Firefighter F.D. 18

Fight fire with fire. Ending is near. Fight fire with fire. Bursting with fear.

Fire: As a creative impetus, human culture as we know it wouldn't exist without it. As a force of destruction, it has no equal. Metallica said to fight fire with fire; Konami says fight it with an interminably long hose, a fire extinguisher, and a water cannon in its innovative Firefighter F.D. 18. As weep-prone custodian of the flame, Dean McGregor, you run afoul a Kentucky-fried arsonist while braving raging traffic-tunnel blazes, elevator-shaft infernos, and high-rise holocausts to evacuate trapped civilians before they become human BBQ. A harrowing nail-biter, Firefighter's claustrophobic thrills hinge upon treacherous levels that force you to creep carefully while clearing paths through smoldering deathtraps and avoiding combustible chemical tanks, live electrical wires, backdrafts, and flying wreckage as pillars drop around you, floors collapse beneath you, and billowing smoke obscures your vision.

The game's indulgence in anthropomorphic absurdity works for it as fire is not so much a force of nature but a cunning, demonic presence relentlessly obsessed with destroying in minutes what has taken man years to build, and it hurls you into near-biblical wars against gargantuan boss fires flanked by flame-covered kamikaze jackets and howling tornado creatures. Despite a contrived love story, limited camera control, and levels that tend to drag, Konami has provided a refreshing change of pace in this punishing man-versus-nature offering that it requires you to stem the tide of destruction and actually save lives for once.

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