Author Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis  (Read 4832 times)

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Offline WindyMan

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IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« on: October 06, 2008, 06:21:10 PM »
It would be exactly that if you didn’t check out our import hands-on and direct-feed videos of Monolith Soft’s action-adventure Wii game.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=16899

 It’s been a while, but Nintendo’s investment in Monolith Soft is finally bearing fruit with the completion of Disaster: Day of Crisis.  After years in the works and a few delays for good measure, the erstwhile Wii launch title has been released in Japan.  Or, to put it another way, Nintendo has finally released a game that should have come out two years ago, and for all its time in development hell, it still currently doesn’t have a North American release date—it isn’t even listed on Nintendo’s own website.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.    


   
 The Disaster: Day of Crisis intro movie.
   


In Disaster: Day of Crisis, a former marine and rescue specialist named Ray finds himself in the middle of Blue Ridge City when it gets hit with a series of natural disasters triggered by a massive earthquake.  Expect fires, tornadoes, fire tornadoes, a tsunami, floods, and a volcanic eruption—and that's just for starters.  The initial earthquake was predicted by a rogue military group called STORM, which then uses the inaccessible city as their “hideout” to hold the United States hostage with a nuclear warhead that they’ve somehow come across.  Ray is trying to rescue Lisa, the sister of his former partner, whom has been kidnapped by STORM. So not only does Ray need to deal with the STORM threat, but everything Mother Nature is throwing at him.  As the title implies, the action takes place over the course of a single day.

   


There are a variety of gameplay styles within the main adventure.  The game is built upon a standard adventure model, where Ray walks around a given part of the city from Point A to Point B, generally looking around to try to rescue anyone that may need help. In the process, you may be required to lift debris off of someone and pull them to safety, clean and bandage a victim’s wounds, or even administer CPR.   These rescue sequences often use Wii Remote motion controls in conjunction with timed button presses.   Rescues are optional, but completing them will earn you additional points that you can use to upgrade Ray’s attributes and abilities.    


 
 Watch out for that tsunami!  Also see a sample of a rescue procedure.
   


Players have different meters and indicators they need to worry about at any given time.  The most important ones are the stamina and life meters.  Stamina slowly drains at all times, and the only way to keep Ray from running out is to eat food.  Food can be found around the levels by busting open containers around the levels.  If Ray runs out of stamina or takes damage otherwise, he loses a chunk of the life bar. Life will also start to drain away if Ray stays inside a smoky area for too long. Furthermore, smoke fills the lungs meter, which will eventually go down on its own once Ray is in clear air, or can be rapidly returned to normal by repeatedly taking deep breaths with the Z Button.  Performing this action is particularly annoying since you need to press the button several times to reset the lungs meter to normal, even if it only shows them as 10-20% filled initially.    


Another meter only shows up when you are engaged in a gun battle.  Whenever STORM finds Ray, the game switches over to a shooting mode, which plays a little bit like Namco’s Time Crisis games.  Ray can duck behind cover by holding the Z Button, letting go of which makes Ray pop out so you can start shooting.  The game gives clear warning when someone is about to shoot—a bright red cursor on the gun barrel of an enemy flashes just before they fire—giving you time to get your shots in.  This warning system makes the shooting portion feel really easy, as if the game is holding your hand through it.  By holding down the C Button, Ray enters concentration mode, which zooms the view in and makes it much easier to score devastating headshots.  He can only stay in this mode for a limited time though, as indicated by another on-screen meter.    


   
 See what it's like to get into a firefight in the middle of a subway wreckage.
   


These gun battles feel generally slow, but I’m finding that they're beginning to pick up somewhat now that I’m more than three hours into the game.  Another positive development is the ability to upgrade my current weapons and buy new ones with the battle points I’ve earned from doing well in the gun sequences.  I’ve come across one really tough boss battle up to this point so far, but for the most part they’re a matter of hiding behind cover until a pre-determined opportunity presents itself, at which point you just pop up, aim the Wii Remote pointer at the giant, purple “shoot me to win” targets, then move on to the next area.

