Say what you think: Reggie lays into Disaster: Day of Crisis
Filed under: News
If you thought our 7/10 review for Disaster: Day of Crisis was harsh, you should hear what Reggie Fils-Aime — yeah, that Reggie Fils-Aime — thinks about it. Twenty-five minutes into IGN’s latest Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, Matt Casamassina revealed how Reggie “doesn’t think Disaster is a $50 game,” and regards the audio as “laughable.” Burrrrn.
We have to confess we’re slightly dumbfounded to hear Reggie delivering such a hefty haymaker to one of his company’s own games … while speaking on the record, as well. We suppose it’s, uh, refreshing? Here’s hoping personal feelings don’t sway his decision on whether or not Disaster makes it to the U.S.!
Gallery: Disaster: Day of Crisis
[Via Infendo]
Say what you think: Reggie lays into Disaster: Day of Crisis originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wii Fanboy Review: Disaster: Day of Crisis
Filed under: Reviews
If Disaster: Day of Crisis were a movie, it would be one of those big, dumb, summer blockbusters, the kind of feature where it’s best to leave your brain at the door.
Although that might sound like a criticism, it’s not intended that way, because just like over-the-top, thought-free action flicks, Disaster can serve as a guilty pleasure. It’s got a Seagal-esque hero who must be one of the most resistant, hardened one-man armies of all time, tons of implausible “escaping death” scenarios, and a script that’s cheesier than an explosion in a Roquefort factory. Yet despite all of this, I enjoyed it. Mostly.
Gallery: Disaster: Day of Crisis
Disaster follows the deeply clichéd story of Raymond Bryce, a crisis specialist/professional rescuer left troubled by the death of a colleague, Steve, in a rescue mission. Just before plummeting face first into a river of lava, the soon-to-be-toast Steve makes Ray promise he’ll watch over Lisa, Steve’s sister. The game kicks off a year later, by which time a remorseful Ray has given up the rescuing, and has been unable to face Lisa through guilt. You can watch pretty much all of this here, incidentally, and marvel at the cheese for yourself.
The setting for all of this is Blue Ridge City, which is experiencing a rotten run of luck. Things start badly with a devastating earthquake, which in turn triggers a tsunami, a volcanic eruption, and a flood. Nukes and a rogue special forces unit who kidnap — surprise! — Lisa are also woven into the plot. Motivated by his desire to keep his promise to Steve, Ray grows up and sets about rescuing the distressed damsel.
Jokes about minigame compilations on the Wii are well-worn by now, but that’s essentially what a lot of Disaster feels like: twelve hours of pointing, twisting, waving and pulling your Wiimote and nunchuk, occasionally broken up with third-person adventure bits or (impressive) cinematics. The good news is that most of the varied spots of gameplay work well, or at least competently. Crucially, they never outstay their welcome.
During combat, the on-screen furniture can really pile up.
Yet for me, Disaster’s trump card is the driving sections. You steer through these with the Wii Remote held horizontally, as in Mario Kart Wii, and there’s a pleasing sense of weight and inertia to your vehicle, as well as the most polished graphics in the entire game. Indeed, my fondest memory of Disaster came in one of the driving chapters, as I fled from a towering pyroclastic flow (the game likes its jargon) in a genuinely thrilling sequence.
Driving and shooting aside, you’ll also find yourself rescuing victims, administering first aid, pulling people to safety, extinguishing fires with a fire engine, navigating your way past junk after being submerged in a tsunami, and, well, you get the idea. Every part of Disaster that could have been molded into a minigame has been molded into a minigame, and although that has been a recipe for many a poorly structured title in the past, these disparate styles flow together surprisingly coherently.
Monolith has even added a very light RPG element to Disaster, where Ray and his weapons can be upgraded between each stage. Ray’s attributes (skill with firearms, item-carrying capacity, focus, metabolism, and strength) are enhanced using Survival Points, earned for rescuing hapless members of the public. Having completed the game, I’m not exactly sure how important it was for me to upgrade Ray — I have a sneaking suspicion I could have made it through without pumping up his stats — but still felt motivated enough to track down as many victims as I could find.
Battle Points are gained through defeating enemies, and can be used to improve your arsenal (by upping power, reload speed, magazine capacity, aiming, and accuracy). Dispatching baddies with some flair pays dividends, with head shots and “clever shots” (basically, blowing up conveniently placed explosive barrels next to your enemies) awarding more BPs. At the very least, the SP/BP set-up provides the game with an extra layer of depth, and some players may be motivated to replay the game just to grab everything on the weapons tree, or complete every shooting gallery. I wasn’t bothered by this, but you might be.
On the subject of replay value, Disaster encourages second visits through its aforementioned grades system (getting an “S” ranking on every stage was well beyond my meager skills), but also through “titles,” which work similarly to Achievements on the Xbox 360. There are 100 of these to earn, and they’re rewarded for all manner of feats (covering 10,000 meters in the game, keeping your car in perfect condition, dying a certain number of times, dealing out x amount of damage).
The driving sections: consistently ace.
