Disaster: Day of Crisis

[Fierce_LiNk]

Need more time for this. Might play a bit tonight if I have time. It is really cheesy, but then again it's meant to be. Funny enough, I was watching Deadly Invasion: Attack of the Killer Bees (or something) earlier, and it reminded me of Disaster.

[brynpearson]

ye i think alot of the scenarios were pulled from films. i know day after tomorrow is obvious one. but in church it was like die hard 2. and the flood reminded me of hard rain.

[Gio001]

Cracking little game. Shame on Nintendo for not marketing this & a few other games.

[...]

Finally started this game last night. I bought it last October but I also bought a 360 last November, so I have been busy with that.

 

Anyway, played this for about 5 hours last night and cleared the first 8 stages. I could have cleared more stages but I found out you can spam the hell out of the shooting galleries for "free" BP and so I did the Beginner's Shooting Gallery at least 50 times and bought and upgraded lots of weapons!

 

I'm enjoying the game, it's a nice B-game, not A-list material though. The story is a shameless rip-off of The Rock, the Michael Bay film.

 

I really liked the driving sections (except the one where you drive towards the camera, wtf??), the controls are perfect in those, really responsive. The steering, the handbrake, the POV from behind the wheel, all perfect.

 

In contrast to the smoothness of controlling a car, controlling Ray feels very clunky and his jumps are pathetic.

 

The on rails battle scenarios are pretty good, the aiming works well here too and I like the "focus" feature, press C to zoom in and do double the damage! As a catch you also suffer double the damage in this mode, which balances it out. Pretty good idea.

 

The RPG-like upgrades add a bit of thought into the game management and weapon upgrades work pretty much like they did in RE4.

 

The only thing badly executed, IMHO, is Ray's controls, he feels very clunky and his footsteps sound a bit wrong. Other than than that, the shooting and the driving are excelent, and the rescues are a nice touch.

 

All in all, it's a nice game to buy at a budget price, I bought it almost full price back in October at Amazon (£35 = €44) but I don't think it's worth full price. It's a good one to pick up for about €20 though.

[...]

Just finished it and my impressions aren't any better now, in fact, they're worse. It really is an average game to be bought at budget price. It could've been better, but it's just underwhelming in the end.

 

It was a good idea that didn't turn out very exciting. The game stages are mostly boring and not interactive, makes it feel very old gaming, something out of the 90's.

 

The game does feel very much like Metal Gear Solid, the first one, but the story isn't as compelling. Small playable sections broken up by somewhat long cut-scenes, but lackluster cut-scenes at that.

 

For example, that cut-scene in which Evans kills the old man scientist is just pathetic, not dramatic at all. He just shoots and the old man is dead. Very dry, not well directed or edited and doesn't have any emotion, much like the rest of the game. It feels soulless.

 

 

The game has much dialogue, so why do the rescue victims speak only in text? And the script is so stupid... Like that one guy that gets rescued and says to Ray "let's have dinner sometime, my treat". Hilariously bad!

 

So yeah, the game is very far from a quality title, or a flagship title.

I don't rule out the possibility of it turning into a quality franchise in the future, if in capable hands. But this first one bombed.

[Noku]

I don't think the quality (or apparent lack thereof) is the fault of the hands that crafted this title. Had something to do with the Big N requesting a complete overhaul followed by an early deadline.

[Zechs Merquise]

My Review of Disaster Day of Crisis:

 

There’s an old phrase – ‘Jack of all trades’, and this phrase could be well applied to Disaster Day of Crisis. This is a game which tries to do it all, you’ll adventure, rail shoot, drive, platform and there’s even a light RPG system where you can level up your character. On paper this sounds like a great idea. A game where you do it all, one that seamlessly throws you from scenario to scenario and you play through many different game styles keeping things fresh and interesting. However back to that phrase – the second part of which is ‘master of none’. Whilst Disaster does everything decently, it never really excels at anything.

 

The story is that Raymond Bryce, a former member of a rescue team (who left after his partner and best buddy died after he failed to save him) is thrown into a whirlwind situation where natural disasters all seem to be happening one after another and at the same time a terrorist organization called SURGE has stolen a nuke.

 

I actually really enjoyed the story, it’s very Hollywood summer blockbuster and if it was a film Michael Bay would direct/produce. It’s just one thing after another, earthquakes, a tsunami, volcanic eruptions, flooding, fires, gale force winds – oh and then there’s terrorists as well. The voice acting can be cheesy, but that actually adds to the appeal. The characters are all quite likeable from the Ed Harris style Colonel of SURGE to the Morgan Freeman style guy who gives you access to the shooting range.

