An unhelpful directional arrow while driving and inconsistent vehicle/character interactions lead the list of notable issues (along with crummy animations and occasionally glitchy sound effects), but such problems aren't at the core of what's wrong with this game. Rather, it's the soul-crushing repetition and menial tasks that conspire to ruin what should be a good-natured romp through the world of public safety.
Playing the same boring minigames over and over again in each stage (sometimes five or six times, without deviation), coupled with simple driving tasks and a lack of significant variation between missions make this a joyless grind with little reward. Ubisoft's upcoming Emergency Heroes (also for Wii) might offer a better take on the theme, but regardless, Emergency Mayhem is one call for help you're better off ignoring.
Emergency Mayhem is a fast and frantic take on the arcade racing genre that is unfortunately let down by too much repetition, rushed design and great ideas that don't seem to have been fully explored. Inspired by the classic Crazy Taxi formula of racing fares across the city against the clock, Emergency Mayhem changes the player's role from that of taxi driver to an emergency services worker racing to save Crisis City from complete chaos. Emergency themed mini-games break up the driving action and add something a little different to the mix, but overall there are too many flaws and unrealised opportunities to make Emergency Mayhem stand out in the crowded Wii market.
PALGN writes: "Emergency Mayhem is a game that has had quite a turbulent development history. The game was originally announced for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox at E3, 2004 and was to be published and developed by Acclaim. Unfortunately, Acclaim filed for bankruptcy in Sepember 2006 and the chances of Emergency Mayhem being released seemed slim. However, in May 2007 Warner Bros. purchased the rights to publisher the game, with Codemasters developing the game. Then finally, in December 2007 Codemasters announced that they would be publishing the game, while Supersonic Software would develop the game. So, now Emergency Mayhem is finally here, in budget form in Australia, so is the game worth the wait?
Emergency Mayhem is best described as Crazy Taxi with ambulances, fire trucks and police cars; or at least that's what we think the original plan for the game was. The game is set in Crisis City and players take control of either an ambulance, fire truck or police car and drive to destinations, completing mini games and helping out the citizens of Crisis City. Whether the player chooses an ambulance, fire truck or police car is irrelevant, the objective is the same; get to the destination and complete a mini game."
Jereme Puik from GamePlasma writes:
"There is only so much you can do to make a title like this worthwhile. There are a few missing pieces here and some tweaks could have easily made this game more enjoyable. The glaring problems make it almost impossible to keep a smooth calm attitude while playing."
