Disaster: Day of Crisis

The Good
Luckily for me and anyone else who follows these reviews (thank you!), the region I live in has had the release of the game "Disaster: Day of Crisis". The cover with its hand-drawn sepia-tone art is only a vague suggestion as to what content lurks within this title; the disaster logo, imposed with a seismograph-like scribble conveys a sense of seriousness of content to the shopper's eye. This is in stark contrast to the many nauseatingly coloured mini-game, farm-sim, pet-sim and life-sim titles that pollute the shelves and distort my judgment. I felt at least some confidence as I noticed that the game is a Nintendo title, and that the ambitious content that was promised on the box-art may come across successfully (if Nintendo still believe in their Quality Assurance that is).

This game is ambitious in that it attempts to tie together many different video game styles. Typically, this turns out to be a problem. You often find that when this idea is put in to practice, rather than the sum of the parts making something great, you normally get many average additions that total to mediocrity at best - as if all the ingredients must be watered-down… Thankfully, "D: DoC" mostly avoids this phenomenon. It manages to do this by putting an attention to detail on the controls and tasks presented to you that give both reason and context. Further to this, the control schemes (and there are quite a few) are successfully put together and (for the most part), avoid that feeling that they're there out of obligation.

Graphically, the game is has a very realistic yet fairly plain look. The environments, with some of them being the most extreme places on the Earth, are accurately drawn but never too overwhelming or intimidating in their complexity. Raymond (your character) is viewed over-the-shoulder similar to Resident Evil 4 and countless other games. Control of him in this mode of game play is fairly traditional; with the analogue stick and the A button providing movement and jump. Initially the game seems as if it's treading ground that thousands of other action/adventure/sandbox games have worn smooth, but it's not too long before you realise that the developers have tried some new techniques to draw in and immerse players.

As Raymond, it's not long before you're asked to perform some unusual commands. Sure, the old alternating shake up-and-down in order to sprint with both controllers isn't new, (in fact the launch title Rayman Raving Rabbids was the first to abuse this), but there are some other unique and admittedly clever Wii motions that I thought actually added to the game. When you discover an NPC in need of rescuing or reviving from the many natural disasters this game throws at you, you're asked to perform CPR (jolt the remote downwards in time to an ECG display), reach across chasms to link hands with stranded citizens (time a long arc with the remote perfectly) or lift rubble and debris from trapped people (fill a bar by tapping A, then lift with both controllers in time). On paper, controls never seem that exciting (just take a look at a graphic of some of the combos in the Tekken series for example!) but this game makes use of them nicely because you are constantly asked to perform something new, and you're never sure when you approach something just what you'll need to pull-off. And, unlike some other titles that make use of flamboyant air-waving controls, this game doesn't make you do things that feel redundant. And any annoyingly large movements you make are never for very long.

One thing that I really like about this game is when you come up against some armed enemies. This is where things really get exciting. You turn a corner, or jump out of your car or something similar, and suddenly the screen streaks excitedly and you're thrown into Ghost Squad or Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles type action. The reticule is the pointer, and the Z button makes Raymond duck into cover. Cunningly, the C button concentrates the aim and power of the gun to enable devastating head-shots or accurate "trick shots". Gun nuts shouldn't be disappointed as there is a respectable enough choice of weapons and upgrades. Pistols, Shotguns, Assault-rifles, Bow-casters and Rocket Launchers are the main firearms available. And, as you'd expect, some are better for close, mid and long-range attacks. Interestingly enough, the gun firing sound effects are routed through the remote speaker. The scratchy sound of this speaker has a mixed effect: sure, the virtual trigger you pull has a nearby and realistic location for its gunshots, but the tiny speaker gives them the sound of a toy! The speaker does get taken advantage of when news bulletins from the radio are piped out of it. The AM-band noise and bad reception actually makes the thing sound like a portable radio for a minute or two.

The interesting thing this game offers is in its onslaught of different emergency situations. Volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods and hurricanes are all guest-stars in the game – it's a meteorologist's wet dream. The events themselves feel realistic and genuinely threatening – the time frame in which they occur is ridiculous, but it is a game after all. My personal favourite was a volcanic eruption. This featured river-like lava streams, eerie falling ash and poison gas and a lahar (landslide/mudflow). Raymond is faced with these things relentlessly. Its fun, and you do feel like you survived just by the skin of your teeth.

The Bad
Raymond, a true multi-talent, jumps behind the wheel of a car more than a couple of times. This is usually to escape some sort of impending doom (which I won't spoil), however there are some chase scenarios. Control of the vehicle is like Excite Truck: hold the remote flat and tip and end up or down to turn left or right. These brief sojourns in the vehicle again, are pretty refreshing, but they do lack any depth to the game play, and are usually just a matter of steering sensibly and keeping out of the way of some monster pot-holes. Even though these parts are a little bland, I must admit the controls themselves are sufficient.

There's criticism that the voice-acted dialogue… well, sucks. I didn't see it as any worse than most other voice-acted titles out there. Sure, the written dialogue is nothing special, but it is practical and avoids the obvious mostly. The bad guys (part of a retired Special Forces unit) aren't as bold and James Bond-like as in other titles either. I had no major issue with the dialogue – the game just kicks along steadily. There are many cut-scenes detailing the plot and intermission events – these often bordered on the too-long end of the scale.

Sadly, the game presents little challenge for those with a reasonable amount of expertise under their belt. You rarely die, and there's more food and supplies out there than you'll ever need – so even though your stamina bar may decrease, your health hardly does. The only exception to this is if you're reckless in the shooting stages. There weren't too many sections that I had to even retry, and the progress you can make in one sitting is too generous for this player.

The Bottom Line
There aren't many games out there that "D: DoC" can be compared to. That's not because of its exceptional quality, graphics or any other single component. It's because most developers seem to avoid the mixing-up of genres to this extent – as if the individual styles are somehow diluted when combined, and can result in the best of nothing and the average of everything. But I think "D: DoC" walked this line quite well, and in the end I believe most players with an open mind will be happy with what it achieves.