Disaster: Day of Crisis - What do we know?
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 2:04am by Jake
First revealed along side the Wii at E3 2006, Disaster: Day of Crisis is still one of the most unknown Wii core games out there that has been in an unusually secretive, and long development cycle. Though the E3 2006 CG trailer lasted less than 7 seconds it was just enough to prick gamer’s interest with four simple visual gameplay elements: chaos, guns, cars, and explosions.
For those who don’t know, Disaster: Day of Disaster is a survival game developed by Nintendo’s recently acquired Monolith Soft. Their main goal as one of Nintendo’s second party Wii developers is to create new revolutionary franchises for the system. Little did we know that their greatest project yet would be in a development rut rivaling AAA games such as Zelda, Mario, and Smash Brothers.
Through various interviews, videos, screens, and official statements we have managed to compile all we know about Disaster: Day of Crisis.
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-Survival/action game in which your objective is to outlast different natural disasters, and/or chaotic events.
-You play as Ray, a retired member of a Elite Rescue Task force.
-Game set in the United States.
-A terrorist group/special force unit takes advantage of the cataclysmic events by attempting to steal, and use an atomic weapon.
-Shooting elements are in 3rd person with built-in cover/corner system.
-Action elements are also in 3rd person, but with various camera angles.
-Rescue injured/wounded people with action sequences such as reviving them via CPR.
-Other survival gameplay includes: race a car down a mountain to escape a roaring pyroclastic flow, dodge toppling buildings during a devastating earthquake and swim for their lives in a raging flood.
-Nintendo promised “Cutting-edge physics and gripping visuals” at E3 2006.
-Monolith Soft reached peak development Fall 2006.
-Less than 6 second video of gameplay footage was shown at the Japan Nintendo World Event. More shooting and action elements were shown.
-Beth Llewelyn of Nintendo confirmed that Disaster Day of crisis was still deep in development, and “is looking very good” during E3 2007.
-A Japanese release date was set for July 3rd, 2008.
-On May 17th, 2008 Monolith Soft delayed the game in order to “increase the quality of the finished product”.
-Disaster Day of Crisis was rated “M” in Australia for “Violence, themes, and infrequent coarse language” on August 13th, 2008. Other games rated on August 13th are set for a September-November 2008 release suggesting that DDoC might release this year, but signs look doubtful.
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Not much info, eh? At least it sounds like Monolith Soft is taking the game seriously, but isn’t almost three years of work enough? Nothing against dedicated game developers, but technology evolves so rapidly that by the time this title releases the “Wii experience” might be burned out (if not already). Nevertheless there is at least one working game out there that appeals to my personal core tastes.
What do you think Infendo? Has this been in development for too long, or will over two years of extra work be worth wild?
August 19th, 2008 at 4:18 am
Do “we” know the reasons why the development time was so long? Was it really 3 years of development time or were there problems in the company?
August 19th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I’ll believe it when I see it that this game even gets a release.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Ugh. The graphics are crap. But I’d forgive that for a Boom Blox style physics engine though.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Well as long as they deliver a GOOD game then 3 years isn’t that long. What might have happened is that the early preview we got was a very early proof of concept and the game began to evolve and most likely radically change as it grew.
Having to change a game’s directions or core elements would really set back development and I’m glad to see they don’t rush this out to make another Red Steel (great ideas and potential, with a bad execution).
Have you never heard of a tiny group called Blizzard? They work on games for YEARS without even announcing a title and then take even longer to release. Which reminds me, waiting for Starcraft 2 is horrible (cuz we all want it NOW).
August 19th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I don’t care if it takes 3 years if they make it great. They could have made a game each year from that dev team and maybe I wouldn’t have bought any of the games. I’d rather have a game take 3 years and I actually want to buy it.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Hey, that last screenshot looks pretty darn great.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
“Well as long as they deliver a GOOD game then 3 years isn’t that long. ”
Wow. Do you suffer from low expectations?
Seriously, if it took OVER 3 years to finish, it better be a G R E A T game. End of story.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
whats up with the HDV icon in the last shot?
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
This game does look entertaining. i don’t think three years is that long. I mean, look how long we waited for Final Fantasy XII. That game was announced more than 3 years prior to it’s 2006 release date.
Honestly I think that the game will look great. In the article it quoted Monolith Soft’s delay saying that it was being delayed to, “Increase the quality of the finished product.”
Essentially their just toning up the graphics to try and push the Wii to it’s limits. If a game is completed that means that all the levels of gameplay and story elements, music, voice acting, must be done. At that point they would release the game. But instead they’re trying to make the game look as pretty as possible for it’s release in the future.
I’m looking forward to at least try this game out. Not sure if I would buy it though.