The Firemen 2 brings the vintage heat ⊟
The Firemen 2: Pete and Danny, part of MonkeyPaw’s Retro Rush of PSOne Imports releases, caught my attention by being called The Firemen 2: Pete and Danny. But as I’ve been playing it, I’m even more surprised to find out that The Firemen 2 is really fun!
Like, imagine a 16-bit Zelda game, but instead of like Octoroks and Darknuts and whatnot, all the enemies are “a fire.”
The Zelda comparison isn’t 100% – The Firemen 2 is level-based rather than open – but that should give you an idea of how to play, at least. The overhead view is the same, the room-to-room scrolling is the same, etc. Pete and Danny move around enclosed locations (an amusement park, an aquarium!) putting out fires with a directed stream of water or a ground spray that puts out smaller embers nearby.
Some of the fires are large, stationary obstacles; other flames move in patterns, and yet others, strangely, seem to chase you like monsters. There are even boss encounters against, you guessed it, some fire. There’s also a surprising number of robot dinosaurs, which is a hazard of the firefighting profession you’d think would be more publicized.
Though putting out fires is your primary activity, it’s not actually the prerequisite for finishing a level. You’re graded on what percentage of the fire you extinguish. While wetting your way around, you’ll notice orange spots on the map that correspond to people in need of rescue. Sometimes it’s as simple as walking to a place, but often there’s some difficulty finding your way over there.
I really enjoy playing The Firemen! Really, my only problem is the dialogue. It’s all voiced. Normally, that would be a plus, but as an import release, it’s all voiced in Japanese… and unskippable… and without subtitles. So if, like me, you’re playing on mute on a Vita, you’re treated to a few minutes of your dudes standing around. It’s never a real problem to miss the dialogue since you always know what to do (SPRAY FIRE RESCUE PEOPLE). It’s just kind of a waste of time.
I don’t want to end on a down note, though. I’m so delighted to discover a silly, weird PSOne game I’d never even heard of. It’s on PSN now for like six bucks and you can play it on Vita, PS3, and PSP!
BUY PS Vita, upcoming games
