By the time the victory screen pops up you are as frazzled as the hero-narrator's Gallic eyebrows.įirefighting games obviously can't be too leisurely, but there's no good reason why they can't be more freeform than this. Turn on those extractor fans! Bulldoze that gate! Rescue that kitten! More panicky clicking, more time-sensitive objectives. A frantic minute passes and you get a couple of things done only for them to be instantly replaced by a couple more. Extinguish that flaming electricity transformer! Recover those five injured scientists! Contain the fires by the fuel silo! Click. Your units are dumped down beside a blaze and within seconds the objectives window starts screaming instructions. And a bit on fire too.Fire Department 3 does have its moments, but the problem is you are usually far too busy to enjoy them. Ultimately though, the 'game harshness' to 'unit baby-sitting' ratio is a bit skewiff, and the map and camera make affairs hard to keep track of. Each mission has sub-objectives that pop up when you're least expecting them, and while you're frantically trying to keep the flames at bay, there are many members of the public you need to save with your happy band of paramedics. There's fun too though - mainly because you're kept on your toes since one thing the game does well is emphasise the random nature of out-of-control blazes. Or, if we switch off the Gremlins 2: The New Batch quote box for a second - allow a diabolical map and camera system to lose your tiny firemen in the raging inferno and let everyone die - to great infuriation.Ī shame, since beating deep within Fire Department 3 is a fun and original game - let down by some hazy mission objectives and firemen who'll happily stand in a well-hosed bookshop leafing through a damp copy of Fahrenheit 451, while a minute down the road a shopping arcade ceiling is about to melt. Destroyer of forests, right now this building is on fire! Leave the building! Enact the age old drama of selfpreservation! And allow us, the 3D strategic fire departments of no less than five countries of the world to save you!
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