Without Miguel to regularly remind us of the joys of simulation games, Gamersyde's coverage of this genre, which is very popular with German studios, has become quite rare. With a slight delay, we finally give you Firefighting Simulator: Ignite, which puts us in the fireproof suit of a firefighter.
Like all games of this genre, don't expect Firefighting Simulator: Ignite to be visually stunning. However, the use of Unreal Engine 5 does allow for some some nice effects, such as flames, but this sometimes comes at the expense of frame rate stability in Performance mode (including on PS5 Pro). The lighting is also quite well done, and while not outstanding, the environments are credible enough not to break the immersion. It's a shame, however, that the few English voiceovers are so uninspired, and that the animations are so stiff. It is possible to switch to a first-person view at any time to spare yourself from seeing your character's awkward movements, but with such a powerful engine, there was room for improvement. A few months ago, we found the experience offered by Ambulance Life to be quickly redundant, and although Firefighting Simulator: Ignite is not flawless in this regard, it seems to us to offer more variety in the situations encountered. However, the AI is not especially convincing, and while you can give your men instructions to follow, they really lack initiative (they won't turn off the gas or electricity, so they'll waste time trying to put out the flames for nothing) and they have no personality. The game therefore fails to convey the full dynamics of a fire brigade, and as a result, although the player's goal is to rise through the ranks within the fire station, it's hard to feel attached to your team. One way to get around this is to play the missions cooperatively, but we would have liked the game to be structured around some semblance of a story and characters, which could have broken up the monotony of the daily routine. The game is divided into forty fairly varied main missions of increasing difficulty, but it also requires you to participate in random side missions, which inevitably end up becoming quite repetitive. Nevertheless, there is a desire to offer less basic mechanics than one might imagine. Depending on the situation, the equipment needed to extinguish fires will be different, you'll have to force your way into a building (using a crowbar or an axe), place ladders to reach upper floors, find circuit breakers to cut off the electricity and allow water to be used to prevent the fire from spreading, bearing in mind that, depending on what is burning, it may be better to use foam or fire extinguishers, for example. The need to analyze the situation and rescue victims as quickly as possible works rather well, especially since fire management is quite convincing. You can even drive the truck to the scene of the disaster and/or return to the fire station once the mission is complete. The driving is certainly nothing extraordinary, and accidents don't penalize you, but driving through the city with the siren blaring is still a bit of fun. If you get tired of it, you can always go to the scene automatically anyway. Ultimately, considering the reasonable price (around $35), Firefighting Simulator: Ignite should appeal to simulation game enthusiasts, provided they keep its few limitations in mind. If you're familiar with the genre, these shouldn't come as a surprise, and if you're on the fence, it's not impossible that the title will eventually join Sony and Microsoft's subscription services in the near future, as was the case with the previous installment.
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