
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