Disaster: Day of Crisis is a 2008 Wii-exclusive game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo, mixing exploration, shooting sessions and quick-time events for a compilation of every disaster movie ever.
Raymond Bryce, the hero, is a former US Marine and International Rescue Team member who quit his last job after the death of his teammate and best friend Steve during a rescue mission. However, when he gets contacted by special agent Olson who reveals to him that his friend's sister has been kidnapped by a rogue military force which also stole several nuclear warheads, he agrees to go on investigation and to rescue her. Unfortunately, he'll also have to face an unusual series of natural disasters which all spontaneously occur during his mission in Blue Ridge and Bainsville.
The game goes to great lengths to make the player feel the utter chaos of the situation, as well as keeping them busy by frequently switching the gameplay.
Not to be confused with Disaster Report, an earlier game that also dealt with natural disasters.
Disaster: Day of Crisis contains examples of the following tropes:
- Advancing Wall of Doom: Floods, lava, earthquakes, tsunamis, Mother Nature is throwing everything at you.
- After-Combat Recovery: After every shoot-em-up section you recover a small bit of your health bar. Averted in Hard mode.
- Anti-Villain: As you progress, you learn that SURGE's chief has some good reasons for being beyond pissed off at the government. He even helps you to disarm the last nuclear warhead.
- Badass Normal: Ray isn't some superpowered human or secret soldier or anything - just a former US Marine and a rescue team guy who's trained for high tension survival and rescue scenarios. This doesn't stop him from being a One-Man Army against an entire terrorist organization that's armed to the teeth with military hardware and training, saving as many people as he possibly can left and right with nary a break in the process, taking on dangers from tsunamis and volcanos to earthquakes and hurricanes, and even beating The Dragon while the latter is piloting a giant combat robot. And he does it all in casual clothes with on-site-procurement and little to no preparations.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Although the Colonel and all the SURGE members are dead by the end of the game, the President feels the previous administration was wrong in it's betrayal of them. (Something which many can relate to.) He even meets the Colonel's demand to pay the families of the deceased SURGE members money as reparations.
- Bears Are Bad News: As if trying to get out of a forest polluted by volcanic ashes wasn't difficult enough, Ray also has to face a rabid bear...
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Ray can't save everybody, but that doesn't stop him from trying. You're even encouraged to.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Dying simply sends you back to the beginning of any checkpoint reached of your choosing, resetting all of your health, items and ammo to what they were when you reached that point allowing you to redo sections and manage them properly.
- Destructible Projectiles: Which should be destroyed to prevent you from losing a fair bit of health.
- Die, Chair, Die!: Anything destructible may contain items or may set you alight.
- Downer Beginning: The tutorial of the game ends with Raymond's best friend falling into a lava flow in order to make sure Raymond wouldn't fall too.
- Dub Name Change: The terrorist organization was originally called STORM in the Japanese version, it is changed to SURGE for the European release.
- Escort Mission: Most are simply "carry NPCs to location X within the generous time limit", but then you get some extreme ones where you face instant death if you screw up and these ones are not optional.
- Exploding Barrels: Quickest way to get rid of your enemies during combat, and you are rewarded smart kills for it.
- Face Death with Dignity: Gordon, the third in command to SURGE, salutes an oncoming tsunami after being defeated by Ray. Telling Colonel Haynes to pay the government back for what they did.
- Fight to Survive: The bulk of the game features the player trying to survive the various disasters that befall him.
- Freudian Excuse: Haynes watched his entire platoon die, then found out that the incident was set up by his own government as a cover up. Yeah, he's not exactly happy about it.
- Gameplay Ally Immortality: Iris is immune to any damage and can not die, until she is being chased by a lava stream or being swept away downstream in a river.
- Gameplay Roulette: In the course of any level, you'll frequently switch from driving sessions to shooting sessions, with some exploration in between. And then you have the quick time events.
- Gatling Good: The Gatling Gun which you can obtain from Firing Range, a potential Infinity -1 Sword.
- Give Me Your Inventory Item: Quite a few NPCs want some of your Health Items.