 

As I’ve already touched upon the game play is a mixture of different styles. The main three are adventuring, shooting and driving. Most levels are played on foot, you’ll navigate around an open level looking for victims to rescue. When you find someone you will then have to help them, this basically throws you into one of several scenarios which usually involve button mashing, waggling the controller or using the remote’s pointer functionality.

 

As you move around the environment you smash open crates and barrels to gain power ups, health packs and food which you’ll need to manage to keep both your health and stamina gauges filled. You will also encounter quick time events and also moments where you have to rapidly evade something – which involves crazy amounts of waggling. These sections work well but you’ll sometimes be frustrated by constant waggling and I found the Wii remote didn’t always register my movement on some of the quick time events – which whilst usually not fatal, is rather annoying.

 

During your adventuring you will encounter members of SURGE, this will move you into a first person view which plays out like Time Crisis. You can duck, aim and shoot. You have a variety of weapons at your disposal from the regular guns you’d expect like shotguns, pistols and machine guns to some more interesting entries like the bow gun, the rocket launcher and the mini-gun. These sections work well, but they’re not nearly as satisfying as they could be. At first you’ll be frustrated by the underpowered weapons which seem to actually fire foam darts and you’ll need several headshots from your standard pistol to down a terrorist.

 

The final main style of game play is the driving. You’ll usually end up being chased by something or someone or chasing the bad guys yourself. This is the play style which really caused me problems. It’s rather annoying as you have to play it holding the Wii remote on its side and the controls are very floaty making it very easy to flip your car. There are a couple of sections which really do get annoying and I never really felt I was in total control of the vehicle.

 

When you get to the end of a level you’ll find you’ve been awarded Stamina Points and Battle Points for your performance. These can be spent on upgrading Ray and his weapons. It is a nice touch and allows you a bit of freedom to develop you character in the way you want to and also makes you yearn to perform better in battle to earn more points to spend. Once you’ve upgraded Ray and his arsenal you’ll actually have a lot more fun. At first I was annoyed by the weedy guns but once you’ve upgraded them you’ll really start enjoy yourself and the game starts to come alive.

 

The graphics follow the themes above and are a mixed bag. Sometimes they’re great; you’ll be impressed with the big set pieces and marvel at some of the disasters. You’ll also see some sections which are bland and boring with muddy textures and an overall lack luster look. However there’s nothing appalling in the game and the frame rate holds up and there’s no real glitches or errors.

 

The soundtrack is however wonderful – especially the title theme. It sets the tone really well and I can’t see anyone not liking it. The same can’t be said however for the sound effects which are a little confusing and annoying. Ray’s footsteps often sound odd and I’m pretty sure a Desert Eagle hand gun goes bang, well not here it doesn’t and in fact none of the guns sound anything like actual guns.

 

There are 23 chapters overall and it’ll take you around 7-10 hours to complete. On completion there’s also a decent amount of content to keep you coming back. You can go back into the levels you’ve previously played and search for Stamina Signs which is actually quite a challenge as they’re hidden well. These signs will help you to finish upgrading Ray to unlock his full potential. You can also work to earn yourself the full list of achievements, unlock new costumes and make sure you’ve found each of the game’s 45 different victims and rescued them all.

 

FINAL COMMENT

 

Disaster certainly isn’t a disaster, but it’s certainly not a blockbuster either. It’s marred by trying to do too many different things at once and failing to really excel at any of them. You will however have fun with it and you’ll probably enjoy the story too, what’s more there isn’t many games like this one the Wii so if it sounds like your cup of tea it’s worth checking out.

 

OVERALL 7.4 out of 10

[...]

It's funny you didn't like the driving, I actually thought the driving controls were the ones that worked best in the whole game. The cars are really responsive and I don't think I ever flipped one over.

 

Oh, and Michael Bay has already directed this, as this game is a direct rip-off of The Rock. The bad guys' actions and motives are the same.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I still haven't finished this, so put it on and played for about an hour today.

 

The car escape when the volanco/mountain erupts is great. I died a few times, but it's so fucking awesome. It has also given birth to one of the best lines in modern history. "I must escape from that pyroclastic flow!"

 

Aaaahahah.

 

The gun duel before it is also great.

[david.dakota]

i have an urge to play through this again, the set pieces were brilliant. A truly under rated game.

[Fierce_LiNk]

i have an urge to play through this again, the set pieces were brilliant. A truly under rated game.

 

It really is. I think the cheesiness and dialogue in this game is excellent, too. But, as a game, I think there are some great uses of the Wiimote, and I think the three different "strands" of gameplay all come together nicely. I fucking love the shooting sections, and the driving sections are the best part of the game.

 

The adventuring aspect is less special, but even then it's still good.

 

Probably one of my favourite Wii games. It's definitely on a par, if not...possibly better than No More Heroes.

[Diageo]

Found this pretty fun but when I finished I felt no need to go back to it. Traded it in a while back.

