Previously Posted on Classic Game Room
Nintendo’s 2008 line-up for the Nintendo Wii was a bit front heavy. Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Mario Kart Wii shook up Nintendo’s line up along with a few quality third party titles early in the year. But after the surge of releases, the Wii’s line-up fell apart. The two big titles slated for the end of the year, Animal Crossing: City Folk and Wii Music, both were a bit of a bomb. Despite the lack of software for the end of the year, Nintendo simply slipped out their other title, Disaster: Day of Crisis, under everyone’s feet. And in North America’s case, Nintendo completely skipped out on releasing the title. And while Disaster: Day of Crisis is no Mario or Zelda, it is a entertaining title that has arcade-style gameplay and a fun over-the-top story.
Disaster: Day of Crisis follows former rescue worker Raymond Bryce, who quit due to the death of his best friend, Steve, on the job. One year later, Ray is called by a special forces group who tells him that terrorist have kidnapped Lisa, Steve’s sister. Ray goes to confront the terrorists. But upon finding the group, a string of natural disasters take place, throwing the city into chaos. Ray gives chase, fighting both Mother Nature and the terrorist group, to save Lisa.
Players will face a variety of natural disasters including: earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and more, plus all the hazards that come with them. This allows for a rapidly changing environment where players are constantly faced with different challenges and gameplay styles. There are sections where you have to rescue other people in a simplified trauma center style mini-game, endurance tests where you waggle the Wii Remote and Nun-chuck as you attempt to escape dangerous situations, driving sections, quick-time events and more. All of these gameplay elements are held together by exploration and on-rail shooting segments that keep the game moving.
The constant switching between gameplay styles gives the game a very arcade-like feel. Looking at each section individually, the game is fairly sub-par. But when you put them all together, it makes for a fun experience. It’s like eating a breakfast sampler. While nothing in a breakfast sampler will taste as good as that fancy strawberry covered cream-cheese filled French toast, the breakfast sampler adds a lot of variety, making for an enjoyable meal.
Possibly more entertaining than the game itself is that it doesn’t take itself seriously. Campy voice acting and dialogue are in every cutscene, Ray eats food and drinks soda cans that are literally two times the size of his head, Ray fights a bear in a forest, and there is even a 16-bit style shooting game. This makes Disaster as fun to watch as it is to play, which is a good thing since there is a good amount of cutscenes.
Disaster: Day of Crisis flopped in both the European and Japanese markets. Thanks to that, the game is incredibly affordable in both regions. North Americans will have to spend a bit more money and time to get the title. It is still fairly cheap to import. But because of region-locking on the Nintendo Wii, you will either need a system from a foreign region or a way to work around the region-coding. Is it worth the time and effort? If you only plan on importing Disaster: Day of Crisis, not really. But if you plan on importing multiple titles or already have a way around the region-coding, it is definitely worth a look.