- Harder Than Hard: The Real Disaster mode, unlocked by completing the game, renders almost any damage into One-Hit Kill territory.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Steve dies in the tutorial ensuring that Raymond doesn't fall into an active lava flow with him.
- Holler Button: Allows you to call to NPCs that need your assistance. Ray will automatically face the direction of distressed NPCs.
- Hollywood Healing: Third degree burns? Gunshot wounds? High falls? As long as Ray's got some bandages, he'll always be okay and won't even limp.
- Humongous Mecha: An unpredictable development to say the least, unless you realize who made this game...
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Ray can regain stamina by eating any food item he can find. He's also be somewhat able to expel toxins from his lungs in a matter of seconds, providing he's in an area where the air is breathable.
- I Call It "Vera": Most Infinity +1 Sword have this treatment.
- Volcano the Rocket Launcher: Before destroying the helicopter on Mt. Rosalia, shoot down 10 of its rockets to unlock the Shadow Mercenary's rocket launcher.
- Twister the Shotgun: Complete the game to unlock Colonel Haynes' shotgun.
- Immolator the Pistol: During the first battle with Major Evans, shoot 10 knives before defeating him to unlock his handgun.
- Deep Impact the Assault Rifle: Before killing Gregory, shoot down 10 of his grenades to unlock his assault rifle.
- Informed Equipment: Unless it's Ray's handgun, don't expect any weapon to show up outside a cutscene.
- Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: The main reason why the last boss suddenly pulls out a Metal Gear expy.
- Joke Weapon: Trash, which has you throwing unlimited supply of rubbish toward your enemies. It can turn into Lethal Joke Weapon if you happen to throw a Shuriken in a very rare chance.
- Lampshade Hanging: Even the characters notice they're featuring in some sort of cheesy B-Movie, at times.Ray: This is the point where the Hero kicks the Bad Guy's ass!
- Loading Screen: These vary between giving tips about the level, or describe characters and current location.
- New Game Plus: Completing the game unlocks the Real Disaster mode as well as the achievement list.
- One-Man Army: Ray is somewhat able to face an entire unit of heavily trained soldiers by himself.
- Oxygen Meter: Your oxygen meter fills up whenever you are submerged of in an area with toxic fumes.
- Press X to Not Die: Quick-time events frequently show up when it's time to get the fuck out of there.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The storms hitting Blue Ridge except for the threat of volcanic eruption is likely based of the storms/floods that hit New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina.
- Rogue Soldier: SURGE/STORM is a rogue USMC special forces unit responsible for kidnapping a seismologist and making threats to use nukes on American soil.
- "Save the World" Climax : The plot quickly went from "save two kidnapped hostages" to "stop a rogue military group from detonating nuclear warheads located somewhere in the USA".
- Score Screen: The game's main aspects are ranked and then you are given an overall ranking for that chapter.
- Shout-Out: The plot seems to be inspired by many disaster movies, as well as The Rock.
- Sprint Meter: Your sprint meter doesn't affect you oxygen meter, but if you sprint too much you receive a sharp drop in your stamina bar.
- The Stinger: Takes the form of a bonus video after having completed the game. You managed to stop SURGE? Great! Now, prepare yourself for the giant asteroid that's threatening the Earth! You do get to fight against the asteroid after completing both the game and all the shooting galleries.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Not only have you proven to be a threat to SURGE, the enemies still keep coming, even during natural disasters.
- Timed Mission: Thanks to your stamina constantly decreasing (even when you're just standing still, wondering where you're supposed to go), every level is timed. You can regain stamina by eating or stop the decrease temporarily thanks to an item, though.
- Video Game Tutorial: Every time you come across a new mechanic, gameplay freezes to show you instructions of what to do.
- Weirdness Magnet: Wherever Ray goes, some disaster occurs. Earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, flood... You name it, he faces it.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Most of Ray's early interactions with Lisa have her calling him out for letting Steve die.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: There's no information to indicate where Blue Ridge is located in the US. Some info placed on the loading screens mentions BR being in the West Coast, so it's likely in California, Oregon or Washington.
- Bainsville and Port Alex are said to be in the south, being affected by heavy rains and floods. So it's likely in Florida, Texas or New Orleans since a loading screen mentions roads near the Gulf of Mexico.
