Vocational Games

While Koei’s Aerobiz series challenges players to run an entire airline, Air Traffic Chaos gives them the much more specific goal of directing air traffic. As an air traffic controller, it’s your job to coordinate take offs and landings. In order to do this, you’ll have to shuffle incoming arrivals into safe holding patterns, direct the ground crew to prepare departures, and simultaneously clear other planes for take off. It’s a relatively simple concept, but the game requires a surprising amount of concentration. If the game is any indication, being in the control tower can be every bit as exhilarating as being in the cockpit. In 2008, GameSpot named Air Traffic Chaos the “Most Surprisingly Good Game” of the year. Sadly, they also nominated it for “Best Game No One Played.” Evidently, American audiences weren’t to keen on an aviation-themed game with the word “chaos” in the title. Releasing the game in the second week of September probably wasn’t the smartest move either, but I digress.

Brave Fire Fighters is a part of Sega’s “Real Life Career Series,” and tasks players with locating and rescuing guests that are trapped in a burning hotel. While attempting to extinguish flames, players also have to be mindful of smoke, unexpected explosions, and falling objects. The most noteworthy aspect of the game is its unique fire hose controllers that replicate the weight and grip of a real fire hose. The vibration of the controllers also replicate a real fire hose, and players can alter the shape and strength of the stream by twisting the tip of the nozzle. Water pressure gradually declines in accordance to how the hoses are being used, so an element of strategy is required to battle the flames. With its deluxe 50″ cabinet, replica fire hydrant, and two hoses, Brave Fire Fighters delivered unparalleled realism to arcade-goers in 1999.

Police officers are frequently featured as protagonists in video games, but a relatively small number of these games put players in the middle of the action like Virtua Cop does. By using a light gun, players are expected to shoot criminals and eventually take down a powerful crime syndicate. At the same time, players must also avoid harming civilians who may get caught in the crossfire. While similar concepts were employed by earlier games like Hogan’s Alley and Lethal Enforcers, the use of polygonal graphics helped make Virtua Cop considerably more realistic than its predecessors in 1994. One of the most interesting aspects about Virtua Cop is the way it encourages players to save as many lives as possible. Bonus points are even awarded for shooting weapons out of the hands of criminals in lieu of simply blowing them away. Virtua Cop was followed by two sequels and influenced subsequent light gun games like Time Crisis and The House of the Dead.

Delivering newspapers isn’t exactly the most glamorous occupation, but it made for a surprisingly exciting video game concept. The goal in Paperboy is simply to deliver newspapers to subscribers. It’s imperative to keep as many subscribers as possible, but this is easier said than done. Subscribers are lost if they don’t get their paper or if their property is damaged during the delivery process. In the unlikely event that the paperboy can last an entire week without losing too many subscribers, he announces his retirement and the newspaper carries the story on the front page. You might be asking yourself if the retirement of a paperboy is really newsworthy. And for that matter, what kind of paperboy “retires” in the first place? When you consider the amount of crap the paperboy has to put up with, however, it makes perfect sense. Moving cars, skateboarders, household pets, break dancers, and even the Grim Reaper himself all stand in the way of the paperboy making his deliveries. He pretty much had the worst paper route ever, and I certainly can’t blame the guy for taking early retirement.

The fourth installment of Sega’s “Real Life Career Series” gave players a taste of what it’s like to be an EMT in Chicago. After racing an ambulance to the scene of an emergency, players have to get the injured to the hospital as quickly and as safely as possible. Players can follow on-screen directions to get to their destinations, but they are also free to choose their own routes. The ambulance itself is equipped with a variety of emergency medical gear, and players are kept aware of their patients’ condition via on-board life monitors. Driving recklessly and hitting other vehicles will not only slow you down, but it can also have adverse affects on the health of the patients. There are several emergencies that players must attend to throughout the course of the game – including traffic accidents, gang violence, fires, and even a plane crash.

The Trauma Center games put players in a hospital setting and let them try their hand at surgery. The games are specifically designed to take advantage of the DS touch screen and Wii’s motion controls in order to replicate a variety of surgical instruments. Throughout the series, players will make incisions with scalpels, inject patients with syringes, and remove foreign objects with forceps. Additionally, players will have to stitch victims up and apply bandages. Surgeons will have defibrillators, ultrasound machines, and surgical lasers at their disposal. Surgery is an extremely intense field, but Trauma Center takes a few measures to reduce the stress levels for players. For example, the game gives wannabe surgeons a special ability that allows them to focus their concentration to superhuman levels in order to move extremely quickly and precisely for a limited amount of time. Also, you can screw up an operation in Trauma Center without having to worry about killing someone.

The Harvest Moon franchise allows players to partake in everyday farming activities like milking cows, chopping wood, planting crops, and ranching livestock. In order to run successful farms, players must take the cost, selling price, and growth times of their produce into consideration. The games aren’t all about hard work, however, as the farmers will also take time to relax or attend festivals. In addition to running a successful farm, players will be given opportunities to make friends, get married, and start families. The Harvest Moon series is essentially an exercise in resource management. There is only a limited amount of time in each day, and the player only has a limited amount of energy. As such, players have to carefully manage their time and strength by balancing their work and personal lives. Some of the tasks in Harvest Moon could be considered tedious or mundane, but such is the life of a farmer.

The Phoenix Wright series puts players in the shoes of an ambitious defense attorney. During trial, it’s the player’s responsibility to cross examine witnesses, present evidence, and object to offending statements from the prosecution. The courtroom procedures are based on Japan’s inquisitorial legal system wherein the judge takes an active role in determining the facts of the case rather than letting a jury decide. In addition to the trial phase, the Phoenix Wright series also contains investigation segments in which players have to gather evidence, interview witnesses, and examine crime scenes. The game has so much depth that most credible law schools now encourage their students to play Phoenix Wright as a means of studying for the bar exam ^{[citation needed]}. A court room might seem like a relatively tame setting for a video game, but quirky storylines and an outrageous cast of characters help make the Phoenix Wright games some of the most memorable adventure games of all time.

Recent games in the Sim franchise typically place the player in an omnipotent god-like role, but SimCity allowed players to take on a more realistic job. In SimCity, players assume the role of a mayor and are challenged with designing and building a city. There are no specific goals in the game, but players are encouraged to attract as many people to their city as possible. In order for the city’s population to expand, it’s important to have a healthy balance of residential, commercial, and industrial zones in place. Players will also be in charge of planning an adequate power grid and transit system for the city. They’ll have control over taxation rates, and must balance their budgets at the end of the year in order to fund police and fire departments. In order to create a healthy city, players will have to deal with issues like crime, pollution, traffic, unemployment, and potential natural disasters. Admittedly, SimCity probably doesn’t paint the most accurate picture of how municipal governments work. The countless issues in the game would normally be delegated to a number of sub-committees.

In Crazy Taxi, players take on the role of a cabbie and are encouraged to maximize their profits by picking up as many customers as possible within the allotted time. The three Crazy Taxi games have taken place in cities closely resembling San Francisco, New York, and Las Vegas, and they are full of noteworthy destinations like Pizza Hut, KFC, and Tower Records. Memorizing the layout of each city is essential in order for players to drop their customers off at their desired destinations in a timely fashion. Naturally, the lengths of the trips can be significantly reduced by taking shortcuts. It’s completely up to the player to decide which customers to pick up, and cab fare is directly proportional to how far each customer wants to travel. Additional money can be earned by performing various stunts along the way. Playing Crazy Taxi is just like being a cabbie in real life; only you are actually rewarded for reckless driving in the game and don’t have to worry about being shot.