Disaster: Day of Crisis is a game that hardly anybody seems to notice or even care about. At least that is the impression I get from hanging around on American videogame sites, so maybe my view is a bit flawed since the game came only out in Japan and the PAL territories.
Anyway, I found this game two weeks ago in the used games section of my local videogame shop and bought it right away for 20€. I heard many different things about this game, also read some reviews that gave it scores that varied strongly. Some reviews really trashed the game, other reviews tended to be more forgiving and focused more on the strong points of the game. It took me only one week to complete the game and I waited for another one before writing this review.





Let's start off with the story. Disaster seems to be trying to emulate the experience you have with a summer blockbuster movie. The story is pure insanity! In 24 hours, one city gets in the middle of three different natural disasters plus an invasion by terrorists who stole three nukes. The protagonist Raymond Bryce is a former member of a rescue team, who lost his partner in a mission (which is at the same time the tutorial level of the game). He is looking for the sister of his former team member in order to fulfil his last promise to him. Turns out the terrorists also kidnapped a professor and ,of course, the sister of his former partner.
The cut-scenes are long and there are plenty of them. Sometimes the dialogue is good, at other times it is quite cheesy, but altogether, you will enjoy the story, even though there is nothing truly remarkably or memorable about it. The pacing is all right and will keep you interested. The characters are a bit two-dimensional, but interesting enough, if they actually manage to live longer than 20 minutes. The protagonist is hit and miss: At one time he seems like a total bad-ass, at other times he is naive, dumb and weak.





The graphics are on medium Playstation 2 level. The realistic style of the game does not work at all for the Wii, even though some effects, like collapsing buildings, work well. Textures are very often a mess and the characters have a low poly-count. It is still bearable if you compare it to other Wii games, but you certainly have seen better stuff on this console. It is really strange that a game that has been in development for such a long time is not even on par with Gamecube games. On the other hand, this seems to be the norm for Wii games. At least, the graphics don't get in the way of the gameplay too much. Sound effects are also really lacking. The music on the other hand is memorable and fits the mood of the game.





The gameplay is kind of hard to explain. This is mostly due to the fact that the game tries to do way too many things: You have QTE's, On-Rail Shooter passages, Exploration mixed with Trauma Center-esque rescuing bits and driving sequences. The Exploration part is interesting enough to keep you on track, but there is nothing mind-blowing here. Driving sequences are often very frustrating and you will have to repeat them several times, because, even though (or because?) the game sports the Havoc physics engine, your car will be turned over by even the smallest rock or stone on the road. Somewhat sloppy motion controls in this part only make things worse. A different Control option would have been nice!
The On-Rail Shooter passages are easily the best parts in the game. In the best moments it is almost as fun as Time Crisis. It is also a very easy segment of the game and I never died in those fights. The game tells you when your enemy is going to shoot, so it is quite easy to get back into cover, reload your weapon and then pop out again in order to shoot those guys. Motion Control is also used for the countless QTE sections in the game, and they are quite a pain in the ass, since sometimes the game just refuses to acknowledge your movements. The Trauma Center moments of the game work well, but they are not very deep.





Between the missions, you will get the opportunity to upgrade your weapons and the skills of youre protagonist. The upgrade are not really important, and most of the times it is hard to notice the more subtle changes. Other upgrades, like the ones that let you carry more ammo or give your weapons bigger clips, are really great and enhance your experience. There is also a shooting range accessible in between the missions, where you can unlock new weapons. This is, of course, completely mandatory since the three main weapons, pistol, shotgun and automatic rifle, are enough to tackle every fight in the game. Also the on with the bear. It's amazing how many bullets he can take. Same goes for the bosses. Speaking about the boss battles: They are easily the highlights of the game, event though it is downright frightening how many bullets one single person can take. At least, the battles are always frantic and engaging because they always take place in a natural disaster, which mixes things up a bit.

The game is about 6-8 hours long in your first playthrough. Since it has an upgrade system for Raymond and for his weapons as well as some unlockable weapons and outfits, there is some replay value. 100 achievements and an additional difficulty setting provide further motivation for a second playthrough.

I enjoyed the game for the most part. While it doesn't excel in any part, it is quite competent overall. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10. Nothing excellent but nothing really terrible can be found in this game. Worth your 20-30€.