Disaster: Day of Crisis is just Time Crisis in the rain
Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 12:04pm by Jack
There’s a bit of internal discussion going down in the Infendo HQ today regarding Disaster: Day of Crisis. Blake, from on high up in the Infendo throne room, threw down this video morsel to the likes of David and me in the Infendo dungeon, where we pump out posts for the site without the benefit of light or electricity (we snail mail the posts to Jake, who, being web-savvy, uploads them for us).
Long story short, Blake poo poo’d on Disaster’s ho-hum on-rails arcade graphics, while David defended the title’s look and feel. I’m still on the fence, leaning slightly towards Blake, which is a bit of a flip-flop for me on this title from earlier this year. Simply put, I’m asking what the “hook” of this game is today, because to me it seems like this title is nothing more than Time Crisis… in the rain.
But hold up. I’m not just going to bash a title and not offer any new ideas. Here’s what I think would make a great Disaster: Day of Crisis (and I say all this knowing full well it’s way too late to implement any of it).
What Nintendo and its second party developers need to do is recreate the look and feel of an old NES classic, Rescue: The Embassy Mission, and combine it with the visuals (but not the voice acting) found in Disaster.
Rescue, for those who don’t know, was an “tactical shooter” NES game published by Infogrames back in January 1990. The game involved a whole team of SWAT-style units that you deployed to various points around a compromised embassy building. One team was a sniper team, and took out shadowy figures in the building windows. Another team would repel down the side of the building, and bust through those same windows (which your sniper had hopefully cleared out). A third team would sneak up the street, hiding from spot lights in alleyways and behind walls, somersaulting all the way to the front door. The final stage involved a FPS-esque level where you searched the building for hostages. Except for that last stage, you could do things in any order you liked.
Simple enough, right? Well, since Disaster is shaping up to be some kind of rudderless cross between an FPS, an on-rails shooter (Time Crisis), and some kind of mini-game survival compilation, it needs a better hook. It needs the team management focus of Embassy Mission, or something. So far, what I’ve seen doesn’t answer the simple “what makes this game different?” question. On a system not yet know for these types of games, this sub-par effort risks being lost before it even launches.
Again, it’s too late to do any of this, and Disaster may very well surprise me with an unseen “hook” that somehow differentiates it from the slew of copycat FPS’s and third person “survival” games that already clog other systems’ disc drives. So take this post as a kind of inspirational wish list that can be applied to a mythical Disaster remake, or an entirely new game with similar themes, alike.
I await the moment I am pleasantly surprised by this game, should Nintendo give it a US launch date.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Prediction: This game will be an embarrassment to the Wii. I see a Metacritic score of 59 on the Horizon.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I say it will be average. I don’t believe it’s going to be anywhere as good as was hoped or prematurely hyped, but it probably won’t totally suck either.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Man, I’m still excited for this game. The intro video I saw plus the few gameplay scenes .. it seems like you get to play an action movie using a variety of different Wii control scenarios. Fun!
September 29th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I’m willing to bet this is a potential C-level sleeper for the Wii. If it plays out as David hopes (”interactive” action movie), I think it will be a keeper.
So far, though, I’m not seeing the hook it needs to survive in an overdone genre of games.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Everything I’ve seen of this game has been incredibly indicative of sporadic ideas and development. Some of the screens look gorgeous, some look awful. Some of the gameplay looks compelling, some of it…not.
September 29th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I rather enjoy Time Crisis so I see nothing wrong with this, though I wonder if that zoom-in mechanic isn’t somewhat distracting. I just hope the game isn’t as shallow and “arcadey” as TC and brings more depth or replayability. I’m also worried about the “saving” aspects comming off as too gimmicky, but I still hope the game is fun.
September 29th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
It’s a C-grade game, but I still want to play it. The theme of the game is interesting (battling natural disasters), but its implementation seems to be a mixed bag of game-play mechanics. I’ve seen other videos of the game and it’s not all on rails shooter.
September 29th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I kind of like Disaster the way it is. I find the idea of an interactive movie with rescue, driving, and shooting games compelling. Regarding Infendo ideas, I don’t enjoy team management games at all. This wouldn’t work with Disaster as the plot have a very personal side thus a single hero is desired to achieve better identification.
September 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
For those interested in the idea of an “interactive movie” type game, I would recommend keeping an eye of “Heavy Rain”.
September 29th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
It is just mainly a time crysis inspired like game?
If THIS is the majority of the game play in this title, what the HELL took them so long in making it?
Visually, it is above average for the Wii, but not system pushing by any means. And an on rails shooter as the main game play element? The game could have been an exciting 3rd person action / adventure/ shooter/ puzzle solving hybrid. But instead, an ON RAILS SHOOTER?
Hardly an innovative title, visually or game play wise.
Major disappointment. But, maybe it will make a fun rental some Sunday afternoon or something.
I still have some hope for the title, but it gets lowed and lowered as info like this keeps leaking out.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
This game is named very appropriately. Disaster.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:57 am
You just gotta love when someone watches one video that only shows a portion of what a game consists of and judges the entire game on it.
September 30th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Explain to me what exactly would be wrong with this being “Time Crisis in the rain” should that be the case. I’ve been dying for a Time crisis game on my console of choice. It’s actually one of my greatest disappointments that Namco would rather give the Wii Soul Calibur legends than Time Crisis 2. I think many throughout the world would agree as well.
It’s not like Disaster: Day of Crisis would be breaking any promises either. No one had high expectations of the game at any point, no specifics regarding gameplay or style were asserted. Many are surprised it’s a game at all! It’s hardly pulled a Peter Moleneux, so shouldn’t we be pleased if it’s “Time Crisis in the rain”. I am. And I’m quite looking forward to the rest of a game no one has any real idea about external to a 4 minute clip of a shooting section that moderately entertained me.