Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Barcelona
System: Wii
Genre: Action Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

One of the chief criticisms lobbed at the Wii’s current software catalog is that there are too many copycat titles. The immediate system selling success of Wii Sports opened the floodgate to a virtual Olympics of sports game compilations. Soon after, Wario Ware: Smooth Moves ushered in a glut of gimmicky mini-game compendiums. It was only a few weeks ago that I reviewed the Crazi Taxi-esque Emergency Mayhem, and quickly upon its heels comes the similarly themed racer, Emergency Heroes. Emergency Heroes has a lot in common with Emergency Mayhem. Both games present open world driving environments where you must set right a variety of wrongs using various emergency vehicles, but Heroes is the more serious of the two titles.

Emergency Heroes opens in a vaguely futuristic burb that combines elements of California living with Akira’s New Tokyo. You assume the role of Zack, a new recruit in the cities’ Emergency Heroes division. This elite unit is responsible for controlling all of the chaos that endlessly erupts within the city limits, so you’ll be called upon to collar criminals, fight fires and rescue civilians from an escalating series of calamities. All of this is done behind the wheels of your emergency rescue vehicle — of which there are more than 40 specifically designed for the various circumstances that erupt.

The gameplay takes the form of a driving game, with you always behind the wheel of an emergency vehicle. Following a dynamic tutorial designed to teach you the ropes of the various vehicles you’ll jockey as well as introduce you to the specific challenges that crop up, you scout an in-menu map that depicts the location of your first emergency. The emergencies tend to come in four flavors: car chase, fire fighting, civilian rescue and obstacle removal — with different variables applied to them as the game progresses. For instance, early on, you might be called upon to chase a suspect and stop their car by smashing into it a set number of times, while later you’ll discover that the only way to stop the car is to hit it on its side and take out its special armor.

Once a mission is selected, you drive your vehicle to the designated start point by following the onscreen GPS directions. Should you arrive for a mission with the wrong vehicle, a cut scene will trigger and the right tool for the job will be delivered to you.