PS5

Published on December 10th, 2024 | by Nay Clark

Real Heroes: Firefighter HD Review (PS5)

All doubt is extinguished when you’re on the scene in this classic fire bouting game about saving lives. Real Heroes: Firefighter HD is a first-person action game developed by Epicenter Studios and Scientifically Proven, published by Ziggurat Interactive, and released on PlayStation 5 on December 6th of 2024. The original game, Real Heroes: Firefighter, first came out on the Wii in 2009. After a 3DS version and a re-release on PC, a “high definition” version was released in 2021. The HD version was then ported to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 later on and then to Xbox One in 2022. Now this nostalgic game has finally graced us with its presence on the PlayStation 5 while using some of the DualSense controller’s features. 

There isn’t much of a story in Real Heroes: Firefighter HD, but this is an overall premise. You play as a rookie firefighter who begins working in the Los Angeles Engine Company 13 firehouse alongside some wisecracking pros. They gladly show you the ropes, get you included into their livelihoods, and put you on assignments pronto. You visit a wide variety of areas such as a mall, neighborhood, and a museum to put out fires and save civilians that may be trapped or need rescued from the fierce heat. In between levels, you can switch between a few different screens at the fire station to change options, look at your records, or view any evidence you have collected. During these moments, other characters will walk around and talk to each other and give you some insight of their personality, but nothing else gets revealed in terms of an actual story. A character might express disdain for the captain or someone may try to ask someone else out on a date, but that’s it.

As intense as you may think putting out fires and being in these situations may be, the game actually plays out surprisingly smoothly. The stages are linear and you walk around completing objectives like putting out fires before they reach an object or guiding someone to an exit. You are usually in areas engulfed in smoke and flames so you have to make sure you don’t get overheated or you will pass out and have to start over from a checkpoint. Environmental hazards sometimes stand in your way to your goal so you may have to bust open some doors or break down boxes to continue forward. There are levers to be pulled and valves to be turned, but there are no complicated puzzles involved. The game is super straight-forward and has an arcade-like aesthetic to how action packed and fast paced you will be trekking through these levels.

You start a level with a Halligan bar to open doors, a fire extinguisher to put out fires, and an axe to break wood planks or other obstacles. Scattered throughout the levels are mounted fire extinguisher cabinets where you can refill your fire extinguisher and mounted fire hose reels where you can equip a fire hose to douse the blaze. While the fire hose has unlimited water, it can only follow you up until a certain point so being sure your fire extinguisher is fully loaded is crucial in areas where you have to go in without the hose. I thought this mechanic was clever in its delivery, but in practice, it’s greatly unutilized. There aren’t many occasions where the game throws this dilemma at you and even then, it only somewhat becomes a challenge on the hard difficulty setting because of how fast the flames spread and reform. Considering there is only one way forward though, it just becomes a matter of figuring out which fires to drench first and what you can simply run through and skip over.

There are also two other tools that you will use less frequently during your playthrough, the saw and a hydraulic rescue tool known as the Jaws of Life. One of your teammates will come and drop one of these large tools down on the ground when it is time for you to use it. The saw is very cumbersome to use and makes sense for a motion controller, but is not at all intuitive here. The way you think it should be handled is not at all how you use it and a lot of the time I was just bashing the buttons until it worked properly.

Because of how undemanding the game is and the lack of urgency, Real Heroes: Firefighter HD is pretty relaxing to go through. It tingles that same itch that games like Powerwash Simulator does such a good job of scratching at. Walking into a room and snuffing out a fire completely feels revitalizing. Saving people is simple and with how direct it is, it feels like a bonus task on top of everything. Like those on rail shooting arcade games where time will slow down for you to save a civilian, but if you fail, then you just keep going. The nature of this game and how it plays is quite charming and does it a lot of favors in keeping it engaging.

Each level has 3 FCD (Fire Cause Determination) tokens and 1 tool equipment skin. Finding each token will reveal part of a picture for that level that you can see back at one of the firehouse menus and finding all the tokens in the level will show you what actually caused the fire. There are a few sets of skins for your tools that you can find and equip to add some extra flavor to your firefighting journey. One set in particular is unfortunately extremely lame. The original Real Heroes: Firefighter game had more realistic graphics. Characters looked like actual people and the environments looked authentic. The HD re-released version of the game changed the graphical style to something more cel-shaded and comic book inspired. A set of equipment you can unlock is dubbed as the “Toon Set” because it makes your equipment look like a cartoon. This was pretty humorsome for the original title, but it perfectly blends in with the graphical approach of this version, making it utterly useless and detracting a part of the game from its value.

The game looks good and runs well. While some may prefer the original releases artstyle more, the comic book aesthetic looks great. The white border that surrounds cutscenes that mimics a comic’s panel and the action words that pop up to mimic sound effects fit right in. Everything on the PlayStation 5 looks smooth and crisp and I enjoyed the tiny details in the environment to the pictures on a wall to the prizes hanging from a carnival counter. The look and sound design of the searing flames make you feel like you are really there and it can get a bit claustrophobic at times if you let the fire get out of control. The music is mediocre and sounds like music from an action flick. It is actually pretty loud by default and I had to lower the volume in the settings. The all-star cast of voice actors are great and as serious of situations you get into, they are always nonchalant about the situation and cracking jokes.

I was impressed with the DualSense shoulder triggers when it came to spraying water from the hose. The feedback you get is pretty wild and the gimmick does enough to make your experience more exciting. On the downside, I was disappointed when other tools didn’t have any implementation of the controller’s features. The Halligan tool for example, I feel like there is enough build up when thrusting it through the crack of a door for there to be a decent rumble or something, but it left me feeling pretty empty whenever I used it. It didn’t have the weight and tangibleness that I felt like it should have.

I did run into a plethora of issues while playing Real Heroes: Firefighter HD. There could easily be more of a modern approach to some parts of the game like the menu. When pausing the game, a menu comes up where you can then go to other menus to see your collectables, stats, etc. After going to one of these sub menus, you can’t go back to the previous menu; you can only exit back out to the game. This felt odd and impractical, especially when I was trying to do different things. There were multiple times where characters would get stuck in an animation and I would have to restart back to a checkpoint and complete whatever I just completed again. The audio to some of the dialogue, whether it was radio chatter or teammates talking right next to me, would go completely silent later on in the game. Glitched trophies are present and I had the game close on me while trying to achieve one of the more time consuming trophies which reset my entire progress.

Final Thoughts?

Real Heroes: Firefighter HD is a really fun game that is satisfying to complete. The uncomplicated and unpressured nature the game provides make this an easy pick up for anyone who may be interested in a firefighting adventure. The quippy dialogue, assorted levels, compelling usage of firefighter tools, and rapid action serves up a quality experience. While some may prefer the previous art style from the original game, the comic book aesthetic looks great and contributes more to the game’s attitude. The game lacks much replay value with undesirable unlockables and there are some bugs that may set you a good way back into a level making you repeat objectives over again, but what is here is a gratifying time that will ignite your heart with a burning passion to keep playing and become a hero!

About the Author

Nay Clark Gaming holds a special place in my heart and I never stop talking about video games. I really love all types of games and have an interest in games that have complicated stories and lore because I enjoy untangling the mystery of it all. When I'm not gaming, I unsuccessfully try to control three amazing and incredibly bright kids.

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