Disaster: Day of Crisis was one of the first games announced by Nintendo for the Wii. However, as Wii fever began to overtake the general populace, the publisher grew dissatisfied with the game, and ordered developer Monolith Soft (the Xenosaga one, not the F.E.A.R. one) to retool the game to better fit the Wiinew console. After disappearing for a couple of years, Disaster has suddenly been released, and as the name suggests, the result is catastrophic.

Raymond Bryce is the hero of Disaster, a former marine who worked in the International Rescue Team until the death of his best friend Steve in a failed rescue mission during a volcanic eruption in South America. Having laid low as a public servant for a couple of years, Ray becomes entangled in a plot by the terrorist organisation SURGE (run by ex-Marines), who has stolen nuclear weapons and Steve’s sister, whom he swore to protect. As if that wasn’t enough, Steve’s sister thinks Ray murdered her brother. Oh, and there’s this whole massive earthquake thing. Followed by floods, tornadoes, and whatever else Mother Nature feels like throwing at you.


One can’t help but feel sorry for Ray, as natural and man-made disasters happen just as he’s escaped the last one – almost to the point of parody. This absurdity almost makes Disaster play out like one of your typical brainless summer blockbusters you’d expect to see from the likes of Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer – lots of big explosions and shoot outs to cover up for the lack of plot and the terribly cheesy acting. Unlike your typical Bruckheimer vehicle, Disaster doesn’t have a lot of fancy special effects to make it look good; it’s actually very rough from a technical standpoint, with some really blurry textures, low low-quality player models (except Ray) and substantial frame rate problems. There are a few cool little features to add some atmosphere, like emergency broadcasts being sent through the speaker on the remote.

Disaster features some of the most ridiculous dialogue and awkward character development in any form of entertainment media this year. One would have expected the opposite, considering that Monolith Soft’s J-RPG heritage, but one can’t be too sure whether it was intended to be this way or whether it is a by-product of a speedy translation. Despite the fact that the world is crumbling around him, Ray worries more about returning his friend’s treasured compass to his sister than the fate of mankind.

Stripping away the shoddy presentation, Disaster is really a combination of three different game genres with a few motion-based mini games thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, the result of trying to incorporate so much into the game is an overwhelming lack of focus. Much of the game is controlled from the third person perspective, steering Ray through volatile environments, finding survivors and carrying them to safety, and solving a variety of simplistic puzzles. Controlling Ray is a somewhat arduous task; the guy moves like he has a steel rod up his tuches and environments are constructed in such a way that players will get stuck on almost every piece of geometry before reaching their destination. You need to be mindful of your various health meters too – damage from the environment causes the health meter to go down, overexertion causes the stamina meter to drop dramatically, and running through thick smokeysmoky areas will cause your lungs to fill with smoke. Deep breaths will ease your lung pain, while crackers and first aid kits will replenish your stamina and health respectively.


Each area in Disaster will have a number of stranded citizens that Ray can rescue for bonus points, much like Irem’s cult PlayStation 2 disaster games S.O.S. Final Escape and Raw Danger. Survivors have got themselves into all sorts of predicaments; some are trapped under debris, others are unconscious, surrounded by fire or seriously injured. Some folks simply need to be freed from their predicament before they can go on their way, but many will require some first aid, or need to be carried to safety. Some first aid treatments are as simple as giving the patient a first aid kit of stamina boost. More complicated injuries involve brief mini-games; open wounds will require the player to wash them out with water (which suspiciously looks like first person urination from Postal 2) and applying a bandage, while CPR will have you moving in sync with Roy’s chest compressions.

Disaster’s main action sequences transform the game into an on-rails light gun shooter. These sequences, which tend to book end your searches for survivors, follow the cover and shoot mechanics of Time Crisis – players press a button to come out of cover to shoot at the risk of taking damage. A zoom in/slowdown function can be triggered to assist in getting those all-important headshots. Reloads are performed by shaking the nunchuck. The implementation of these sequences just doesn’t feel right – there’s a distinct lack of feedback when you shoot an enemy, which makes it feel totally unsatisfying. Players start out with a basic six six-shot pistol (with unlimited ammo), but extra weapons, including a shotgun, machine gun and rocket launcher can be found as you progress through the game, but it ends up feeling more like a grind with each sequence you pass – light gun games should be fun, but Disaster is not.

Escape sequences round out the rest of the game. These come in a number of forms, but can generally be broken down into three styles; QTEs, vigorous waggling, and driving segments. The first two are fairly self self-explanatory – you’ll be instructed on-screen to replicate various motions with your remote and nunchuck. It’s fairly straightforward, though amusing at times, such as when you need to shake the life out of your nunchuck and remote as Ray attempts to outrun a tidal wave. Driving segments use the Mario Kart-style of motion controlled steering, which gives a satisfying level of control and feedback. At first, these sections are pretty easy – tearing down the streets dodging falling buildings and SURGE troops is a cinch. The difficulty ramps up when you start to drive through flooded streets and unstable terrain, the control begins to fall behind, and players require some level of precognitive ability to get through a sequence without dying many horrible deaths.


Rescuing survivors, and performing well on each level will grant players survival and battle points, which can be used to upgrade Ray’s basic abilities and weapons respectively. Gaining access to a longer concentration meter and better weapons is vital to being able to progress further in the game – it does seem like poor planning to make Ray’s abilities so limited in the first place, though.

Given its structure, Disaster is a relatively lengthy endeavour at 12 hours, but most of the game feels like a grind. There’s some ridiculous moments that will have you gut-laughing, but the game just refuses to be fun. Players are given a rank on each of the game’s 23 levels –performing certain tasks and obtaining high ranks will unlock various achievements (of which there are 100), which in turn grant access to some bonuses, like alternate costumes.

Disaster: Day of Crisis could easily have been a good game, but the shoddy presentation, laughably bad story, and hollow, unsatisfying action sequences undermine the experience Monolith Soft was looking to offer. Perhaps if Disaster’s gameplay was more focused and its presentation wasn’t so awkward, something could have been salvaged.