   


You can easily tell that Disaster: Day of Crisis is a few years late to the Wii party from its first few chapters.  A game that frequently involves waggle-punching random containers strewn about a level to reveal important, life-sustaining items is one with a design that’s tired and redundant.  Apparently, our hero is strong enough to bust open metal mailboxes or giant boulders with just two or three bare-fisted punches, but what makes this really ridiculous is that, at least so far, busting up breakable items is the sole purpose of motion-activated punching.  Truly, it’s the definition of “waggle” in the despicable sense of the word.    


The game basically tells you where to go and what to shoot (at least in the first few hours on normal difficulty), and thus the entire product has a “tutorial” feel to it.  It’s as if I’m being told how the Wii experience is supposed to work when I'm playing Disaster, but I already know this thanks to two years of experience playing Wii games.  The driving sequences just hammer this point home, since all you do in two of the first three of them is navigate from one place to another, essentially accomplishing absolutely nothing.  In the other one, you are trying to outrun a tsunami—the only problem with this being that the camera looks behind you, and so you can’t see the cars you need to swerve around until the last moment, if you even manage to stay on the bridge that’s crumbling beneath you.    


While my first impression of Disaster: Day of Crisis has left me somewhat underwhelmed, I did like some of the cut-scenes (wait until you see that tsunami head into the downtown area), and the story introduced an interesting plot twist early on.  That’s more than enough for me to keep playing it and see what the full product will bring to the table, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is basically a 2006 game that's been shelved until 2008.  I don’t know if the later chapters or scenarios will be much different, but based on what I’ve played so far, it doesn’t look all that promising.

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Offline WindyMan

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2008, 01:51:29 AM »
Bonus impression just for talkback readers: This game is getting progressively worse the more I keep playing it.  It feels like I'm just waiting for the game to happen instead of actually "playing" it.  Ugh.
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Offline Enner

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2008, 01:55:08 AM »
Bleck. Should've just let Monolith make another RPG or whatever they are comfortable with.

Offline IceCold

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2008, 04:12:25 AM »
Hmm..
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Offline Shift Key

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2008, 04:40:01 AM »
Bonus impression just for talkback readers: This game is getting progressively worse the more I keep playing it.  It feels like I'm just waiting for the game to happen instead of actually "playing" it.  Ugh.

Aw, the bear fighting simulator might be the best part of the game after all...

Offline NinGurl69 *huggles

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2008, 05:07:27 AM »
MGS for the expanded audience!
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Offline Nick DiMola

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2008, 06:28:14 AM »
Yeah, these impressions don't surprise me in the least. The game is called Disaster, what did you expect?
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Offline ShyGuy

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2008, 10:40:38 AM »
So this is why it's not coming to America?

Offline KDR_11k

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2008, 10:58:55 AM »
Is Monolith the company that made Xenosaga?

Is the jumping automatic or do you use a jump button?

Also upgrading your weapon for good shooting sounds bad, if you're a good shooter you don't need as many upgrades anyway, no? A horrible shooter would bneed them more but he won't get them and gets to deal with the double whammy of his bad aim and inferior weapon...

Offline DAaaMan64

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2008, 12:03:30 PM »
Bonus impression just for talkback readers: This game is getting progressively worse the more I keep playing it.  It feels like I'm just waiting for the game to happen instead of actually "playing" it.  Ugh.

Aw, the bear fighting simulator might be the best part of the game after all...

From the video, the bear fight looked like the worst part of the game.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2008, 02:39:02 PM »
Maybe NOA isn't so dumb afterall about pretending this doesn't exist.

The part of the impressions that turns me off of the game is that it sounds like the game holds your hand the whole time.  In other words it sounds catered to non-gamers.

Offline KDR_11k

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2008, 04:16:25 PM »
It sounds catered to a false understanding of "non-gamers". It's a core game that's really easy, not a new market game.

Offline IceCold

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2008, 04:21:20 PM »
Wait, why wouldn't the game come over here? Wasn't it made with Western audiences in mind? Did it not flop horribly in Japan?
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Offline NWR_Neal

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2008, 05:15:20 PM »
Wow. Just wow.
I still think I need to play this game just so I can actually believe it exists. Everything I read and see about this game makes me think its less of a game and more of some cheap interactive movie.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2008, 06:00:34 PM »
Quote
It's a core game that's really easy, not a new market game.

