Real Heroes: Firefighter

- Reviewed on PS4 -

Real Heroes: Firefighter released on August 4th, 2009. 

This game brings back a lot of nostalgia for me and when I saw that this game was ported to current gen consoles, I was very excited to jump back ten plus years to this very educational and fun experience as a firefighter. 

Unfortunately, this game did not hold up the way it did when I was a kid. 

The bad voice acting, the lack of music, and the overall title lacking in gameplay, pretty much ruined my nostalgia for this game. 

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

There are a few good things about this game but also a lot of negative aspects to this game that I was way to young to see right in front of my eyes. 

To start, Real Heroes: Firefighter puts you in control of a fictional firefighter named Probie. 

Is this the best name they could've come up with, probably not. 

There really isn't any main story / campaign in this game, instead there are eight locations (nine including the optional tutorial) and each location has its own set path / story.

The missions are very linear and there isn't much open world, adventuring to do. 

The missions are (in chronological order)...

    - Training

    - Industrial Park

    - Shopping Plaza

    - Malibu Canyon 

    - Yutami High-Rise

    - County Museum

    - Mobile Tech Lab

    - South Coast Bridge 

    - Medieval Kingdom

Back when I played this game (as a kid) on the Wii, the controls were perfectly fine, but now years later on the PS4, the controls are a little unusual and there are some glitches with them as well.

I experienced trouble with the "call" button where you push a button to have Probie yell out for any survivors. 

It might have been just me, but the call button was assigned to the triangle button. 

However, pushing the triangle button did nothing and after using other buttons / methods, I found out that the call button was actually the square button. 

I didn't even touch the different control layout option(s) and the layout was incorrect!

You get four tools in the entire game (not including the firetruck hose) which are the Fire Extinguisher, Axe, Crowbar, and Hose. 

The water graphics on the Wii were understandable but when this game got ported over to PS4, Switch, PC, etc. I'm pretty sure they had the resources to make better water graphics, but instead the water looks the same, and that is not a good thing unfortunately. 

The NPC dialogue is funny because of how bad it is. 

You can't say that it was the dialogue of its time either (2009) because back when this game originally released on the Wii, there were tons of games with better voice acting. 

When you are saving citizens, they have obnoxious behavior and what they say is so unrealistic in the scenarios you find yourself in. 

I talked briefly about the water graphics but now regarding the whole game and its graphics, it's okay I guess, I can see how some would love it considering it has a comic book feel (similar to Telltale's games) but for me personally I preferred the original Wii graphics. 

Talking about the soundtrack now, Real Heroes: Firefighter had one good song in it, and that was the title menu song. 

When you are transitioning between parts of a level, no music plays whatsoever and that makes me zone out a lot and not enjoy the game. 

The final thing I want to talk about with this game, are the glitches and the trophies / achievements. 

Unfortunately, Real Heroes: Firefighter has an abundance of glitches and issues. 

For trophy / achievement hunters, getting the platinum for Real Heroes: Firefighter will be a chore (trust me, I know). 

On top of having to complete missions' multiple times, you'll also come across gameplay glitches such as hurt damage from dangers outside your hitbox, and even time challenges being unfairly included (for example, the beginning bridge on the last level on hard difficulty). 

This was definitely not how I remembered Real Heroes: Firefighter on the Wii, over ten years ago, and unfortunately for this title, nostalgia can't make me play this game again.

After buying this game and playing through every level, then not being able to get passed the first part of the last mission (on hard) due to a time glitch, is simply not acceptable (for me at least). 

Sure, I could replay it on easy or normal and beat the game, but I already beat this game on the Wii years ago and this port of one of my childhood games did not hold up. 

I do appreciate the education factor of Real Heroes: Firefighter but besides the education, this game felt like a cash grab, specifically this port (or remake if you can call it that). 

Pros: 

    - Educational 

    - Long Levels

    - Sticks to Original Version (PS4 Port)

Cons:

    - Incorrect Controls (For Calling on PS4)

    - Bad Graphics

    - Horrible Voice Acting 

    - Barely Any Music

    - Glitches Galore

My Rating for Real Heroes: Firefighter (on PS4):

2 / 5

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Disclaimer

All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.