Fire Captain

Remember those simpler days when you wanted to be a fireman? When you were still young enough not to care that they get paid naff all and risk having their skin seared off by | temperatures hotter than the I sun's core? Well, if you still hanker after those youthful fl dreams, this rescue sim could B be just the tonic.

Contrary to what you may think, Fire Captain isn't a dullard cat-rescuing snoreathon with a smattering of dousing thrown in for good measure. Rather, it's an intelligently crafted series of (four) campaigns - each replete with a plot, such as a titanic Mafia car chase which causes multiple crashes and fires - that task you with fighting fearsome blazes with often chronically undermanned forces.

Each mission is preceded by a detailed and highly cinematic briefing, after which you're left to tackle an array of challenges, including backdrafts, heat radiation and flashovers. You can use specialist units to deactivate short circuiting electrics, medics to treat and rescue stricken civilians, while your average fireman is a dab hand at smashing open windows with his fire axe.

But let's not start sucking Fire Captain's hose just yet, as it's far from perfect. First off, the game feels unfinished, with some irritating graphical glitches and sound omissions giving it a slight funk of amateurishness.

What's more, vehicle path finding is erratic at best, while mission objectives soon become all too repetitive. Don't get me wrong, Fire Captain is a bit of fun, but it's hardly going to set your world alight.