Real Heroes: Firefighter 3D (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Many may remember James Marsters from his role of Spike in both the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel TV series, or even as Milton Fine / Brainiac in Smallville. His role in Real Heroes: Firefighter 3D, along with other famous folk like Michael Jace (The Shield), is fantastic, bringing the already comical script to life, yet bringing a strong enough nuance of drama to proceedings to instil a sense of emergency in the various situations at hand. Fighting fire has never been quite as tense and yet amusing at the same time! The whole game plays out like a drama TV series with flecks of comedy mixed in for good measure to appeal to the wider audience. Rescue animals, protect movie reels, carry people out against their will...there are all sorts of crazy situations to face.

Originally released on Wii back in 2009, Zordix (the team behind Valet Parking, 1989 and 1950s Lawn Mower Kids on Nintendo DSiWare) was tasked with the mission of cramming that entire game into a small 3DS cartridge and has now condensed everything further into a format fit for the 3DS eShop. Amazingly, everything from the Wii title has been transferred across near enough perfectly, with visual fidelity remaining high and all content withstanding the transition without a hitch.

Set in a first-person viewpoint, replacing any Wii 'FPS-style' motion controls with stylus movements works very nicely indeed for all elements, such as directing the shower of foam from fire extinguishers and water from hoses, as well as interacting with certain objects (boxes to move, people to pick up and carry, grabbing kit for use, and so on), wedging bars into door jams to yank them open, and even chopping through anything wooden standing in the way of a daring rescue attempt. Everything is easily accessible using the touch screen, and actions are carried out with the left shoulder button, which sometimes causes hand ache during lengthy periods of shooting water, but is for the most part very intuitive to use.

The only point of frustration comes from having to cut through certain areas when against the clock using a specific tool that must be rotated slowly around to get into the right position before cutting can commence. Having to follow dotted marker lines seems simple enough, but there are times where the game does not quite register the contact, and this simply will not allow the cutting to begin. Other than that annoyance, though, the majority of the game is highly entertaining and the thrill of dragging people to safety and blasting away flames in a first-person environment, mixed with the amusing script that prevents things getting too serious, makes for some highly enjoyable entertainment at a much lower price now it is available for download on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.