Planes: Fire and Rescue (3DS)

PLANES_BOXPlanes: Fire & Rescue is based on the Disney film of the same name.  Help Dusty Crophopper and his airplane and helicopter friends as they use teamwork and bravery to put our fires and rescue others at Piston Park.  The game is available for 3DS, Wii U, and Wii, but reviewed on 3DS here.

The game is viewed from a top-down perspective and kind of reminds me of the 16-bit classic Jungle, Desert, and Urban Strike games.  Except instead of shooting people you’re helping them (well, they’re not people, they’re cars and other vehicles, as this is the world of Cars after all).  Each character you control can do different things.  Airplanes like Dusty and Dipper can fly over lakes, scoop up water, and then drop it over forest fires.  Helicopters can do the same thing, but they can also spray fire retardant to keep flames from spreading, use a sonar to detect wildlife in trouble, and lift and hoist objects and characters that need to be rescued.  Sometimes you’ll even control ground vehicles that can help you clear out logs and other debris blocking the way.

There are two types of missions you can tackle.  Training Academy Missions and the main Fire and Rescue Missions.  The training missions show you the ropes, but they can actually be harder than some of the main missions as you only get one try to pass them.  In the main missions, you’ll have to do multiple tasks to pass them, and can even switch out characters if need be.  Mind the danger meters on the upper left side of the screen, as they represent fires that can get out of control.  If the danger meter fills, you’ll lose one of your tries.  Lose all five and you’ll have to restart the mission again.

While I think it’s pretty cool that you put out fires and save campers in this game (there aren’t enough firefighter games out there), the game itself can become overly tedious and challenging.  You’ll constantly be flying back and forth to scoop up water and dropping it on fires over and over again.  And the camera is zoomed so close to the action that it can be hard to react once you approach your objective.  I think only die-hard Planes: Fire and Rescue fans will enjoy this one.

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Kid Factor:

Reading skill is a must for the text, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the high difficulty level.  Planes: Fire and Rescue is rated E for Everyone.

One Response to “Planes: Fire and Rescue (3DS)”

  1. I like the graphics. Too bad its gameplay isn’t more interesting.

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