Wildfire

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $27.99

Features:

• For Windows 98/ME/2000/XP ~ Battle against the clock in more than 20 blazing challenges
• Control fire fighters, bulldozers, water trucks, helicopters airplanes and more as you fight raging wildfires
• Realistic fire physics that burn according to fuel type, wind and weather
• Over 300 different variations for each scenario, in Random Play mode
• A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each game will fund the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Almost too real; Fighting time, weather and fire [Posted on 2005-03-30]
I have been fighhting wildland fire for over 30 years as a volunteer and as a park ranger. This game is so realistic that it could actually be considered a "simulator" for training fire scene managers. All the elements are accurately portrayed; Weather, changing wind speed and direction, equipment and manpower problems, budgets, etc. You can play the game from an overview pespective, or get right down on the ground with the grunts and dozer operators. It is not an easy game, and after six months, I am only into the third (of nine)level scenarios. Emphasis is on planning and deploying resources for the best effect. May be too accurate, and therefore too slow for gamers used to "shoot-em up" type, rapid action. Note to parents: It is possible to loose firefighters to the flames. May be too intense for some children.

Interesting and Challenging [Posted on 2006-07-25]
Wildfire is not a typical simulation or tycoon game. It has some elements very familiar to the genre but it also adds some things and presents some things in a different manner.

Game summary: you are the 'manager' so to speak who must allocate resources, direct personnel, and take control of a situation when a fire breaks out. The scenarios are different types of 'wild fires' that you must stop using whatever resources are available to you.

Some positive + and negative - aspects of the game:

+ Graphics: well done and effective. You can control the view of the game world freely and rotate the angle and zoom as needed for any situation. On some lower end systems this game may perform slowly as the graphics can be very rich with trees, bushes, clouds, weather, vehicles, etc all on screen at once.
+ Sound: nothing spectacular but well done. The sounds of the fire and the workers trying to put it out are particularly fitting.
+ Gameplay: harrowing at some points. When a firefighter dies trying to stop the blaze you almost feel your conscience pricked. When a fire gets away from your efforts to stop it you feel frantic. The game is involving more than it is amusing - which may appeal to some gamers.
+/- Performance: the game runs well but may slow down drastically on some systems. The graphics are good and when there's a lot of action on screen you need the hardware. Make sure your system exceeds the requirements or you may need to reduce the graphics and sound options in the game.
- Tutorial: the game doesn't have a good tutorial at all. You pretty much have to attack the beginning scenarios and learn from your mistakes. After you fail a few dozen times you'll start to learn what works and what doesn't. If you're not patient or prone to irritation with failing don't try this game.

Hope that helps!

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