Fire Department 3

Fire: The Untamed element. Oldest of man's mysteries. Giver of warmth. Destroyer of forests, right now this building is on fire! Leave the building! Enact the age old drama of selfpreservation! And allow us, the 3D strategic fire departments of no less than five countries of the world to save you! Or, if we switch off the Gremlins 2: The New Batch quote box for a second - allow a diabolical map and camera system to lose your tiny firemen in the raging inferno and let everyone die - to great infuriation.

A shame, since beating deep within Fire Department 3 is a fun and original game - let down by some hazy mission objectives and firemen who'll happily stand in a well-hosed bookshop leafing through a damp copy of Fahrenheit 451, while a minute down the road a shopping arcade ceiling is about to melt.

There's fun too though - mainly because you're kept on your toes since one thing the game does well is emphasise the random nature of out-of-control blazes. Each mission has sub-objectives that pop up when you're least expecting them, and while you're frantically trying to keep the flames at bay, there are many members of the public you need to save with your happy band of paramedics.

Ultimately though, the 'game harshness' to 'unit baby-sitting' ratio is a bit skewiff, and the map and camera make affairs hard to keep track of. Fire Department 3 is fun, but flawed. And a bit on fire too.