I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Real Heroes: Firefight was partially inspired by Sega’s arcade game Brave Firefighters. Unlike Sega’s firefighting game, which was on-rails, Real Heroes lets you go anywhere you desire. In fact, it is basically a first person shooter with a water hose instead of guns.

Interestingly, the developer Epicenter Studios has a number of members who formerly worked on the Call of Duty franchise. One of the producers explained that they really want to have the action and thrill of a Call of Duty game except in a non-violent fashion.

From my short play through with the game, I can tell you that in some ways the developer succeeded. Movement in the game is controlled with the analog stick on the nunchuk while you can aim your rescue tool or hose nozzle with the Wii Remote. While the FPS controls weren’t as precise as Metroid Prime 3 they were definitely functional. It was pretty enjoyable shooting streams of water at the fires. Other rescue tools include an axe which is swung using motion control. The development team thought about including water grenades, but they decided that it currently would not be very realistic.

Graphically, Real Heroes: Firefighter is not very impressive. Levels are filled with a ton of unrealistic looking fires. The models for characters and objects look more like those from a Dreamcast game than a Wii one. While the fire doesn’t look all that great, it is interesting to learn that the fire spreads dynamically. There will be a number of locations in the final game including a shopping mall and a bridge that resembles the famous golden one in San Francisco.

In an effort to make the game more immersive, there will be a number of cut scenes with famous actors voicing many of the characters. James Marsters who played Spike on the cult favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer is voicing one of the main characters. Another interesting feature is that messages will be played out of the Wii Remote’s speaker to make it seem like a CB radio.

There was one point in the demo where the flames did not seem to die down no matter how much water I was shooting at them. One of the producers eventually told me to shoot more to the left which ended up working. I’m not sure if this was a problem with the game or if I just don’t understand the mechanics of putting out fires. The game definitely has some promise, but it still seems a bit early to tell. One good thing is that the game is only 30 dollars and that some of the profits will go to a fire fighter’s cancer fund.