| Emergency Heroes | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Ubisoft Reflections Ubisoft Barcelona [1] [2] |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Platform(s) | Wii |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Driving |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Emergency Heroes is a 2008 mission-based driving game developed by Ubisoft Reflections and Ubisoft Barcelona and published by Ubisoft for the Nintendo Wii.
The story centres around Zach Harper a former cadet of the futuristic Emergency Heroes team, an emergency service that combines the roles of police, firefighter and Emergency medical services. Harper was forced to quit the program after his actions led to the alleged death of a fellow cadet. He is called back up by Captain Walters after the team is overwhelmed by a wave of disasters and criminals afflicting the city. Harper must navigate through the streets of the city of San Alto, putting out fires, rescuing trapped citizens, clearing wreckage and chasing down criminals. [3]
The game takes the form of a driving game with the vehicles controlled using the Wii motion controls. [4] As a first responder in the game, the player undertakes a series of missions, all of which are performed through racing through a location. Simple side activities are also scattered around the map. [5]
Each mission requires a range of driving abilities utilising a specific vehicle. For example, the Rescue Buggies are centered on making jumps, while police missions are structured as car chases. There are 12 different variations of rescue vehicles in the game including; Police Pursuit, Police Road Clearance, Firefighter or Rescuer (the other 3 being criminal vehicles). The game also features a two player mode for two players.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 45% [6] |
| Metacritic | 41/100 [7] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| 1Up.com | D+ [8] |
| Eurogamer | 5/10 [9] |
| GameSpot | 2.5/10 [4] |
| GameZone | 4.5/10 [10] |
| Nintendo World Report | 4/10 [3] |
| Official Nintendo Magazine | 62% [5] |
| PALGN | 4/10 [11] |
Emergency Heroes was met with negative reception upon release, as GameRankings gave it a score of 45%, [6] while Metacritic gave it 41 out of 100. [7]
In their review, GameSpot gave the game a score of 2.5 out of ten calling it "Terrible". They were highly critical of the "sterile city", "repetitive missions" and "inconsequential plot", and commented that neither the single player, described as a "slog through dull missions", or multiplayer were any good. [4]
Eurogamer , giving the game a 5/10, said that the game's controls weren't too bad and that it might appeal to a "five year-old boy" but were critical of the graphics of the game, describing the environment as looking "like it belongs in a PSone game". [9]
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