Why make it really easy?  Perhaps to make it more accessible.  What group of Wii owners would Nintendo assume would need a game to hold their hand the entire time?  It's the same accusation people make against Mario Kart Wii.  We're really just getting tied up on terminology that seemingly no one can completely agree on.

I'm suggesting they made it really easy because they think an easier game will sell to a larger market.  It's the game equivalent of making an action movie rated PG-13 to attract a mainstream audience while assuming hardcore action movie buffs who will turned off by the neuturing will either not notice, not care enough to not see the movie, or even if they don't see it will make up such a smaller group than the mainstream group that will see it that it will result in a bigger profit anyway.

Offline KDR_11k

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #15 on: October 08, 2008, 02:23:05 AM »
Wow. Just wow.
I still think I need to play this game just so I can actually believe it exists. Everything I read and see about this game makes me think its less of a game and more of some cheap interactive movie.

So it's the spiritual successor to Final Fantasy?

Quote
Why make it really easy?  Perhaps to make it more accessible.  What group of Wii owners would Nintendo assume would need a game to hold their hand the entire time?  It's the same accusation people make against Mario Kart Wii.  We're really just getting tied up on terminology that seemingly no one can completely agree on.

No, it's easy because modern gamers expect games to be easy. It's a core game because it's long, cinematic and not very skill based (pretty precise definition IMO). Most core games can be beaten by throwing enough time at them. The longer they take to play the longer the player takes to trade the game in and the more new copies are sold (but if he gets stuck for more than five minutes he may trade it in instantly). Expanded market games cannot be beaten just by being persistent, you must develop your own skills and play them over and over again to get a highscore and maybe the associated medal but when you're good you can do it in very little time.

The terminology is clear, it only gets confused by those who think core is just the short form of hardcore which it isn't, it's the term for the old market (Madden and all) in comparison to the new market the Wii is moving into. The hardcore were a niche of the core market in first place and it's no wonder they won't like most core games now since they didn't like them before the new market existed and the term core was used either.

Offline Ian Sane

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #16 on: October 08, 2008, 04:36:56 PM »
Quote
No, it's easy because modern gamers expect games to be easy.

I don't know anyone who wants a game to explicitly tell you what to do each step of the way like this game sounds like it does.  To be fair I'm 26 and all my friends are around that age so I'm not hanging around kids and teenagers raised entirely in the 3D era who may want games to hold their hand more than someone my age would.

If that's who they're targetted I'd argue they're doing it wrong and making it too easy.  Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto, Halo and stuff like aren't nearly as unchallenging as this game sounds like.

I think it's because apparently the Japanese market really doesn't like games that require effort anymore.  It sounds like there is no split market there - it's just non-gamers.  Videogames of a the style used from 1972-2004 aren't cool anymore so they aren't selling.  Case in point Twilight Princess is the bees knees here in North America but no one cared about it Japan.  So Disaster may just be Nintendo's attempt to make a game that sounds traditional in theory but is neutered to attract the interest of the current Japanese market.  It's like if you were going to take Zelda or Mario style gameplay but cater it to the current Japanese market.

NOA may pretend this game doesn't exist not because it sucks but because it's designed specifically for the Japanese market and there's no market in North America for a game that looks like a core game but is made for non-gamers.  It's a story-focused non-game.  Bring on the Final Fantasy jabs.

Offline KDR_11k

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #17 on: October 09, 2008, 05:32:14 AM »
I think people don't state it out loud but many expect it subconsciously, they want the game to show them that they are awesome and constant death doesn't help that image.

Also I bet 3d games are often easier because they are way slower (cutscenes, movement, etc), when you die you waste a lot of time.

Quote
I think it's because apparently the Japanese market really doesn't like games that require effort anymore.  It sounds like there is no split market there - it's just non-gamers.

That image is incorrect, non-gamers want games that require effort but modern core games require more effort to learn the controls than to play. You cite TP as an example of games people don't want but it was pretty damn easy so difficulty can't be it.

I think Disaster is just chasing after imaginary markets, no market really wants it (even the core market wants to at least feel like they are being challenged). It's just a failure, let's move on.

Offline Infernal Monkey

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Re: IMPRESSIONS: Disaster: Day of Crisis
« Reply #18 on: October 09, 2008, 05:35:34 AM »
Go play some video games Ian.