On Christmas Day 2010 the Metrotech Chemical Company building is engulfed in flames and it's up to Pete and Danny as well as the rest of the D-sector fire brigade to advance up through each floor, putting out fires, rescuing survivors, and dealing with rogue security robots along the way.
The game plays as an isometric shooter in which you must go through each level and destroy or avoid fire and other obstacles, complete objectives, and defeat the boss at the end of each stage.
It was followed by the sequel, The Firemen 2: Pete & Danny, on the PlayStation in 1995.
The Firemen Contains examples of
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The building's security robots go on a rampage after the fire starts.
- An Asskicking Christmas: The D-sector fire brigade spend their merry Christmas time avoiding and extinguishing all manner of fire and explosions, as well as busting up rampaging security robots.
- Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag: Most of the fire will just sit around waiting for you to extinguish them, but sometimes they seem oddly sentient, moving in complex patterns to outright chasing you.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Fire will not hurt Pete unless it directly touches him. Possibly justified as the firefighters seem to be wearing flame retardant gear.
- Corrupted Contingency: The building's security robots go on a rampage when the fire starts.
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: The game takes place on Christmas day but outside of Danny's complaining and occasional Christmas trees or other decorations around the building it has no real effect on the plot.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: After Pete cracks a pretty lame joke, he and Danny burst into laughter, possibly because of the relief of surviving such a stressful situation.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The game seems to take place entirely during the predawn hours of Christmas Day.
- Gotta Catch Them All: The people stuck in the building have to rescued before the level can be finished.
- Homage: The game's setting and plot owe quite a bit to The Towering Inferno.
- Firefighters Want Their Radar
- Killer Robot: Many of the enemies and bosses are security robots that have gone rogue due to the fire.
- Kill It with Water: Your fire hose and water grenades are your only means of defense against enemies, which makes sense as all enemies are fire, robots, or flaming robots.
- No Antagonist: It's just fire. Yet, as it is still a video game, a lot of the fire exhibit some unexplained antagonistic behavior.
- Sensor Suspense: The Firemen have a radar which shows lifesigns. Later in the game it breaks, and the two have to find the survivors by hand.
- Shout-Out: The Christmas timing and some of the dialog relating to it are obvious Die Hard tributes.
- Shown Their Work: Breaking windows and opening doors where there isn't fire does cause backdrafts, and potential explosions.
- Timed Mission: Every stage is on a timer, usually lasting around 10 to 15 minutes. Running out of time results in your health bar dropping to almost zero.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: 2010 was way in the future in the 90's.
