Emergency Fire Response (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.9 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Jason Brown
• Reviewed on: 08/08/2003
• Released on: 07/30/2003
• Originally published on GameSpot: Emergency Fire Response (PC) Review

It's easy to see why many kids fantasize about being firefighters when they grow up, since firefighters must bravely battle danger and rescue civilians. Emergency Fire Response is a fairly simple fire-fighting simulation that manages to capture much of the thrill, energy, and suspense often associated with the profession.

In Emergency Fire Response, you control the firefighters of Station 615 as they are called to various fires. In effect, the game plays much like a 3D squad-based real-time strategy game. The game has no multiplayer options, but it does have a single-player mode that consists of 10 levels, each with three to four missions. Thanks to some imaginative and interesting design, the missions are interesting, challenging, and strategic. For example, one early mission is a simple case of a fire at a warehouse, but since the authorities suspect arson, you need to try to preserve the evidence by saving computers and surveillance tape.

Monte Cristo paced the game extremely well, layering different objectives into the missions as they progress. For example, in a mission at an embassy, you need to balance rescuing high-ranking diplomats with saving culturally invaluable artwork. Unexpected obstacles, like collapsed hallways or flashbacks--a phenomenon where gases in a room suddenly ignite--will also commonly arise. These obstacles require quick thinking and precise strategy, and they add to the suspense and tension of the situation. Between the multiple objectives, the immediate obstacles, and the necessity of keeping your firefighters safe, the game is surprisingly fast-paced, engrossing, and tense.

You won't need to save every person or rescue every piece of artwork to complete a mission, but at the end, you'll receive grades based on each component of the mission and one overall grade. You may even find yourself going back to play a mission over to attempt to beat your score, though outside of that, the game offers no real incentive to do so. You control the same team of firefighters throughout the game, but unfortunately, they don't gain experience from mission to mission, and you can't improve them. Emergency Fire Response might also have benefited from a premission planning phase, like in the Rainbow Six tactical action games, but simply fighting fires is often enjoyable enough in its own right.

In each mission, you'll be granted a variety of firefighters and vehicles. A typical team, which usually includes four to 10 members, will consist largely of regular firefighters, who are best at fighting regular flames. However, you'll also get a few specialists like a paramedic, who can help wounded fire victims and other firefighters, or a technical officer, who is adept at using machinery and driving vehicles. Vehicles are another important aspect of the gameplay. Basic vehicles include an ambulance, to which injured civilians and firefighters must be taken to recuperate; rescue ladders, which can be used to reach higher floors; and tankers, which supply water to other vehicles and firefighters.

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