[ThePigMarcher]

I may need to go back to this.

 

I gave up after I got 86 of the titles and a few of the boss ones didn't trigger, when I felt they should have done or when the slightly temperamental controls let me down. I also didn't relish the fact of playing through and purposing screwing up the shooting sections just to nab a title.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Megabump. Although I bought this game a year ago, I stopped playing eet due to having other games on the go, and due to being busy.

 

I got back into this earlier the week, finished it, and I have to say that I absolutely loved this game. I'm going to start my second run through.

 

Positives

 

• A great mixture of genres. I loved the driving sections!
  
• The gun-fighting segments actually worked really well, and were a challenge for me.
  
• Great use of controls, especially for quick time events
  
• A nice storyline with good humour and one liners!
  
• Lots to do! Such as levelling up your character and weapons, earning titles and the disaster files
  
• Great soundtrack, in my opinion.
  

 

Negatives

 

• Some of the characters movements are a bit "ropey" especially when it comes to jumping
  
• The graphics seem somewhat inconsistent. There are parts where it looks good graphically, and there are parts where it looks uninspired.
  
• Enemies do not react when you're pelting them with lead. That's a bit disappointing.
  
• Somehow, this game looks a little bit dated, especially the scenes where you're venturing around the city. That's my main criticism, in that things don't seem fluid.
  

 

Overall though, I loved the game and cannot wait to play it again. I'm fucking addicted. Probably a solid 8/10 for me.

[STOOPIDDITTIES]

Ha. Funnily enough I've also had this for a while and only in the last few days have I played and completed it. I didn't really know what to expect when first putting the disc in but came away with the feeling that it was a mix between Time Crisis and SOS: The Final Escape (Which I rather enjoyed).

 

The one thing that kind of annoyed me though was that for every level you had a new tutorial, and then later on in the game you would never have to use that skill again. Minor I know, but it bugged me. Something else I would have liked is a bit more exploration in the city levels. I would have liked to have a bigger path to explore with more survivors which would have made me feel somewhat more challenged had I gone out my way to find them.

 

In the end though, I'm glad this game wasn't cancelled.

 

Limited but definitely enjoyable experience.

[Strange Cookie]

I second that. It's isn't perfect in any way, but it does a lot of things right! I started this game again recently, and there is a certain charm about this game.

[darksnowman]

Seems like this winter has been the time to play a bit of Disaster as I too have had it on- albeit before Christmas. I'll have to be the one to hold up my hands and say that I don't really get a lot out of the game. I bought it last December and found it difficult to get into (not that my expectations were sky high).

 

I fired it up again this December and did a few missions but felt like I was forcing myself through. For some reason its a game where I feel relieved to make the save and exit. It just hasn't drawn me in.

[astroberry]

I loaded the Freeloader disc and it bypassed the update request.

The Wii system menu is 3.1E.

I only got the game today lol, because of what I read that FL does not work.

 

 

I had a problem with Opoona before and couldn't bypass update but the age of the game was ok to update I guess, this was when I'm on 2.1E.

[david.dakota]

I liked the game personally, feeling the reviews were a little harsh. The weakest part was certaily the shooter sections, but the third person 'escape the set peice' was really enjoyable. Its also one of the few Nintendo games to take narrative seriously - however, bonkers that narrative is.

 

Having has sprung to mind, this (without the shooter sections) would be a welcome on 3DS.

[Hero-of-Time]

So, i've put a few hours into the game now and i'm about halfway through it. 

The voice acting and graphical style reminds me very much of a PS2 era game Resident Evil game. The game tries really hard to take itself seriously but then it falls apart due to the delivery of some of the lines, the dialogue itself or the scenario that you have to play through. It's fitting that it gave me a Resident Evil vibe because very early on in the game you have Ray busting through bits of debris, such as rocks and metal, with his fists. The guy clearly thinks he is Chris Redfield punching boulders.  

Honestly, the graphics aren't that bad at all, at least not as bad as I remember them being. Maybe i'm just more tolerant to this era of games now? In my head I had it looking like a real jaggy mess and that's not been the case. Apart from the blurry vision that happens when fire is around, I haven't found them to be that distracting. The animations on the other hand really could have used some work. I completely lost it when you first see Ray's running animation at the start of the game. You have this very buff action hero and as soon as he starts running all of that muscle bound, heroic presence is sapped away. Monolith Soft have a history of bad animations in their games. Just look at the stupid bunny hop in Xenoblade.

The antagonists of the game constantly get a laugh out of me and that's because every time I see their name I just think of Beverley Hills Cop. 

Their motive seems like a complete ripoff of the bad guys from The Rock. They should have just hired Ed Harris to play the role of the big boss just for even more accuracy.  They seem to be your typical action movie enemies and considering that they were a small unit that were seemingly wiped out, there sure are a hell of a lot of them kicking about the game.

