OK, so last night I plugged the game in and played through a few stages so I could give you a first impression of what I think.
First off, let me tell you - it's not quite to Metal Gear Solid standards, but there are a LOT of cutscenes. The story is basically scripted like a film, and you are walking Ray through it, occasionally taking control to progress to the next part of the story.
You start on the peak of the erupting volcano. Ray worked for an International Rescue Team, saving people from natural disasters. The opening sequence introduces you to the basic moves and items as you search for a downed rescue helicopter. After a load of things crumble and blow up, you also lose your best friend into the lava flow. Ray leaves the profession after a title screen, and joins a security firm (or something).
Let's be clear what the game is and is not. It's not really a standard action game. You walk/run Ray from place to place, but these sequences are mainly used to search for events. The camera generally behaves itself, but seems to suffer quite a bit on interior stairwells. Luckily, when you have free reign over the camera controls, you're not in any danger. You can hold down C on the nunchuk to focus on anything particularly dangerous happening. Press the Z Button and Ray will turn and shout out to anyone who needs rescuing, wherever they are (explained as Ray's "natural instinct" for finding people in danger). You can also beat up on boxes and anything else with a reticule on it to look for items... and occasionally you will have to navigate around dangerous terrain, like smoke and fire. More on these in a moment.
You have a life gauge and a stamina gauge. Stamina slowly drains, and if it runs out then you slow right down and start losing life. You can find food to replenish your stamina (the meat seems to replenish the most), and first aid kits to replenish your health. You also have a lung capacity meter. If you walk through smoke, Ray starts coughing and his lungs start filling up with poisonous fumes. If you sprint through the smoke then your lungs don't fill up, but you lose a lot of stamina by sprinting. When you're back in fresh air, press Z to take some deep, cleansing breaths and fill your lungs again. At the moment you can avoid most of the smoke, but I suspect later missions will have me running through smoky buildings gasping for air.
Aaaanyway, so there's this terrorist group of ex-army elites called SURGE. They've kidnapped a notable seismologist and his assistant (your best friend's daughter). This all kicks off on the day that the city has been mostly abandoned due to an approaching hurricane (quite a clever way of explaining why the city is mostly empty, I guess). Then a massive earthquake goes off when you try to rescue them. And they're trying to steal a nuclear weapon.
So anyway, that's WHAT is happening. Now about the gameplay.
Disaster: Day of Crisis is pretty much a uniquely coherent compilation of minigames. The main one (so far) is a typical light gun game, like Dead or Alive. You shoot, you reload, you hide, you work out enemy shooting patterns, you move to a new location, lather, rinse and repeat. For the opening of the game, in my opinion, there have been a few too many of these. They're not particularly skilful - Your pistol has infinite ammo, enemy gunfire comes in set patterns, and neither you nor they seem to lose much health when shot. The trick is to get head shots in to take them out in one hit. Accidentally hit them in the chin instead? Just take another couple of shots for the head shot. I'm hoping there will be less of these in future chapters, but I suspect I will be wrong.
The other main event is the finding and saving of people. Rescuees have their own stamina bar, and you have to save them before that depletes. There are many ways to save them, each one a small minigame. Some people need carrying to a green mark nearby. Some people have wounds that need cleaning and then wrapping in bandages. Some people are dangling and need you to time your swing to grab their arms. Some people are trapped under things and you have to build up your strength by tapping A and when the bar is full, do a huge lift motion with the remote and nunchuk to free them. It's pretty varied, but nothing particularly challenging so far. Some bastards just want you to give them your first aid kits or food - they're a pain in the ass. By far the most challenging part of this is reaching them - usually requiring you to navigate areas of terrain that you wouldn't normally visit.
On top of these, you occasionally have to save yourself from something. This might involve running by pounding the remote and nunchuk alternately up and down as fast as you can to run from coming danger. Or by far the best sequence yet - DRIVING! It's simple, intuitive and fun. While you drive, you have to make split-second decisions based on what's ahead, Ray comments over the top, and usually the radio is on giving you more plot exposition. On top of this, I was actually surprised how detailed the city was - I mean, this is the Wii right?
I haven't played far, and it could still go either way, but here's my rundown:
Pros:
- The plot is very interesting, and stands out especially when compared to the usual first-party fare.
- The voice acting isn't bad. Ray in particular is well-acted (although by whom? Guess I'll find out in the end credits!)
- The graphics are pretty damn good, especially for a Wii game. Watching a building crumble in front of your eyes (no doubt setting up a new rescue mission) are really quite impressive.
- Many of the minigames are actually quite entertaining - and if they're not, the rescue missions are entirely optional (though this affects your end-of-stage rank).
- Music is epic. In fact, most of the sound effects are pretty awesome, and you even get radio calls through the remote.
Cons:
- The lip-synching is pretty bad. This kinda thing annoys me.
- Too many gun battles - and they're not really clever or interesting enough to justify being the main focus of the game so far.
- Pressing Z to clear your lungs takes aaages, even if you accidentally brush past some smoke. You can't shout for new rescue missions until you clear those lungs
- Camera doesn't handle interiors very well, even the auto-camera, so lots of camera correction required.
So far, it's been a great game that has surprised me. It still has its flaws, but it's better than I expected it to be. It's not quite the all-out action fest you might think, but it takes what the Wii is best known for and slaps some high production values and a story of epic proportions on top. And it works!
In conclusion... Disaster is anything but. It's simple gameplay with an epic focus. Petition Nintendo of America to release it right now - because as far as games go, this game's about as American as apple pie, softball and shooting the British "by mistake".
I really have high hopes for this game.
I really have high hopes for this game.
