Are you a fan of Backdraft? Do you turn into Rescue Me every week? Does the thought of blazing through a burning building with a big honking hose excite you? Well if you answer yes to those, then you may just like "Real Heroes: Firefighter" by Epicenter studios. The developer is both new and small, but they have been at the game industry for a while. Most of the previous designers worked on the fabled "Call of Duty" franchise, and have decided to try there hand at something different, but still familiar. "Real Heroes: Firefighter" is a FPS that is naturally seen through the eyes of some of our nations finest public servants. The genre is typically reserved for more bloodthirsty and mature types of games. This title was created for everybody, and serves as a introductory game to those both young and new to the genre. At least its not another rail shooter.

A game about firefighting, you would expect a lot of emphasis on the graphics to go to the flames themselves. To be honest though, the actual effects of the fire in the game are pretty basic. The techniques used to create flames date all the way back the N64 days. Thankfully the textures are of a much higher resolution and even when an entire building is engulfed, the game doesn't slow down. To compensate, the developers have given the fire an A.I. system that grows and expands naturally, or close to it, adding a level of tension to the combat. This is about how I would expect a game to look with a team of only 14 people with about half actually doing the graphical portion. It looks like an early to mid era PS2 title. There is not a whole lot of geometry to levels and character models don't have any sort of mouth movement when talking. Still, its hard to knock the game to much on graphics with a team and budget this small. It already looks better then Modern Warfare on Wii.

One of the more pleasant surprises of the game is the voice acting and cast. They got John Dimaggio, James Marsters, Jamie Kennedy, and even Jennete Goldstein from Aliens. More then just phone in their lines, they actually emote well, and the script is well written. If you think this is a rip off of rescue heroes, then you would be wrong. It takes both its drama and comedy seriously and does it without resorting to vulgarity or immature subject matter. As for the music, the question is more, what music? A lot of the game is played in silence, which isn't to bad actually at setting the mood. When more dramatic scenes occur, usually some sort of heavy guitar music drums in, which is kinda cool. On the whole however, what little music there is, is largely forgettable.

The gameplay in "Real Heroes: Firefighters" obviously boils down to shooting a lot of water. You have four main items to select from. A portable fire extinguisher, which is the only item that can run out. An axe for chopping up wood, and Halligan Bar to pry open doors, and a fire hose which give you two different nozzles and has limited reach. You will mostly be using fire hoses throughout the game, as the extinguishers tend to run dry pretty quickly. When holding the hoze nozzle, the game never shows the actual hose itself. When you run out of line, you automatically drop the hose and revert to the extinguisher, and you automatically pick it back up when walking back in range. The two nozzle types on the hose are your basic big steady stream, and an all encompassing spray. You will soon learn the advantage of spray in the title as it acts as the shotgun of the game, instantly quenching any flames around you when walking right up to them. You also will come across instances where you have to open a car or elevator door with the Jaws of Life which is a simple mini game of turning the remote and using the analog stick. There is also a sawblade device at specific areas used to create holes and doorways. The sawblade can be a little tricky to operate as it requires you to hold the Wii remote in peculiar angles to cut right. Thankfully, "Real Heroes: Firefighters" lets you customize your control options a bit, letting you drop the dreaded dead zone of the IR, and letting you choose to use waggle for the axe or a button. One problem, is that within the main game and training, it always gives you default control instructions which could lead to some confusion for those who switch. Other controls are basically C to crouch, Z to sprint, and A to interact with objects. It is a fairly simple control scheme without much to worry about, or any fancy maneuvers.

The game is split into 9 levels including a training mission. The first half are your basic style missions of going to some work related building and pulling helpless victims out. The second half of the levels actually present some really clever settings and scenarios that are both exciting and innovative for a game mostly about spraying water everywhere. There are about two types of missions within the game, extinguish all the fire in a given area, or rescue somebody. Rescuing people goes about as well as you would fear. The can be slow, get in the way, etc. A strange little fact about the game is that victims never burn, however the smallest flame in front of them will cause them to freeze up until you put it out. Nobody in the game has the fortitude to go around them, or run like mad when the entire building is coming down on them. Sometimes people will be unable to walk which makes you carry them out, which naturally makes you lose half your speed and all use of your fire hose. You would think this would lead to a lot of frustration, but the truth is, you can just stand behind them and use the spray nozzle and literally push them to safety.

The biggest problem with the game is its confusing objectives and layouts. There will be many times where you might have to go somewhere, or get through an area in a small amount of time with very little in game clues other then your team yelling at you. Also expect a lot of trial and error in areas where you have to maintain a steady stream of water on a paticular object. These can be equated to boss battles, but the game is very specific on where it wants you to stand and battle. Leaving you to suddenly die a lot if your not in that distinct spot.

There isn't a lot of replay value on the whole, within each level there is three evidence medallions to be collected that reveal the start of each fire. There is also two types of different equipment you can find hidden in the game. Flame painted, and medieval. Upon completion of the game, you are rewarded with all four equipment changes for a cel shaded version. While not officially part of the game, you can always play spot the James Cameron film reference, there is more then a couple nods to his cinematic legacy. There is no multiplayer at all, which is really a missed opportunity, especially since the game always has a team of four going into a level. Perhaps it was something planned but ultimately scrapped, split screen or online would have been nice. Sadly, you will have to settle for a solo experience that while not amazing, is still a good ride for its short duration.