Overall, Disaster’s failures are made more forgivable due to the fact that it’s mostly entertaining from start to finish. That said, it’s certainly a flawed creature. The visuals lack consistency, ranging from great (again, some of the driving bits are stunning) to … pretty damn poor, actually (see: the blocky, Dreamcast-standard NPCs and the fire effects, both of which combine with unfortunate results on the fourth stage). It also sports dumb AI, not to mention a truly lunkheaded plot, featuring weak voice-acting and stock characters who are difficult to care about.
Here, however, I refer you back to my introduction: if viewed as a “guilty pleasure” slice of entertainment, and with your expectations of a thoughtful story lowered accordingly, Disaster is an enjoyable way to spend a dozen hours. It’s arcadey, and a bit silly, but there’s no getting away from the fact that a disaster zone is simply a really interesting place to set a game, and this is what kept me playing. Watching buildings crumble around you as you walk through Blue Ridge City’s deserted streets, sprinting for your life from tsunamis, or fleeing surges of lava is, more often than not, a spectacle.
Final score: 7/10
Looking for a game? Be sure to swing by our retail review archive, where you can easily jump to conclusions based on score alone, or access our full reviews, if you’re so inclined. There’s even a page for WiiWare reviews!| Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments |
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When are we getting Disaster: Day of Crisis?
Filed under: News
Your head is probably spinning from all of the wonderful Nintendo news you’ve been exposed to over the last 24 hours and it’s okay, because our heads are, too. But, there’s one thing that was missing from Nintendo’s little spiel today: Disaster: Day of Crisis. Why was this game not dated for a North American release? With it releasing in Japan late last month and hitting Europe later on this month, we’re wondering what the big hold-up is?
Of course, not like it matters, because, thanks to the Japanese game releasing, we’ve basically seen the whole game on YouTube. But, we’re still contacting Nintendo for a comment, so sit tight.
Gallery: Disaster: Day of Crisis
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Disaster’s disastrous development detailed
Filed under: Interviews
We know what you’re thinking: Disaster: Day of Crisis‘ protracted development can’t have been that calamitous, right? The game released in Japan last week, and promptly earned itself a respectable score in Famitsu. And just getting released is probably more than we should expect for some games.
But not every part of the title’s gestation was peachy. The Monolith Soft team who worked on the game have been recounting their experiences in an interview for Nintendo’s Japanese website, revealing that they were first approached about developing an “epic” game in early 2006, to be delivered in time for the launch of Nintendo’s new Wii console.
This gave Monolith around nine months to finish Disaster, but by the time the deadline had rolled around, the game still felt incomplete and had very few Wiimote-related functions — instead, it used the Classic Controller. Nintendo temporarily halted the project in October or November of 2006, only for work to begin again in early 2007; at this point, the entire game was revamped to include more waggle.
Getting to peek behind the development curtain is always intriguing — we’re just glad everything worked out for the game in the end.
Gallery: Disaster: Day of Crisis
[Via Nintendo Everything]
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Stephen Colbert’s favorite game has to be Disaster: Day of Crisis
Filed under: Video
We all know the man’s stance on bears. He doesn’t like them. In fact, he downright despises them. That’s why we’re sure that Nintendo’s latest, Disaster: Day of Crisis, is among Colbert’s most treasured games. Why? Well, it features a boss battle against a bear. Aside from teaching us the near indestructible nature of the beast, it also shows us what kind of weapons to use against a bear should it get you in its sights. Also, it teaches us that bears like to stupidly charge back and forth.
Check out the video past the break.
Gallery: Disaster: Day of Crisis
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Disaster: Day of Cliche
Filed under: Video
Oh, man. Listen, Disaster: Day of Crisis is a game we’ve been waiting on for a long, long time. We like the idea. We like what we’ve seen. We even like this video (showing off nine minutes of opening gameplay, including the intro movie), despite the questionable YouTube quality. It looks pretty decent and more than playable. We daresay it could even be fun. But the dialogue is a little lacking.
Okay. Let’s get real: it’s repetitive, unrealistic, and silly. But hey, we’re used to less-than-stellar game writing, and Disaster has one thing going for it at the start: a hero with an indestructible noggin — and that’s all any action game really needs, right?
Gallery: Disaster: Day of Crisis
[Thanks, Alex!]
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Disaster: Day of GIANT FOOD
Filed under: Video
Even when escaping buildings that are crumbling around his ears, Disaster: Day of Crisis hero Raymond Bryce takes time out to line his stomach with the huge food that can be randomly found in large wooden crates.
We’re just pleased to see him looking after himself and getting his five a day. We’re sure his mother feels the same.
Gallery: Disaster: Day of Crisis
[Via Go Nintendo]
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Day of Crisis not a total disaster?
Filed under: News
None of us know why Nintendo kept such a tight lid on Disaster: Day of Crisis for so long. Logic dictates that the company didn’t present us with much info because, well, the game was bad. Kind of Project H.A.M.M.E.R. bad. Well, the truth may be very different.
Famitsu recently revealed its score for the game, and it received a respectable 34/40. Not too shabby, if we may say so. Especially for a game that pretty much got a surprise release. Not a Sega Saturn kind of surprise, but you get the idea.
Gallery: Disaster: Day of Crisis
[Via CVG]
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