Emergency Rescue: Firefighters

The Good
There was nothing TO like about this game.

The Bad
The graphics: ER:FF, at first, gives the impression it might be using the Sims engine, due to the isometric views you get of the houses and surroundings... but it's not the Sims engine. It is, in fact, apparently a coincidence based on appearance. For one thing, the Sims game has better graphics... and, secondly, the entire game engine works BETTER on the Sims.

I mean, where to begin? Some walls don't actually seem to exist; you can walk through them or spray water through them at will. Other walls DON'T exist -- at least, I couldn't see them -- but durned if I could get my firefighter from one side of the &%#$! room to the other!

It's primitive. It's lame. It's frustrating (apparently, one puts fires out by finding the ONE PIXEL in the inferno that is the "heart" of the fire, and hosing it down. This can range from simple to difficult to impossible, depending on a variety of factors. It shouldn't). This is one of those games that might have seemed downright magical if I'd picked it up in 1988, back in those ancient days of DOS and phone modems... but by today's standards... what were these people thinking?

The Bottom Line
Don't buy this game. Don't try to play it. It's not bad enough to be entertaining. It's a waste of your time and a small segment of your lifespan. It's an expensive drink coaster. It's almost as much fun as the last three thousand AOL CDs to be mailed to your house, but it cost more.

Just say no.

The Good
Nothing. Simple as that.

The Bad
Everything!! When I first had a crack, it seemed ok, but it just went downhill from there. The graphics are more for Game Boy games then PC, especially compared to todays standards in graphics quality. The controls aren't laid out very well at all. AI, what AI? Your firefighters walk into walls, spray water into walls, in fact, it seems as if the walls are invisible to everyone but the person playing the game!! As for the rest, dumb music score, stupid missions, bad interface, the list just goes on and on.

The Bottom Line
Don't get it. Even if it's on special for $2, don't get it. This could have been much more then it was. Imagine watching over an entire city in glorious 3D, fighting fires like your actually there, with life like water effects. Now that would be a game.

The Good
Nothing I can remember really.

The Bad
The water looked really bad which is ironic for a fire fighting game. One of the missions I had to put out random fires in random windows and I couldn't walk around just move the water hose around. That level was worse than those first free 3D computer games that used to come with your new computer back in the mid-90's. The rescue mission was really bad, I don't know what the designer was thinking but the levels made no sense. I got lost in a tiny area for a long time because I didn't know I had to jump through a massive fire to go get a rescue victim. Believe me this game is stupider than I make it out to be.

The Bottom Line
Don't try, don't buy. Even trying for curiosity is a waste of time.