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Emergency Mayhem Review for the Nintendo Wii

Emergency Mayhem Review for the Nintendo Wii

Emergency Mayhem is a game many believed would never get released. Originally this game was to be published by Acclaim for the PS2 and original Xbox, but it seemed to disappear into obscurity when Acclaim filed for bankruptcy in 2004. Thankfully, Warner Bros. and Codemasters decided to keep the game alive by updating and releasing it on the extremely popular Wii console. While I am glad Emergency Mayhem was released, the game definitely has its share of problems.

Emergency Mayhem screenshot

The game takes place in the ridiculously named Crisis City, which is, oddly enough, in a complete state of chaos. You are tasked with trying to reduce the mayhem that is found on every street corner. To achieve this, you will play as all three of the city’s emergency response services. No matter which of the three services you are playing as, be it as a policeman, a firefighter or an ambulance driver, the game feels remarkably shallow.

The basic gameplay in Emergency Mayhem feels like a potentially good mix of Crazy Taxi and Wario Ware. Most of this game is spent behind the wheel of one of the three emergency vehicles, with the only exceptions being the slew of mini-games you are forced to complete. You will be given a set amount of time you can use to drive around, pick up collectibles, and find missions. A majority of the missions in the game boil down to driving your vehicle from point a to point b in a certain amount of time or without totaling. The rest of the game is a fairly small collection of mini-games that, while initially fun, become incredibly repetitive and tedious. When you successfully complete a mission, you are granted more time and the loss of some mayhem from your mayhem meter, allowing you to continue your quest to clean up the city.

Emergency Mayhem screenshot

Each of the emergency services is given their own set of mini-games. The police will be able to cut bomb wires, fix traffic lights, and pump up flat tires. Firefighters will have the chance to put out garbage can fires, herd penguins into a pool, and save jumpers from burning buildings. While driving the ambulance, however, you will get the chance to clean up patients’ blood, guide various objects out of patient’s digestive tracks, and perform CPR. There are a few more types of mini-games for each emergency service, but they all feel fairly similar in the end. While these mini-games do make good use of the Wii’s motion-sensing controls, a larger variety could have made all the difference in this game.

Emergency Mayhem screenshot

Crisis City is made up of four different precincts, each with missions for the three different emergency services to complete. There aren’t any major differences in the precincts except for slight differences in the backdrops, difficulty, and the mini-games you will play. This also makes the game feel repetitive and stale after only a very short amount of play time. Once you’ve successfully reduced the mayhem in each of the precincts with all of the emergency services, you will unlock the Crisis City mode. This mode is basically just like playing through the game except you will have no time limit and all of the city will be open to you at one time. Crisis City mode seems like it could have been quite a bit of fun, if it weren’t for the fact that you were just playing through the same repetitive game you have already completed.

Emergency Mayhem screenshot

Once you are completely bored with this game’s initial experience, which shouldn’t take all that long, there are a few other modes available. Besides the previously mentioned Crisis City mode, there are also Challenge, Survival, and Versus modes included. Challenge mode allows you to play through some of the mini-games in an attempt to boost your high score. Survival mode has you and up to three friends take turns passing the controller around to see who can survive the longest. Lastly, the Versus mode allows you to play split-screen in an attempt to see who can reduce mayhem faster. If you’ve already played through the single-player experience of this game, then none of these modes will keep you interested in playing. Once you’ve played about an hour of Emergency Mayhem, it doesn’t matter what mode you are playing or what you are trying to do, it just feels like you’ve already done it five times.

Despite its repetitive gameplay, the game does manage to have quite a bit of charm. The graphics are decidedly cartoony but do a good job of giving the game character. Emergency Mayhem is very bright and vibrant, with quite a few unique looking characters wandering about. The music is equally over the top, keeping the game feeling fast-paced and hectic. Even the absurdity of many of the mini-games put a smile on your face, even after you’ve grown tired of actually playing the game.

Overall, Emergency Mayhem is fairly disappointing. While I like its charm and the gameplay is satisfactory, the game is just far too repetitive and short. This is really unfortunate because with a wider selection of mini-games and perhaps more varied objectives, I think this game could have been really excellent. If Emergency Mayhem were twenty dollars, I would probably have suggested that you should buy it since it is a fairly fun experience. However, at its hefty forty-dollar price tag, I have to say that this game is probably only worth renting, especially since you can easily complete it in one sitting.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 2.9 Graphics
While not stunning, Emergency Mayhem’s graphics have a ton of charm and character that make this game look appealing. 2.8 Control
Using more standard controls for the majority of the gameplay is welcome and works well. Unfortunately, the somewhat iffy Wii controls being used in the game’s many mini-games is often frustrating. 2.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Some fairly odd music mixed with incredibly repetitive sound effects makes you want to turn down the volume on the television. 2.0

Play Value
While initially entertaining, the game is incredibly shallow, repeats itself often, and has no real longevity to offer. This is, at best, a game to rent and have one potentially fun afternoon with.

2.5 Overall Rating – Average
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Huge single-player game with career and party modes.
  • Hit the gas in three vehicles – a fire truck, ambulance, and police car.
  • Zany mini games that take advantage of Wii Remote’s unique control system.
  • Save the citizens and get the animals back in the zoo in a range of crazy emergencies.
  • Explore a huge city with 8 different environments.
  • Up to 4 players can compete in party mode.
  • Instantly accessible, pick-up-and-play gaming.

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