Awarded the official Smokey Bear license, Wildfire teaches its players about fire safety in the execution of a fire fighting strategy game.  Take control of hotshots, helicopters, and backburners, as you attempt to find the fastest and most effective way to extinguish the scorching fires.  Whether bulldozing ditches in an attempt to cut off the fire or attacking from air with water dropping helicopters, you decide who does what and how it should be done.

Wild Fire is a far cry from the traditional real-time strategy. The game offers an initial appeal similar to others found in the genre, though fighting fires turns out to be entertaining for only so long.  Because of the implementation of fighting fire in place of enemies, the game’s learning curve can vary. Though the game is rather self-explanatory, entering with a prior knowledge regarding fire fighting tactics is a definite plus.

Despite the fact that the game drops you into a fully rendered 3D world, its graphics are comparable to the price you will be paying. The graphics may have been impressive a few years back, though I have grown to expect much more since Blizzards release of War Craft 3.  Perhaps worst of all is the game’s fire, represented by a yellow and orange glow. It envelops its surroundings and can make the terrain around very difficult to make out. Regrettably, the most impressive graphical feature that the game has to offer is the smoky particle effect.

Wild Fire introduces a pivotal camera system that can be manipulated in a variety of ways. It can be zoomed in and out, panned horizontally, and rotated a full 360 degrees. Though the camera is quite impressive, the implementation and controls are far from intuitive and feel quite unconventional.

As for the music and sound effects, there is little to note. You’ll hardly be heading out first thing in the morning to pick up the sound track, though the music and sound effects do fit in well and are more than appropriately situated throughout the game.

The actual game offers two modes of play. First off is the “Play Challenges” mode in which you can begin your career and advance through the ranks.  Challenges range from an easy to difficult setting, allowing you to select more difficult missions as your rank rises.  Aside from allowing you to choose your own difficulty, the “Random Scenario” mode offers four maps with nine unique seeds (fire placements).

Did you know that Smokey the Bear has his own zip-code!?  In the “History of Smokey the Bear” section, you can learn about the New Mexican cub that was saved during a wild fire and later dubbed the official “Smokey the Bear”. Over the years, Smokey and the fire prevention committees under his name have gained so much publicity and mail that the U.S. Postal Service has supplied them with their own zip code.

If knowing is half the battle, then this game deserves two thumbs up.  If you’ve ever wanted to parachute out of a plane and tackle a blazing fire, then this game can ‘show and tell’ you what it’s like. Serving the strategy genre as a stealth education game, Wild Fire teaches basic fire safety principles through its loading screens as well as in depth definitions as to who does what.

Ultimately, Wildfire is a surprisingly interesting game that applies an innovative approach to the realm of stealth education.  Unfortunately, due to having so few units and only 16 defined challenges, there is a high probability of the player’s interest dieing early.  

Gameplay:  7.4

Offering a strange initial interest, Wild Fire can be played for hours on end. Just be careful not to comprehend all of the game’s play aspects too early… Once the player understands what works best and where, routine protocol replaces the ingenuity that had been the game’s original appeal.

Graphics:  6.1

Regrettably, the game’s graphics are hard pressed to match others of its genre.  Oddly enough, even Wild Fire’s pre-rendered CG sequences seem to run choppy on a system that does more than match the requirements.

Sound:  7.0

The music blends very well with the overall gameplay, although little stands out in any remarkable fashion.

Difficulty: Medium

Choose your own difficulty when playing “Random Scenarios” or master them all as you select “Play Challenges”, working your way through the ranks.

Concept:  8.7

Fighting fire in place of opponents provides an impressive twist to the classic real-time strategy genre.  This title also includes an outstanding implementation of stealth education.

Overall:   7.2

Raises the bar as to what can be expected from an educational title, but offers little in the realm of entertainment.  Alas, addiction is hard to come by and even the initial interest dies quickly as the player experiences all that the game has to offer.