Emergency Mayhem

Emergency Mayhem puts you in the driving seat of a trainee emergency driver within Crisis City. It’s your job to help clean up the mayhem that has taken hold of the city and bring it back to order through your (many) talents of being a Policeman, Fireman or Medic.

Emergency Mayhem gives you the choice of two modes. Career mode, a single player experience (and where the core gameplay is), and Party mode, where all the mini games of the single player experience are presented for multiplayer games, or for the single player who doesn’t fancy racing around Crisis City at the time. Bear in mind you’ll only be able to play the mini games after you have unlocked them in the Career mode.

The Career mode has you starting out as a rookie who must make his way up the emergency food chain by completing tasks such as getting from point A to point B within an allotted time. By doing so you’ll fill up a mayhem meter that, when a certain percentage is filled, you’ll receive a promotion and unlock the next area of Crisis City.

The first thing you’ll notice is how much this game reminds you of Crazy Taxi. Having to perform perfect stops within coloured circles that will start specific mini games or trigger a timed race to point B. Mini games vary from each profession such as cutting wires to defusing a bomb as a policeman or closing a fire hydrant by using the Wiimote functionality as a fireman. These mini games are never more than a small challenge for anyone who’s used to the Wii and its ways by now. The look of the game is simple but effective. Plenty of bright colours and blue skies (a firm favourite of mine), which are nearly always pleasant to the eye.

The controls can be quite tricky to get used to. Emergency Mayhem uses both Nunchuck and Wiimote when driving. The Nunchuck analogue stick controls the steering. This is very loose, so when you’re starting off you should expect much crashing into walls. Luckily after a round or two you should be used to the controls. The missions themselves can become a little repetitive for the more adventurous gamer. A child will probably find enough entertainment to keep them busy for a while. Even a parent will find enjoyment in this, if only to kill a few hours on a wet Sunday afternoon. Party mode consists of the mini games you have unlocked on single player and lets you play them with your friends or on your own. There aren’t many games to play though, so if you’re looking for a mini-game haven try Warioware instead, otherwise it’s a nice little time filler.