Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue

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Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue

by Aethyna Jul 10, 2022 | 1 Votes | 88 Played | 0 Reviews

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8 rate

Genres:

Action , Platformer

Graphics:

2D

Labels:

Roguelike/roguelite , Platformer , Rescue Mission

Platforms:

Publishers:

Thunderful Games Set in a city where there seem to be a mysterious outbreak of fires, your job, as the newest member of the fire-fighting team, is to head to where the danger’s at, break down doors and obstacles, and rescue the people and animals trapped in the burning buildings. Can you find out what’s really causing all these fires and save the city? Play Now Similar Games Played Post a Review

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue is a roguelite platformer where you play as none other than Firegirl herself. Set in a city where there seem to be a mysterious outbreak of fires, your job, as the newest member of the fire-fighting team, is to head where the danger’s at, break down doors and obstacles, and rescue the people, and animals, trapped in the burning buildings. Saving people and completing firefighting missions earn you fans and money, with some of the people you’ve rescued wanting to join your team at the firehouse. Can you find out what’s really causing all these fires and save the city?

Plotline

Fire has broken out throughout the city, seemingly randomly at various different locations. The mayor suspects that it’s an arsonist at large but the FBI inspector tasked to the case seem to think otherwise.

In this game, you play as the “firegirl”, a hero of the city and a firefighter like your deceased dad, who has recently completed her firefighting training and joined the firefighting team in the city. Unveil the story in the game and find out the real cause behind string of fires as you play and progress.

Gameplay

Firegirl is a 2D side-scrolling, roguelite platformer that’s “mission”-based. Though, in terms of mission variety, the game is quite lacking. The goal of every mission you are sent to is the same – rescue the person trapped there, along with any animals you came across, and get the heck out of the place before the fire weakened the building enough to make it collapse.

Of course, there’s a time limit involved since despite your best efforts, the fire will eventually consume whatever building it is in. Thankfully though, every fire patch you manage to extinguish will earn you crucial seconds added to the timer. Sometimes, you may even come across Clock power-ups which will grant you more time on the clock.

Fighting fires with water is good and all, but you’ll have to bear in mind that you’re working with limited resources here. After all, your water tank can only be filled with so much water and that you can only carry that much water with you into the fray. Not to mention, you’ll need to have enough water to jet yourself, using your fire hose, to out-of-reach platforms that you can’t just jump to. This is why it’s important to use water sparingly when extinguishing fires and to grab any Water Bottle power-ups you might come across in your travels which will restore some amount of water over time. There are also plenty of useful upgrades that can help, but we’ll go into more detail later in this review.

Now, besides fires, there are also obstacles like doors and debris that will prevent you from going further. Luckily, you’ve got your trusty fire ax by your side. With a hefty swing, you can get those meddlesome obstacles out of your way and to even save whatever person or animal that’s buried underneath it. Sometimes, these obstacles may even block an entrance to a secret room or prevent you from effectively take on certain fire-breathing enemies so it’s always a good idea to get rid of them if you can spare the time.

Unique story-driven locations aside, the buildings you often dive into are like platforming mazes with plenty of secret areas, rooftop access, and even dead ends. This is why I love that the game comes with helpful indicators to show you which way you should go to complete the objective. You are still free to explore and check out other routes, but the main path is always marked out for you so you can easily get back on the “right way”. Even the path towards the exit is helpfully marked, so it's just all about getting there in one piece and within the time limit.

I should also point out that although most areas you go into will allow you to backtrack in case you have some extra time and wanted to explore a little, some areas will be engulfed by flames once you exit it. When there seem to be no way else to go sideways, usually you can either go upwards or down instead, so make sure to look up or down when you think you’re stuck.

As you’re the “Firegirl”, the fire-fighting hero of the city, every mission you successfully complete (and fires extinguished) will earn you more fans. The more fans you have, the more donations they contribute to your firefighting efforts, which is vital if you aim to purchase helpful fire-fighting upgrades like more water capacity, stronger water jets, and the ability to passively regenerate water more quickly that will allow you to take on tougher fires.

After all, the city hall can only give you so much funds regularly, and well, every failed mission will also rack up your hospital bills. There’s also a shop right across the firehouse that offers gear upgrades for a price so you’ll want to check that out when you’ve got some cash in hand.

By completing certain “achievements”, you’ll earn medals too. You can then equip these medals onto your fire-proof coat. There are 3 kinds of medals in this game, and you can only equip one of each onto your coat. That being said, each medal provides their respective passive perks, whether giving you extra time when you pick up clocks or gaining more fans for every animal rescued in a run, and it’s always nice to have a little advantage when it comes to fighting fires in this game.

Now, unlike Souls-like games, Firegirl isn’t particularly punishing in the sense that you start off with 4 lives for every run, so you’ll have up to 3 chances to mess things up. In this game, you’ll get docked a life for silly things like getting hit by flames, or accidentally jumping into one which happens if you forget to look down before jumping down. Falling from great heights, despite not landing in a patch of fire, will cost you a life too, so you might want to use your hose to kind of ease yourself down instead.

There’s also at least a way you’ll get instantly killed in this game which I’ve found to my dismay. You see, if you are trying to go down from the rooftop of a building and happened to end up in a place where the game designers don’t want you to go, you’ll lose all lives at once and immediately see the Game Over screen.

Needless to say, it does feel a bit unfair that my run was ended so prematurely, and right after I’ve rescued the person too! The game could definitely mark out areas that the players shouldn’t go into, just so we won’t jump off the wrong rooftop, hoping to find a platform to land on.

Saving people and completing firefighting missions will also allow you to further expand your team at the firehouse. You see, some of the characters and pets you rescue will want to join your team, often to offer you powerful upgrades for cash just so you can get back into action with better gear and stats, but you’ll need to have enough money to hire them first. For instance, after rescuing him, you can recruit the chef which will then allow you to buy extra lives for a whopping $20k. The grind for cash is very real in this game!

…and this is why it’s really great that every run is super short in this game. However, there are definitely some issues with the level design which could make some runs more “profitable” than others. You see, sometimes, the person you’re supposed to rescue and the exit is so far away from each other, or that you could run through the maze-like building for what feels like minutes and still not find the person you’re supposed to rescue. Sometimes, the person is basically right next to the exit making it possible to complete a run with more than 2 minutes to spare on the clock.

Graphics/ Sound

If you’re into pixel art, you’ll find this game amazing. It retains the charming style of the original and upgraded the graphics just enough to look appealing on modern screens. The clash of colors between the bright flames and its darker environment looks great too!

Similarly, the game retains its funky quirky soundtrack, along with the many sound effects, like the sound of the roaring flames, which throws me back to the good old days of Gameboy gaming.

Conclusion

Featuring an intriguing story that you’ll want to follow through to the end, Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue is a fire-fighting action platformer that may be challenging but is incredibly rewarding to play, especially once you started recruiting more people and pets to the firehouse and unlocked more upgrades. Every run feels short and sweet, despite sometimes feeling as though you’ve been handed a series of poorly generated levels where death seems to await you at every corner. It’s all about balancing risk and reward, and managing your limited resources, which in this case are time and water level, in this game, and if you can get it just right, you’ll find the game to be immensely satisfying to play.