I’ve yet to meet a little boy who didn’t want to be a “fireman” at some point in his youth. I don’t know if it’s the equipment, the fires or the trucks. Maybe it’s all of the above. Most boys (except one of my cousins) seem to grow out of it by adulthood; I don’t know if it’s the heavy equipment, the dangerous fires or the lumbering trucks. Again, it could be all of the above. Perhaps it’s the long hours. Real Heroes: Firefighter is a stunningly well-produced, educational and surprisingly fun title that lets any little (or big) boy (or girl) experience the cool tools, raging fires and big trucks from the safety of home.

As the new kid at the firehouse, you’ll be known only as Probie. And be ready, because everyone will be giving you a hard time when they’re not giving you the difficult tasks to complete. As you learn to use the basic tools of the firefighter — axe, halligan, fire extinguisher, hose, rotary saw, hydraulic spreaders — you’ll have to manage locked doors, panicked victims, saving precious property and the incessant chatter of your fellow firefighters. Cameron can’t stop talking about the last baseball game or date or amusement park … he goes on and on … and all the radio chatter comes through the Wii-mote as if it were in your helmet.

You won’t be simply putting out fires with a hose, either. Water is useless on gas fires — you’ve got to find the shut-off valve. Chemical fires require the fire extinguisher. Saving homes while burning ash rains down on you is difficult enough, but when you’re at a high-rise building and you’ve got to cover your fellow firefighters as they rescue victims, you’d better be good on the ladder with the bigger hose. Prying open doors can cause backdraft; you may run out of hose and have to resort to the extinguisher; an earthquake will make you wish for a fire; and this is all assuming you can keep from being engulfed in flames or electrocuted!

As a budget title at $29.99, I’d have been satisfied with the quality of gameplay. It’s not repetitive, it was challenging for my 12-year-old on Easy the first time through (he had to ramp it up the second time), and he wanted to play it once he’d started. But it was the writing and acting that really give this game its life.

The voice acting is superb; the actors had fun with this, and it shows in the results. The script is light-hearted, funny and rings true. The members of the firehouse play tricks on each other, joke with each other and complain about the work week. Someone even messes with the captain’s car. The chatter during the fires isn’t mindless; you need to listen, or there’s a very good chance you’ll die entering the next room. It’s a fire! You won’t be able to hit the repeat button to hear the instructions again.

Most importantly, the designers didn’t forget that this is a game for kids. Wooden crates are everywhere, and with your trusty axe you can splinter them to smithereens. Hidden throughout the game are different styles of axes, hats, extinguishers and halligans. My son wanted so badly to collect the medieval style and when he found the axe, he was giddy. At the end of each scenario, it tells you how much water you’ve used, what you’ve destroyed, if you completed the mission and how many dragons you’ve taken down. That kept my son playing for a few hours one night … and then another night.

I can’t recommend this game enough. I simply don’t know “who” to recommend it to. The neighborhood kids were over, and boys (and girls) as young as 7 and as old as 14 were playing. I also had children of the same age show no interest at all or claim the controls were too difficult. I don’t believe the latter was a problem — I just think they weren’t interested. Yet, my oldest boy wasn’t interested in the least; Mom made him play for “just an hour.” Three hours later, I was prying it out of his hands to force him to bed. If you have a child that likes excitement, figuring out how to solve puzzles and being the hero, then Real Heroes: Firefighter just might be the game for them. On Difficult mode, even the “big” boy of the house may find it fun. Just make sure to fireproof first.