Time of death...60 minutes after purchase... (Emergency Mayhem (Wii))

Member Name: 27darren

Product:	Emergency Mayhem (Wii)
Date:	17/08/08 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Vibrant and colourful visuals

Disadvantages: Simplistic and repetitive gameplay Boring mini-games

To date many Nintendo fans feel they have been missing out as there has not been a single Grand Theft Auto game made available on a Nintendo console. Instead, we have just had to settle for many average games over the years have tried to enter the Grand Theft Auto genre and take a slice of the profits. However at this years E3 conference a DS GTA game was announced, which got many people very excited. In many people's minds, GTA still remains the king of these driving adventure games. So while we wait are there any other games of the same type to bridge the gap? Enter Emergency Mayhem.

Graphics
The presentation is certainly a lot brighter and more colourful than Grand Theft Auto, giving Emergency Mayhem its own identity immediately. As well as it being attractive it also feels very large filling the screen with mostly vague detail. The graphics are pleasing, but not amazing. This is no bad thing as the gameplay should be the most important thing to this game, the factor that makes GTA so playable.

Gameplay/Lifespan
The situation is, you are in command of the emergency services, and everything is going a little mad in Crisis City (clue in the name?) The game sees you doing pretty predictable stuff, driving to destinations with care, ramming other cars and driving against the clock. However, everything you do will be against a countdown, and the only way to give yourself more time is to complete the mission and/or collect pick-ups. If you are successful, you will progress to the next area. On the flip side, if you fail, you will have to start again from the beginning. That isn't the only problem here however, because making the missions even harder is the poor navigation system. An arrow will be guiding you supposedly down the right path, but this is jerky and unreliable and to make matters worse, there is no feature to let you plan your route in advance. Unfortunately, the best way to get around is to memorise the layout of the city. Still, the areas are small and few in all honesty, so you will be lucky if you want to play to the point were you know your way around off by heart.
Still, this is only a minor concern compared to the dreadful mini-games. Yet again we see some awful tacked on rubbish, which of course, uses the Wii remote. Thankfully they are over fairly quickly, meaning you can get back to driving to your next destination. However this will get tiring pretty quickly and a bit later you will encounter another mini game. In a seemingly poor effort the game tries to throw in a bit of variation, to stop you noticing how shallow the game actually is. The only highlight I can think of is a mini game which has you shooting monkeys with bananas. It may be a bit random, but it is always entertaining. Aside from this the game does little to keep your attention, and you will find yourself wanting to escape Crisis City forever, and leaving it to suffer its disastrous fate.

Controls
The remote is used for driving and the mini-games. To drive you press B to go forwards, and A to go backwards; Simple. Predictably you have to wave the remote around for the mini-games. The Nunchuk is also used for driving. The analogue stick directs your car and the C button enables your siren, which might as well not be there.

Multiplayer
The game supports 1-4 player multiplayer, but this is just as exciting as the single player mode.

Wi-Fi?
The game does not support Wi-Fi

Cost
It was released at £39.99, far too expensive, but can be picked up anywhere from £20-£25. However, despite the fact the game doesn't have GTA to compete with on Nintendo consoles, it still is not the best example of it's genre. Instead, picking up Crazy Taxi for Gamecube will be cheaper, and far more entertaining. Emergency Mayhem certainly doesn't justify even getting £20 spent on it, as it may struggle to hold your attention for over an hour.

Conclusion
Emergency Mayhem is a game that tries to live up to the likes of Grand Theft Auto and Crazy Taxi, but ultimately fails. It is bearable in parts but its faults will scare you off after a few hours maximum. Even at £20 it is too expensive for what you get, so unless you are desperate for some emergency services action, avoid this one.

Overall Score: 4/10

Summary: Patches of playable gameplay may appeal to hardcore fans of the genre, but many should avoid this