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Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming

Celebrate Bonfire Night by warming your hands on some digital fire.

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Bonfire night is fast approaching, and with it will come fiery festivities: bonfires, fireworks and other traditions take priority in what is a very British holiday. In honour of this night, we've put together a list of the greatest fires in gaming, in case you don't want to spend the night out in the cold but inside celebrating the way gamers do. Also, before you proceed, we should warn you that there's one or two spoilers in the text below...

Grand Theft Auto

When it comes to fires, Grand Theft Auto has had more than its fair share, with multiple missions across the series seeing you burn down houses or set ablaze rival meth labs. The most memorable, however, are harder to come by.

GTA San Andreas, as one of the franchise's most beloved games, is full of interesting missions. When it comes to setting things on fire though, the Burning Desire mission sticks out as the hottest. Our protagonist Carl gets involved with corrupt police officers, Tenpenny and Pulaski, and after meeting them in a donut shop is instructed to take out a local gangster. After picking up a few Molotov cocktails Carl proceeds to bombard the building in East Los Santos, setting it ablaze, and the mission ends with the targeted gangster running out engulfed in flames before dying.

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Elsewhere, in GTA V, Trevor was by far the craziest character and his missions never failed to disappoint in terms of insanity, and his mission to hunt the O'Neil Brothers is one of the best. This anger-filled expedition follows Trevor on his quest to get even with his hillbilly, redneck, meth dealer adversaries after learning they stole a potential client from him. He pours gasoline all over the meth lab in the basement and leads a trail of it outside, lighting the gasoline and causing the house to explode into flames. One of the reasons this fire was so memorable was the introduction of the selfie mechanic at this point, encouraging players to take a photo of themselves in front of the glorious blaze.

Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming

Firewatch

It cannot be denied that Firewatch is one of this year's best indie games, and of course we have to include it in this list, as fire is pretty much persistent throughout the whole game. Starting on day four of Henry's new job as a forest fire watchmen, the June fire lights up the night sky, and one of Henry and Delilah's most interesting conversations takes place as they discuss what to do about it. Delilah flirts quite heavily with Henry, suggesting that they get together after the summer, but takes it back the next day saying she was drunk.

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Firewatch tells a story with a lot of twists and turns, but the June fire remains as an ever present backdrop to the whole story. It's not only a significant fire in terms of the story but it's also sizeable too, with fellow fire lookout Delilah saying that it may last the entire summer.

Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming

Call of Duty

Call of Duty isn't exactly known for its fires, but there are certainly some moments that will trigger memories in long-time fans. Call of Duty: World at War features some grim moments in the campaign which involve you using fire to flush out enemy soldiers from their bunkers or hideouts. The most memorable flamethrower missions are 'Burn em out' and 'Blowtorch & Corkscrew,' which both see you burning the scenery in a spectacular fashion.

Of course, who could forget the heart-breaking betrayal from General Shepherd to Roach in Modern Warfare 2, when he incapacitates you and then burns you alive. The scene is particularly memorable thanks to the striking soundtrack and the image of Shepherd surrounded by the flames, as it sinks in for the player that you've been betrayed in the worst way possible.

We should probably mention that there's plenty of other military shooters that boast authentic flame effects. Battlefield 1 certainly has its fair share of grizzly flame-induced death, and looking back a bit further the excellent Rising Storm has loads of brutal flamethrower action. Another series with multiplayer that utilises fire to good effect is...

Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming

Far Cry

Fire has been a huge part of the Far Cry series since its second iteration, with the fire mechanics still being one of the best and most realistic around today. In Far Cry 2 you could set small areas alight and watch it spread across an entire field, and Far Cry 3 kicked this up a notch further, with one of the game's best missions involving you burning through a drug plantation listening to Skrillex (they pulled a similar trick in the fourth game too). You can't get much cooler than Far Cry fire.

Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Tim

The Legend of Zelda series has a great many fire-themed dungeons and sections, but we think the Fire Temple in Ocarina of Time is the best for flame-filled fun. While the cavern the Fire Temple is based in is fairly linear, you'll encounter numerous flaming obstacles and enemies that will challenge you at every turn. The Master Quest edition of the game makes this dungeon even trickier, too, adding fire-based puzzles that require Din's Fire to get past.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

In the Chateau, during the seventh chapter of Uncharted 3, Nathan Drake ends up in a bit of hot water after exploring Lawrence of Arabia's castle on his never-ending quest for more treasure. As they are trying to escape through the Chateau, Drake encounters enemies ready to set the whole building on fire in an attempt to stop him, and as is the case with many of his adventures, things go a bit wrong.

Drake and long term friend Sully then have to escape the burning mansion as it collapses around their feet, all the while under gunfire. The difficulty and unpredictable nature of an unstable building falling apart around you make this one a challenging chapter and one of the series' most memorable fires.

There is another, from the more recent fourth game in the series, but it's quite near the end and quite the spoiler. But needless to say, Drake and co have had more than their fair share of heated moments to escape from.

Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming

Metal Gear Solid V

At the start of MGS V, Boss wakes up in a hospital and a female agent tries to kill him. He is rescued by a man called Ishmael who throws flammable chemicals at her, and just as she is about to choke out our hero she somehow catches ablaze, leaving Boss and his fellow patient to try and escape the institute.

A huge fire started by the pair begins to engulf the building as they attempt to crawl their way to the exit, allowing the game time to introduce many of the stealth mechanics. The most memorable part of this fire is your introduction to The Burning Man and the psychokinetic child known only as Tretij Rebenok, who become quite important characters later in the game.

Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming

Bonfire Night

Small fires make an appearance in a great many games, and often they tend to be used as checkpoints or safe havens. Notably, you've got the iconic bonfires from the Dark Souls series, acting as a checkpoint and base camp, which you'll return to many times after dying a lot, and seeing the glow of a bonfire in the distance is one of the best feelings in the world.

Other fires in games include the campfires in the Tomb Raider reboot, which let Lara upgrade items and fast-travel to other camps that you've set up throughout the game. They do practically the same thing in Far Cry Primal, too, letting you and your animal friends move quickly around the map.

Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming

Friendly Fire

As you've no doubt gathered, fire is everywhere in gaming, and while it can often be a hinderance, it's not always out to get you.

For example, we remember the once-coveted flaming helmets that every player wanted to get their hands on in Halo: Reach (similarly, there are some cool fire effects to be unlocked/purchased in Rocket League). And in purely decorative terms, who could forget the flame-grilled star that sat burning behind the Illusive Man in Mass Effect 2, and nearly everything you see in demonic games like Diablo and Doom is seemingly ablaze, thought not to the detriment of the player.

Moving in a completely different direction, fire has become an increasingly important element in the Total War series, with flaming arrows and other such tricks getting more and more use on the battlefield, and you could say the same about Company of Heroes 2.

Oh, and if you spot a fire flower in Mario you're always going to pick that up, right? Because just like you can in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Bioshock (and many others too numerous to list here), flinging forth flames from your hands is always cool.

Burning Ambition: The Hottest Fires in Gaming


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