Firefighters 2014 Reviews

My 3yo son is a huge fan of firetrucks and I always have to show him videos from steam of fire fighting simulators. Well this came on sale and I thought 'why not'. My son loves this but he also loves watching same advertising video ten times in a row like it was the very first...so what does he know. OK I get it, it's somewhat an old game but still not worth it. I am still going to keep playing this for my sons sake. I am going to have hard times ahead of me. You have no time to practice (yes I played the tutorial and it taught mainly useless things). You learn as you play...against time. That sure is great way to get to know things around. There's no control menu to change key bindings. The driving an AI is terrible. Full of cliches and bugs. Good for fire fighting enthusiasts from ages 3 to 6.

Dont buy this game its very clunky and glitches ALL the time and has many problems with it and alot of mis information in the game itself

To be honesy about this game it really needs to be taken off steam and be redone completely and the right way. I played the game and i see why some people like it and some don't. This game is really buggy and really needs some work done to it. Someone in another post had already posted all the problem so no need to post anything. AI in the game is the really bad. AI people: What is up with this who walks thur cars and walk around when there is a fire. I mean come on when there a real fire people arent going to walk around next to a fire building they stay clear. AI vehicles : Are you kidden me The vehicle do pull over but don't stop. I was going to a fire had the siren and blue lights on and a car decided to pull right out in front of me. Callouts: I know this is a simulation game but come on. I get more callouts than the other NPC do and they only go out when there is something big that needs to be changed. Controler: Devleoper can add a controller support for this instead of the keyboard all the time. just to make this short this game needs alot more work done to it.

This is a good game, sure things are not real but its a good time killer and the missions are fun. As you get further into the game it gets harder and harder which make is cool.

This game has a few bugs/glitches I really want for them to fix. Firstly mainly at car accidents, when they say oil has spilled sometimes there is no spilled oil which just makes me have to reset the whole game. It's really annoying. Secondly as there are fires such as when a car has caught on fire near and it's near rocks, garbage and benches, they are normally impossible to put out. I'm always dispointed as those type of operations sometime happen as my shift is nearly done and I'm happy and all that and then they are impossible, which you then have to reset or just ragequit. Thirdly as I am rushing to a scene the car is really easy to slip which can lead to a flip over which then ends the whole operation. Now the last one is that sometimes the lights and siren aren't always appearing and working as usual. And mainly alot of features and things are mainly like copied. Inside the trucks it is un-releastic. I know that all these excailbur publishing games use the same technique. And I know that these are games base in Germany. Please try to find a solution. On the other hand, the game is really enjoyable and good with all these different operations. I really enjoy the different types of vehicles you get to use at each operation depending on your rank/skill level. This is probaly the best firefighting game they have made yet.

The game can be better. Much much better. If your going to make a sim, then make it right. Make it a simulator! Amoung many issues and a lot have been covered by earlier posts, It states explore the house and grounds. Well i would if I COULD, BUT i SEAM TO BE THE ONLY ONE WORKING because after each run, I get another call out. I was sent home twice due to over working. Well i keep getting calls, so I roll. Also I was able to hit my rack once, but it took me forever to find my rack. So once I did, I got a call. I cant say I didnt enjoy it, but it could be a very fun game if improved upon. Want to draw a larger croud, improve the game and give us a north american city, FDNY, Boston, Chicago or SFFD would rock.

Good game, not ultra realistic, but a good "simulator" compared to the majority of simulator games. The driving handling is weird, equipment is cool, vehicles look nice, Ive put real time reflection on high in settings because calls come in too quick and u dont have time to maintain ur truck, so put it on high its more realistic.

