Disaster: Day of Crisis

2008 video game

Disaster: Day of Crisis (ディザスター デイ オブ クライシス, Dizasutā Dei obu Kuraishisu) is a 2008 action adventure light gun shooter developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii. In it, the player must survive various natural disasters while battling terrorists and rescuing civilians. According to Nintendo, the game features "cutting edge physics and gripping visuals" to recreate the sheer terror of major catastrophes.

In Disaster, players control Raymond Bryce from a third person point of view during cinematic adventure sections, taking on puzzles and navigating hazards that can hurt or kill him. In these sections, several quick time events and minigames are based around the motion controls of the Remote and Nunchuk. For example, the player can perform actions such as pressing buttons in rhythm to perform CPR, moving heavy objects and running from flood waters and lava flows by quickly moving the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and driving a car by holding the Wii Remote on its side and tilting it left or right. The player also encounters a mysterious man with a fedora and cane who offers unique shooting range tickets. Disaster's core combat is primarily played out as a rail shooter, utilizing the Wii Remote's pointer function to target enemies. The player can hold up to three weapons of their choice, along with one mandatory pistol with unlimited ammo cache; they can swap freely between weapons using the Direction Pad. Shooting Range tickets can also grant unique weapons to Raymond if their challenge criteria are met. During the combat sequences, the player can duck, take cover if available, and shoot more accurately by using Zoom Mode to concentrate for double damage. Taking cover makes Raymond invulnerable to damage at the cost of being unable to shoot, and has no general penalty outside of losing stamina in drawn out battles. Taking too long without proper self care may result in HP consumption in place of Stamina Consumption until Raymond is fed properly. Players must maintain Raymond's survival stats, such as stamina, heartrate and lung clarity, which are depleted by strenuous activities or exposure to smoke and poisonous fumes. To keep Raymond healthy, food and snacks, which replenish stamina, and taking in rhythmic, well timed breaths of fresh air are essential for survival. Rescuing survivors involves bringing them to safety or completing a first aid minigame before their stamina meter depletes and they die.

Although initially there was little information about the game after its debut E3 2006 announcement, an interview with then Nintendo of America marketing director Beth Llewelyn during E3 2007 revealed that Disaster was still in development. The April 2008 issue of the Japanese video game magazine Famitsu later revealed the release date for Japan was to be July 3, 2008, but on May 17, 2008, Monolith announced that the release date for Disaster had been "postponed indefinitely" to "increase the quality of the finished product". However, on August 13, 2008, the website of the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification listed the game with an M rating, suggesting it was nearing completion. Nintendo also stated that the game was "still in development" on August 19, 2008. Japanese TV spots later confirmed a release date of September 25, 2008 in Japan. The European Nintendo website also confirmed a European release for October 24, 2008. The game's North American release was cancelled due to poor sales outside the country and the fact that Reggie Fils Aimé, then president of Nintendo America, hated the game, calling it laughable and overpriced.

Disaster: Day of Crisis received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. IGN claimed Disaster delivers fun in "huge, preposterous spades", and believed the mix of genres and gameplay mechanics to be "relentlessly unpredictable and gloriously compulsive". However, they also found problems with the game's pacing, increasingly repetitive combat and adventuring, and unbalanced driving sections, and felt that some players will be put off by the number of "abstract game mechanics wrestled into a single plot driven narrative". N Europe said that while the game can be "great fun" and "brilliantly atmospheric", it is held back by poor graphics and lacklustre physics, especially in the driving segments. In contrast, GameSpot called the game "unfocused and scatterbrained", with "lackluster" graphics and sound. After its first month, it had sold 21,464 copies in Japan.