The Firemen (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
256A playthrough of Human Entertainment's 1995 action-adventure game for the Super NES, The Firemen.
This video is of the PAL version of the game - it was never released in North America, and so the PAL version was the only English-language release.
Developed in-house and published by Human Entertainment, The Firemen was a game that followed the company's tendency to defy any sort of genre conventions. It takes a subject matter that you rarely see in games (besides the unexpectedly coincidental release of Jaleco's The Ignition Factor), and like many of their other games (Clock Tower, SOS, among others), it makes a pretty bold move in placing as much emphasis on its plot as it does on its action.
You take control of Fireman Pete, who along with his AI-powered partner Danny are summoned to the site of Microtech Chemicals on Christmas Day after a fire breaks out. Not only are people trapped in the building, but there is a large store of a highly volatile chemicals stored on one of the upper floors.
Intent on averting tragedy, with firehose and ax in-hand, the duo enter the lobby.
The Firemen plays like a top-down shooter (think True Lies), but instead of crazed terrorists, the heroes target the flames that are quickly spreading throughout the building. There are some light puzzle elements, but for the most part, you'll be working toward objectives that are given to you via your radio. You'll save people that have been trapped or have passed out from smoke inhalation, improvise ways to get around impassable doors and hallways, and even set a fire or two of your own before the day is done.
The radio chatter and the banter between Pete and Danny, even with the sometimes awkward translation, do an excellent job of bringing the story to life. It's all quite serious and melodramatic, as you'd expect any disaster-simulator to be, and it is clear that the developers learned quite a bit from their work on SOS. The Firemen is far more fleshed out and substantial in how it establishes the general sense of urgency and tension that the game so clearly relies upon. Even though the game largely leads you from point-to-point by the hand, the story is exciting and compelling enough to justify the overall linearity of the gameplay. I wish it was longer and a bit more difficult, but there's no denying just how well put together it all is.
The graphics do a good job at conveying the action. The sprites are a bit squat and are a little too anime-flavored for my tastes, but they're clear and the backdrops are full of details that really sell the idea of a burning office building. Lights flicker and fall, desks lay crushed under bits of collapsed ceiling, burst pipes spew lethal jets of flame across hallways - it is impressive how well realized the environments are, just as it is how effectively the flame is used to guide you through them.
The controls also do an excellent job. You get two different "firing modes" for your hose in addition to a bomb that snuffs out most of the flames on a screen, and the ability to strafe back and forth makes wiping out huge swathes of fire a cinch. I should also mention the partner-AI here - it's excellent. Danny rarely needs direction from you, and on his own is quite capable of clearing paths, generally making life a bit easier. He rarely gets in the way, unlike similar support characters in games like Secret of Mana.
The Firemen is a thoroughly unique and enjoyable title that goes widely under-recognized in the west thanks to the lack on an NTSC English release, but it's a title that is certainly worth checking out.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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