I quite enjoy the shooting sections, which is just as well as there are quite a few of them and they seem to be the meat of the game. They kinda remind me of a 3rd person version of Time Crisis. Even the graphics look similar.  Ducking in and out of cover and then waiting for the best moment to pop out and shoot an enemy certainly feels like playing a Time Crisis game. So far, outside of a couple of boss encounters, i've pretty much stuck to using my handgun in these sections. I just wish the the reloading was handled a little better in the game. When you duck back into cover your reloading animation stops. There have been countless times where I have done the reload movement but then ducked into cover and popped back out again only to find that I still have no bullets in my gun.

The driving sections are a bit hit and miss. The ones i've played so far have seemed very basic and I think more could have been done with them. One of them had me driving away from a tsunami and it felt very fiddly to keep the car going at a speed that would have me outrun the giant wave. I failed that section more times than I care to admit mainly because the car would either come to a halt or flip over when it landed from doing a small jump. 

Another thing that caused me to die/retry a section was the Wiimote batteries running out. When you run out of charge on a controller, whether it be on the Wii or another console, the game will usually pause to allow the player to plug in the controller or change the batteries. Not so here. I was playing a shooting section and I was left completely in the open. By the time I got  afresh pair of batteries the enemies had killed me.  

I'm really liking the upgrade systems that the game provides after the first few chapters. I've been concentrating on leveling up the Light Handgun. It made sense to keep upgrading that seeing as that's the type of gun I use the most. In terms of Ray's upgrades, I upgraded everything by 1 and am now concentrating on the Firepower portion of the upgrade tree. Again, giving that shooting is a large part of the game it just made sense to focus on this.

Whilst playing the game I do get a Yakuza vibe from it. There's a sort of serious story trying to be told but you get taken out from it by the wackiness that surrounds you. Things like the health pick ups being absolutely massive compared to Ray do bring a cheeky smile to my face and I can't help but draw comparisons to the Sega series when I see things like this. Even some of the people you rescue reminds me of Yakuza, both in terms of their dialogue and random animations. 

I'm much further along in the game than I was back when it first released and I will continue to pick away at it. I do plan on actually finishing it this time around and I have enjoyed what i've played so far. I guess it's one of those games where I just had to be in the right mentality to play it and embrace the wackiness of it all. Funnily enough, this is exactly what happened with me when I first played Yakuza 0. Played it for a bit, thought it wasn't for me and then shelved. I returned to it a while later and it ended up being one of the best games this generation had to offer. It's always good to give games a second chance. 

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by Hero-of-Time

[Glen-i]

I love this game, but even I have to admit that the driving sections suck. Cars flip so much, you swear you were playing Mario Kart.

23 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I completely lost it when you first see Ray's running animation at the start of the game. You have this very buff action hero and as soon as he starts running all of that muscle bound, heroic presence is sapped away. Monolith Soft have a history of bad animations in their games. Just look at the stupid bunny hop in Xenoblade.

I think you mean, "Best Running animation".

Forgive me if I misunderstood, but are you reloading while out of cover? Because it's much safer to reload while covering behind something. If it's a case of popping back out too early, try and get in the habit of watching the little HUD animation whenever you reload. Can't remember quite what it looks like, it's been a while. Might have to play it again.

[Hero-of-Time]

22 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Forgive me if I misunderstood, but are you reloading while out of cover? Because it's much safer to reload while covering behind something. If it's a case of popping back out too early, try and get in the habit of watching the little HUD animation whenever you reload. Can't remember quite what it looks like, it's been a while. Might have to play it again.

Yeah, it's safer but I'm in the habit of starting to reload the moment I'm about to go into cover. I'm thought was that if I start to reload as I go into the cover the sooner I could pop back out. Obviously that didn't work.  

[RedShell]

I suddenly want to watch Beverly Hills Cop again (for the millionth time ) and play Disaster Day of Crisis again too actually.  

Anyway, nice to see the game still being enjoyed today. It’s an underrated, cheesy classic.

[Hero-of-Time]

Why in the hell does Ray sound like his wearing tap dancing shoes when he walks/runs? Seriously, it's very distracting! 

[nekunando]

What on earth have I started here..?

8 hours ago, RedShell said:

I suddenly want to watch Beverly Hills Cop again (for the millionth time ) and play Disaster Day of Crisis again too actually.  

Now I want to watch Beverly Hills Cop

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Why in the hell does Ray sound like his wearing tap dancing shoes when he walks/runs? Seriously, it's very distracting! 

FUNKY FOURTH! (I don't think that will mean anything on your first through the game )

How far have you made it through so far? I think I'm on Chapter 14..