Graphics: In comparison to the similarly themed Emergency Mayhem, I thought Emergency Heroes presented a more compelling visual package upon first glance. The game certainly looks more grown up, with the main city environment showcasing some compelling futuristic designs. In fact, it bears a little resemblance to the city of Santa Destroy on display in the Wii release, No More Heroes, with the graphics featuring a subtle cell shading to their construction. That said, the vehicles, while diverse, are hit or miss. Some of them look pretty snazzy while others are down right blocky, boasting low polygon counts. All of this contributes to keep the frame rate fairly high, although whenever the amateur looking fire effects are used, the framerate takes a hit. The story is told through some static anime images that pop up on your HUD from time to time; however, they’re fairly cliché and are dragged down by the fact that they’re not animated at all. This game could easily have been developed for the PS2.

Interface: Heroes co-opts the same scheme used by Excite Truck and Mario Kart, with the Wiimote turned on its side and held like a steering wheel. The game also includes support for the recently released Wii Wheel, which is used by popping the controller into the shell and driving like you would in real life. Drifting can been executed by applying the break while taking a corner, but the roads are so forgiving, there’s really no reason to use it. Turning seems less touchy than Excite Truck, which means navigating these streets is usually a breeze, provided you can contend with their congestion.

Gameplay: Repetition is the name of the game here. The three main game types are simply too similar to each other. The other cars on the road are easily pushed out of the way, and there doesn’t appear to be any real challenge outside of trying to improve your time and, thus, net more experience points to open a new vehicle. There also doesn’t appear to be any penalties for driving like a complete maniac on your way to the next emergency, meaning that you can end up causing more mayhem than you’re actually controlling. The chase sequences are the best of the lot, as the computer will mix things up by reversing direction and taking alternate paths, meaning you have to stay on your toes. The GPS system, however, dumbs it down by providing very large arrows on the road to follow and squawking directions like “TURN LEFT” at you constantly. I also encountered two instances of game crashing bugs where my car crashed through a barrier and landed in a nebulous land of untested code. This was where I could have really used those GPS instructions but alas, I had to reset to escape.

Multiplayer: Emergency Heroes includes some simple mini-games in which you can race against friends, but they grow as repetitive as the main game and really aren’t worth your time. In addition to the pure racing challenges, you can also engage in two-player competitive contests to see who can extinguish the most fires or rescue the most civilians. As with the solo campaign, these challenges grow tiresome; however, there’s no arguing that a human opponent easily trumps the game’s artificial intelligence, so perhaps some semblance of entertainment could be mined from the multiplayer experience. That said, there are better racers on the Wii. With no online support for racing, gamers are encouraged to stick with Mario Kart Wii for their multiplayer racing fix.

Sound FX: While the vehicles sound fine — with different effects used to represent each of the different variations of craft — the voice acting will drive you insane. The main character comes off as a neurotic wimp whose geeky earnestness does a poor job of selling him as a great emergency hero. His nemesis is even worse due to a nasally whine that cuts right through your brain. His greatest crime is that he speaks. The banal dialogue coupled with the amateurish voice acting calls to mind the poor dub jobs we used to see on those anime shows that were imported to the U.S. in the early ’80s. The game is trying to go for a Trauma Center-like narrative but lacks the wit and style needed to make it work.

Music: Emergency Heroes is backed by the standard techno beat that just really serves as background music. It’[s the sort of synth tracks you’ve heard in every futuristic racer that’s been released and really lacks character.

Intelligence: Aside from the dynamic chase scenes, everything else in this game is overly scripted. The fire fighting and rescue scenarios play like a rail shooter, with elements predictably popping up in the same locations. During the open city chase scenes, your enemy will keep you on your toes by varying his route and changing directions, but the developers make sure you always know where to go by laying out those intrusive GPS commands and holding your hand the whole way.

Difficulty: I found it incredibly hard to fail a mission, and earned the Gold medal for most missions on the first try. There’s very little in the way of adversaries outside of the chase missions, meaning you simply play through each mission for a better time. Later missions add some variety by introducing variables (i.e. only crash into the right door, etc.) but there’s nothing here that’s too challenging.

Overall: Emergency Heroes comes out hot on the heels of last month’s Emergency Mayhem, and in addition to sharing similar themes, they also have one other characteristic in common — they’re just not good. With a unique looking environment, this game had the potential to offer a different sort of Wii racer, but the lack of challenge coupled with the routine nature of the missions just conspire to sap the game of any appeal. It’s nice to see third party games making use of Nintendo’s peripherals, but you’re better served taking that Wii Wheel for a spin with Mario Kart.