Buggy and extremely unpolished ------------------------------------------- This isn't intended to be a AAA title, I understand that. But I do expect a game where at least some measurable effort has been put into it. I expect a sim to actually simulate what it is said to be a sim of. I just didn't find that here, and instead, I found a seemingly incomplete, too early to be released attempt to be a firefighting sim. There are too many things wrong with the game that break the immersion of it feeling like a firefighting simulation. Had this been an early access game, I may have been able to see potential (and obviously, reviewed it differently). But because this is allegedly a complete game, it must be reviewed accordingly. === THE GOOD === The premise. To be honest, that's about all I could find good with the game. I do find the genre (rescue simulator) interesting and fun, but the premise only takes us so far...the mechanics, gameplay, ambiance, etc. all must come together to help immerse the player in the experience. The game just doesn't do that. === THE BAD === AMBIENT SOUND ISSUES --engine sound cuts on and off despite there being no running vehicles nearby --door sound opening/closing whenever a person is nearby in the station (despite no doors opening/closing nearby) --no sound distance; all same level despite distance (with a couple exceptions of cars I found while I was walking on road, but even then, they cut in and out instead of properly fading in and out) --repeat voice loops (constant "good morning" and "Man, another shift that seems like it will never end." On the way back from the event, he kept repeating "I could really do with another hour of sleep." I didn't know firefighters complained so much about their job. --roaring fire sound same for all fires, even an extremely small 1 box fire. That is, it doesn't matter if a building is on fire or if it is a shoebox, it's a roaring fire with the same sound effect 100% of the time GRAPHIC ISSUES --shading is bad on characters and other assets, more like smoke. It's difficult to describe, I've never seen a game do that before. I've changed the settings to see if it changes anything, it doesn't. I may post a screenshot to give an example. --reflections don't make sense. You can see reflections of things (like people for example) at angles, distances, and heights that are physically impossible (walking through the tutorial will give you an example of what I meant, but perhaps I should upload a screenshot to illustrate) --hose is non-existent once it is connected to water source. Nozzle appears in hand, but it is never connected to the hose. This is an immersion breaker. --reflections in vehicle rear view mirror are non-existent (except for sometimes, the top 1/4 of the rear view mirror displays the sky, nothing more) --100% of all civilian vehicles have darkest possible tint - can't see inside any vehicle BAD AI --walks randomly w/o meaning (back and forth down halls). They have no real tasks, they do nothing. They are just there to give the illusion that the facility is not empty, but it just doesn't work IMO. --will continue to walk into obstacles (like a desk). Eventually they seem to stop...but it takes a little while before they figure out they can't walk through the desk, it's weird. --colleagues do not actually do anything at all. They are there just for aesthetics (they do not put fires, they only appear to be doing so). The Steam home page advertises that your fellow firefighters do help you...but they don't. They don't do jack. The outcome of an event/emergency rests entirely with you...the other "people" there are just for show. === THE UGLY === GAMEPLAY --Tutorial only takes you through walkthrough of the department, it does not teach you the operations of the vehicles, nor does it tell you anything about any of the tools you use in putting out fires. There's a fair amount of different equipment, but absolutely no training on how to use them or what it connects to, etc. The tutorial does absolutely nothing more than what an in-game map could do. That is no exaggeration. There is no benefit that the tut gives other than showing you where rooms are and in some rooms, what can be found there (a couple items here, coffee maker here, etc.). --Mouse sensitivity - despite having it on its lowest settings, it's still extremely sensitive, I had to use my control panel to adjust settings since game's settings are insufficient. 1st time I've ever had to do that in a game. --Physics...high pressure hose does not affect any entity in game except fire. 100% of all entities are there for aesthetics only (gas cans, boxes, trash, etc.). There are no movable objects. --Water...once it leaves the hose, it magically appears, never to be seen again. There is no water on the ground, no soaking walls, nothing. It leaves the hose and disppears into thin air. --cars take ZERO damage when running into them. They stop (at least), but nothing else happens. Obviously this is not a demolition sim....but I expected at some some sign of damage or some penalty. There's not a scratch on any vehicle, not even the truck I'm driving. --100% clipping when walking into cars (or them driving into you). They are "ghost cars" apparently. === CONCLUSION === This is a game I'd expect to be in very early access. Currently, there are many early access games that are further along than this. The idea behind the game (being a firefighter faced with different emergencies) is great, but the application fails miserably IMO. Far too many bugs, immersion breaking issues, and lack of polish in just about every area imaginable. I had reasonable hopes for the game, but they were dashed by a poorly delivered product on almost every level possible. IMO, the game is worth around $5. I doubt that many players will get more than a few hours of game play from it as it is tedious, buggy, doesn't make sense at times, annoying (eg sounds), and has too many immersion breaking issues.

I have had this game for a long time. I believed that this was a nice looking game, even though all the reviews said it sucked. I wish I had not bought this. The first mission is gliched half the time. The fire won't go out. What is the point of making a firefighting game if you can not even put out the fire. To run this game you basically must have a computer that can run Arma 3 fast. The developer stopped updating and fixing the game. All the gliches will never go away. Don't do what I did and ignore the reviews.

As a Firefighter I have a tendency to nitpick at games like this. Yes it's firefighter simulator, and yes it's clearly german based, so some of my points of view may not apply since I know next to nothing about germans and firefighting outside of the fact Stuphen makes really nice apparatus and Draugr is kinda of a garbage SCBA compared Scott packs (my opinions) 1. Firefighting. This game has some aspects of firefighting right, like water, water is important and keeping your equpiment in usable order is important. But it kinda tanked on everything else. I pulled 4 firefighting calls total on this, You can't crouch at all (Not sure whats with that) you are in turnout gear 24/7. Even when driving an ambulance. This game has no concept of actual fire scenes. It's essentially, you show up, pull out a section of hoseline and it is magically never ending and longer than than space and time itself. Then you just go rambo. No Incident Command, no assigned positions, nothing. Just Put water on Fire. 2. Pre-Hospital Care. There is none. And what they tried to dress up and label as EMS in this game is a total joke. You literally drive the ambulance to the scene. Open your doors, pick up the patient (LITERALLY, NO BACKBOARD, NO C-COLLAR, YOU LITERALLY GRAB THEM WITH TWO HANDS AND CARRY THEM TO THE AMBULANCE....) and drive to the hospital. I even did this for a cyclist that got hit by a car...I mean come on..Thats EMS 101.... 3. AI. The NPCs that drive in the game are fucking retarded. I got sideswipped, t-boned, pushed off the road....Even with sirens and lights running...I mean seriously. Do people try and hit ambulances and fire engines in germany? I just want a real simulator....Not some gussied up excuse for a game.