When it comes to simulation-style games on the Switch to this point, I’ll be blunt… most of them are pretty terrible. Whether the problem is the tedium of the tasks at hand, the issues with controls that are less than ideal, or even the overall experience feeling broken, there have been far more duds than even mild successes in the subgenre. Does Emergency Call turn everything around, showing the way for others? Not quite, but it’s at least passable as a whole.

I think what likely helps this sim stand out from the crowd the most is that firefighting at least sounds like an interesting profession to begin with. There are certainly more children who grow up aspiring to do that over the likes of driving public transportation, or unloading cargo ships at a dock somewhere. What’s nice is that pretty quickly you also get the feeling that every mission won’t be exactly the same shtick, a trap some others fall into. No, with Emergency Call you’ll first see a bunch of pretty diverse equipment on the truck, and then slowly through missions you’ll have a need to make use of all of it, since the job’s about much more than just squirting water at flames.

That said, when you do need to do things like douse some flames there’s a certain energy to things I appreciate. While graphically the environments do feel a bit boxy and empty, you’re at least able to get a bit of a thrill fighting back a blaze. The thing is, there’s more to it as well, since you’ll need to be mindful of your safety and the safety of the civilians around you as well. You aren’t just going to run in, extinguish an inferno and go home, you’ll need to set up fire curtains, fans, and use a variety of tools to take the necessary steps to additionally secure the building and help to minimize damage and harm.

The thing is, I also have no desire to oversell this experience. There’s no doubt it’s a bit clunky, some of the control choices are cumbersome, and there’s only so much variety it can offer before there are some aspects of missions you’ll likely find tedious. It’s hardly a perfect game, but nonetheless I do appreciate what feels like an earnest effort on the part of the developer to more fully represent the profession than you’d normally see. It may not be terribly sexy, but I doubt the day-to-day responding to fire calls is either. If you’re curious about the job, including its less glamorous side, you may find it rewarding… just maybe wait for a sale.