Real Heroes: Firefighter

 With the amount of unique video games that exists, it's always surprising how certain subject matter just isn't represented all that frequently.

There really aren't that many games about firefighters out there and it kind of feels odd. They do exist, but they are few and far between and it almost feels like there should be more. I mean, how many kids out there want to be firemen? How many towns have all volunteer fire departments? How many firefighter shows are on TV? It's not like the premise would be completely out there. And yet, firefighting games are few and far between and the few that do exist tend to be off the radar budget titles.

Which brings us to Real Heroes: Firefighter. Originally released in 2009 for the Wii, it was updated and ported to the PS4, XBox One and Switch in 2020. The game has so many publishers and developers listed for it that I couldn't tell you exactly who created which version and when. What is immediately apparent is that RH:F was most certainly a budget title. It really lacks the polish that mid-tier or even indie games of the 8th and 9th generation usually have. There are parts of the game that look great, like they really belong on the 8th gen consoles, while others serve as a stark reminder that it's a port of the least powerful 7th gen system. However, it has a certain charm to it. What it lacks in technical prowess it makes up for in less tangible ways, particularly by capturing the intense, dread-inducing feeling that comes with battling a giant blaze. I wasn't necessarily blown away by RH:F, but I did come away from it wanting to play more and wondering what a big budget firefighting game from a major studio might look like.

RH:F puts you in the shoes of a newly graduated fire academy cadet, ready to start working at Firehouse 13 in Los Angeles. Alongside your squad, you will battle blazes in a variety of locations, including an industrial plant, shopping mall, high-rise building and amusement park. There isn't a deep or complex story or anything, but you do get to learn a little bit about your colleagues, who you will often depend on to help you complete the nine unique levels. The game is considered a first-person shooter and I guess that's the best way to describe it, but it really doesn't feel like one. You do play from a first-person perspective, using your hose or fire extinguisher to put out fires. The hose has unlimited water, but its range is limited and you need to find new hookups if you advance too far. The fire extinguisher is portable but can also run out of energy. Of course, there is more to it than just fighting the actual fires. You are also equipped with a Halligan tool to pry open doors and a fireman's axe to break wooden structures. There will also be instances where you need to use a rotary saw or hydraulic spreader to rescue people or the fire truck to put out building fires. The gameplay is pretty similar throughout and it's fairly linear, but it feels like there is a lot to do.

Each mission sees you dropped into the appropriate location, where you will need to put out fires and avoid falling debris to advance. You will occasionally run into people that need to be rescued or have to stop to bail out your companions. Some fires are easier to put out with the extinguisher, while others are better snuffed with one of the hose's two nozzles. You don't have a life bar per se, but the screen will begin flashing red if you get too close to a blaze or walk into a room that is filled with too much smoke. Stay in a dangerous area for too long and it's game over. I normally don't like these kind of abstract life bars, but I think it really works here and adds to the feeling of actually fighting a fire. Some rooms will be inaccessible and need to be ventilated by breaking windows or doors. That was a nice touch, I wouldn't think they would have included that. You will receive instructions from your captain via a walkie talkie, but it's sometimes hard to hear. Again though, it kind of works here, it gets drowned out when a fire is getting worse or a big structure falls, adding to the tension. You can also see any mission objectives or instructions in the pause menu. All in all, there is a lot to like about the gameplay. There is a good mix of action and puzzle solving, sometimes you will have to plan an alternate route or turn off a gas leak to advance, and it nails the feeling of intensity an tension of running headlong into a burning building.

The problem here is that the presentation and graphics are lacking, to the point of being immersion breaking. I'm not a graphics focused person, but they are so bad here that it really impacted my enjoyment of the game. Let me back up, not all of the graphics are bad. Some of them actually look quite nice. The 8th gen versions of the RH:F have been updated to a sort of cell shaded look, kind of like Borderlands. You even get some action bubbles when you do things like break open doors. However, the character models are absolutely atrocious. It looks like they weren't touched at all from the Wii version of the game. They are all blurry and difficult to make out from one another and their facial features all kind of blend together in a terrifying mess of nightmare fuel. But the worst problem here is probably the fires. They don't look like real fires at all, especially when they are covering the walls. It almost looks like they tried to paste a 2D asset on top of a 3D one and it just looks goofy. This kind of stuff isn't usually a problem for me, but it's really bad here. There are also quite a few small issues, the controls are a bit stiff, the directions aren't always clear, the A.I. isn't always the best, all of the little things that tend to plague budget titles.

At the end of the day, RH:F is a good game that may very well have been great in the right hands. I will say again, I really, really would like to see a big budget firefighting title would turn out. That this game made me even think about it is a testament to it's positive qualities, even if its negative qualities bring down the final score. Anyone looking for something unique, or anyone interested in firefighting or its surrounding culture will find plenty to like here. So will fans of first-person games that want something different from your typical shooter. It has a lot of flaws, but Real Heroes: Firefighter was a nice diversion and definitely something I think could use a sequel with a little more polish.

7/10