Name:  - 911 Fire Rescue
INFOGRAMES Description:
Priority 1: Get Out Alive!
A creature exists that is so utterly devastating, it can destroy everything in its path. It lives, breaths and kills without remorse. It's fire, it's all around you, and it's up to you to extinguish it and get the victims out!
911: Fire Rescue brings the power of a 5 alarm fire right to your PC.
Enter the world of the firefighter, and put your skills to the test as you save lives while battling blazes ranging from grass and electrical fires to the intense heat of car and house fires.
Question is - Can you take the heat?
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8/4/2001 - It seems that the more you look around, the more your senses are flooded with First Person Shooters (FPS). Though they are making major inroads in what we expect from our games in terms of story, graphics, and play-style one aspect remains the same – shooting. Sunstorm Interactive, who previously brought us the likes of DEERHUNTER, has created a new FPS. 911 FIRE RESCUE is different, because instead of killing people, you play the role of a firefighter who saves people and puts out dangerous fires.
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Here I Come to Save the Day!
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69
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| First Impression and Game Installation |
Sunstorm is known (and prides themselves) for their budget priced titles and 911 FIRE RESCUE is no different. From the packaging to the literature to artwork, this title speaks of budget. But, that’s O.K. because there is a definate market for solid, economy priced titles. After all, they gave half of America a reason to go out and buy a PC with the publishing of DEERHUNTER.
Installation proceeded without incident and within minutes I was up and running. |
8.0
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| Configurable Options and Ease of Use |
Typical of many FPS style games nowadays, the user is allowed to customize almost all function keys. I found this option helpful, because I’m not a fan of using the arrow keys for navigation. Along with the function keys, the user can customize everything from the sound to the graphical quality. |
9.0
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| Graphics |
The in game graphics were at times spectacular, but often hinged on mediocre. For instance, the fire and smoke are easily some of the best depictions I’ve seen in a game. The smoke had an almost eerie haze to it, while the flames posses a deep orange iridescence. The rest of the graphics, however, struggled to impress. The walls and floors were flat and unspectacular and the rest of the game’s objects failed to prove memorable. And the water stream from the hose looked as if it was a cascading collection of fluffy, poorly drawn ovals. |
6.0
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| Video at Minimum and Maximum |
Given the budget nature of the game, I expected to encounter very few options that accompanied rather shoddy graphics. I was wrong. Instead, I was greeted with resolution options of up to 1200 x 1600 x 32 and more than enough of the usual tweaks to satisfy just about anyone’s system requirements. |
9.5
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| Sound |
The in-game sound was surprisingly good for the game. I was able to identify if a fire was raging in an adjacent room, thereby saving precious time searching. The firefighter signals when oxygen is needed and the gamer is also verbally alerted of ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ doors, so the player knows what to expect behind the doors. Overall, very good. |
9.5
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| Beginner thru Advanced Use |
I was able to breeze through the game’s first 12 levels with frantic glee, but found the remaining five to be VERY hard. Instead of battling increasingly more technical fires and rescue situations, the gamer is confronted with almost ridiculously tight time constraints that force the player to replay some of the last levels over and over again. |
6.0
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| Multi-player |
Sadly, 911 FIRE RESCUE has no multi-player capability. I base my score in this category on not only whether or not the option exists, but on the practicality given the scope of the game. The reviewer has to be fair, right? You can’t severely punish a game like the classic best selling THE SIMS, because the game has no MP. 911 FIRE RESCUE (like most FPS’s) on the other hand, would thrive in a multi-player environment. I can envision a player trying to clear an office building of its fire victims on the 5th floor. His buddy, meanwhile, is busy on 1st floor trying to stop the spread of flames before they reach the elevator shaft and engulf the whole building in a suffocating blanket of 1000-degree flames. Instead of working together to kill that last guy, you are working together to save that last one. The multi-player element is proving to be a very popular trend among games and forces developers to ‘think outside the box’ so as to provide dynamic replay value to an otherwise ordinary game. Too bad the 911 FIRE RESCUE designers didn’t share the same vision. |
2.0
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| Help Instructions |
This game comes with a manual and the help instructions that are built into the game. I found them to be adequate. The game’s controls are typical of most FPS’s and the game itself was easy enough to pick-up. |
8.0
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| Value (price for what you get) |
This game debuted in the $20 USD price range, which clearly signals budget. I was able to rush through the game’s first twelve levels in a matter of a few, heart palpating hours. The last few levels proved to be downright frustrating, but the game was still easily completed in a weekend. |
6.0
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| Recommend to Others |
If you stumble upon this game in the bargain bin and want to try a fresh twist to the FPS genre, then you may find 911 FIRE RESCUE to be a worthy purchase. Now if you have a fire burning for Multi-player FPS’s, then perhaps this pin is best left in the extinguisher, because 911 FIRE RESCUE isn’t equipped to handle your call. |
5.0
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RECOMMENDATIONS to the Vendor
ZWORM
- A multi-player option would not only prove to be a welcome addition, but might actually be enough to set this title far apart from the average FPS game.
- It would be nice if the fires would actually spread or burnout over time to create a much more realistic experience.
- Simply ‘Right clicking’ on a fire victim and having them disappear leaves the game feeling a little too linear. Perhaps a little more interactions with the victims (like escorting them out) would add tremendously to game play.
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