Emergency Fire Response

Developed by Monte Cristo and published by Dreamcatcher, Emergency Fire Response (EFR) primary appeal wasn’t just to the US, but to the European countries as well. In fact in other nations, the game has a completely different title. Therefore if you find another game similar to this, but under a slightly modified name, it's probably the same game.

The premise of EFR is simple. The game unravels in a number of cinematics before each mission. The style used is reminiscent to those of early Blizzard cinematics of Diablo or Warcraft II. Not to make a direct comparison to the two, the graphics are better, though still makes a dismal attempt at being anything up to par. After seeing the given cinematic, the mission begins.

Once they’re done controlling a segment of the fire, another click sends them away to a different portion. This is done far too many times, and you’ll find yourself sitting and watching, instead of playing.

Trying to “spice” up the gameplay, during a mission, you’ll have to also try to complete sub-missions. To no ones surprise, these are also completed by pointing and clicking. Sub-missions include saving unconscious civilians, stopping bombs from exploding, and various other things that go hand-in-hand with the mission played. The worst part of the gameplay lies within the sudden changes within a mission. During a mission the game cuts into a cinematic opening another task to be completed. At first, this made for a more in-depth experience, but then, things went completely wrong. After receiving one of these tasks, you’ll get five or six more on top of that. This means, you’d have to try to control the primary fire, save special people, and hack into the security system while using five fire fighters. Because of this, the mission will come to an abrupt stop, causing it to be replayed. (Of course, for strategy fans there's probably just the right amount of challenge.)

Being a top-down game with little characters, the surroundings need special attention, in order to create a believable setting. For the most part, the team did a pretty good job making the settings look decent with destructible buildings and pseudo-realistic fire effects. I say "pseudo" because the fire effects don’t always move like an actual fire. This can be seen after controlling a fire for quite some time, then looking back and seeing the fire lit up again, while there aren’t any other fires around that single portion. This is frustrating, but not to worry, other things are far more frustrating then this. The character graphics are, surprisingly, poorly done. Hard ridges and lack of detail plague each character when compared to the surrounding graphics.

On the topic of sound, what is there to expect? There is subtle music, but for the most part, the crackle of the fire is what is heard. Sometimes a building or two will collapse, but other then that, repetitive sound fuels the game.

Emergency Fire Response was a great idea gone awry like many good ideas do. For fans of fires or fans of just wasting away time staring into a dark monitor, EFR will be your “Game of the Year”. For other video gamers with at least a half-mind, look elsewhere for your fire controlling needs.

- Eric Lahiji

(September 1, 2003)