Today we have thousands of games released a year on Steam alone. Yet even with that deluge of content games about firefighting are still rare. Sega gave us Brave Firefighters in the arcade and the cool but flawed Burning Rangers but the SNES was blessed with two really cool titles before that. The Ignition Factor is an underrated gem that sadly is hard to find now. The real star however is the Firemen, an almost movie like experience with great mechanics and an evolving plot.
On Christmas day a large fire breaks out during an office party at Microtech. While this would be an easy situation handled by the fire department a new wrinkle makes it worse. In the building’s basement are a large number of highly explosive chemicals that threaten to turn this into a bigger disaster for the city. Fireman Pete and his team arrive to rescue any civilians and hopefully get the blaze under control.
Change the terrorists to chemical fires and you have Die Hard. You even have a radio to communicate with team members and a navigator. For the most part the Firemen adhere to realism. But it has its silly moments, most likely to conform to video game conventions. There are bosses such as an out of control repair bot. If it stopped there it would be fine, but there are also living flames and flame demons. Obviously the game doesn’t call them that but come on. Later in the game the fires actually begin to follow you around and actively seek you out. Normally I wouldn’t mind but the game was so grounded in the beginning that it didn’t need to become supernatural.
Putting out fires as the primary goal had the potential to become repetitive. The Firemen overcomes that through smart design and simple mechanics. Pete has two different bursts of water, a long range gout that is weak and a short but powerful burst. Fires come in all shapes and sizes with some requiring different uses of your water. You can crawl under obstacles and to avoid backdrafts and even flying enemies. The only items you’ll find are fire extinguishing bombs although you’ll have to search hard for them.
The Firemen’s best element is probably Danny. Pete is not tackling the high rise blaze alone as his second in command follows him everywhere. Danny activates switches, unlocks doors, and escorts civilians to safety. But he is more than just a butler. Danny fights fires with you and is incredibly effective. An axe may seem unconventional as a firefighting weapon but it works. He’ll assist you in attacking your current target, beat down flames that get too close and will sometimes proactively chase flames. Since he is invincible you can take advantage of that when low on health. The fact that Danny AI is so well done is incredible; modern games can learn something from this still.
Although the action is confined to a single high rise the game manages to remain varied until the end. Each floor presents a new challenge such as backdrafts and sudden flare ups. The flames evolve as you progress, from single stationary fires to living flames! They spread out and cover more of the area and even flare up if you take too long putting them out. The variety of flames means you’ll have to switch hose shots constantly and I like it. The pacing is about perfect in my opinion and outside of the out of place boss battles the game is fantastic.
Next to its pacing and mechanics the difficulty has been balanced pretty well. With all the new hazards introduced on each floor the time limit becomes more of a threat. Thematically I like the idea that as the fire spreads backdrafts become an issue. The only way to restore health is to find injured civilians but there is only one or two per floor. With this it becomes incredibly important to rely on Danny to avoid damage. With limited continues you’ll have to work at it reach the end but it is worth it.
The only missing element, and one that is quite odd, is multiplayer. Honestly I am surprised coop was left out. Regardless of how well Danny complements Pete alone nothing beats running through the game with a friend. It would certainly have been a nice bonus, not that the game is short. Or even better, if you had the option to play as Danny with Pete as your backup.
In Closing
The Firemen is a truly great game, uniquely original and a good way to kill a few hours. It is also one of the best top down action games for the SNES. It’s a bit pricey but well worth tracking down.
