A list of 1001 must-play video games is not a list of the absolute best video games, but a guide through the highlights and pivotal releases in gaming history. The first of a genre, the next big leap, the game-changer, the definition of what it means to be a first-person shooter, or survival horror, or a multiplayer racer.
After those entries, it's about games that have stories that are best told through interaction, with characters as fleshed out as those you'll find in film and television. It's about games that look unique or have soundtracks that defined a generation.
And then after all of that, when there's still a handful of gaps in the list, it's about putting in Disaster Report because nobody has bothered to take the disaster genre into videogaming.
I wonder why...
Fun Times
The PlayStation 2 was home to anything and everything, and the weird thing about that is that out there, somewhere, was a market for it all. While millions would buy the stellar titles that defined the generation, at least some would also buy the shovelware that definitely wouldn't make it to a 1001 must-play list.
Somewhere in the middle is Disaster Report, an action-adventure game of escaping an earthquake-stricken city. A game that isn't awful, isn't brilliant, but is still a must-play. Why?
Disaster Report doesn't feel fantastic to control, but its controls are simple. An action button interacts with the environment, a shout button allows you to attract attention, a run button helps you get out of danger quickly, and a first-person view button helps you to work out where it is you need to be going.
Our escape looked promising with the sight of a rescue helicopter just down the road, but our problem is getting to it. It has to leave without us - providing it even saw us in the first place.
Oh. Maybe it did see us, then. I guess that's our first objective - grab that bag before it, or we, fall off the bridge into the debris-filled waters below.
The route through this bridge is easy enough to pick out, and you're athletic enough to hop over fences and jump up ledges. If you walk too far, you automatically grab onto something to save yourself, so it's almost as though you can run through without a care in the world.
Until a bus falls on your head. That'll end your day pretty quick. It doesn't look pretty - it uses the same canned falling over animation as every other fall you've got, rather than your head exploding like a melon or something - but it does show you that anything can be a danger to you.
Often, you'll have walked off something that then immediately collapses, as though it was holding on just for you to escape. You soon look like the luckiest unlucky man in the universe, with everything exploding just inches away, a second after you've made it to safety. Disaster Report isn't realistic at all, but it does have those cinematic moments.
They look laughable, but it has them...
You have two bars to keep an eye on. A health bar keeps track of your cuts and scrapes (though many things will kill you in a single hit, so I don't quite know the purpose), and a QP bar keeps track of your thirst.
Water is vital to your survival, and clean taps serve as spots to refill your quench points and save your game. I don't know what running out of quench points does, though. Maybe you faint, or start taking damage until you drink something again.
The map is... different from those you may have seen in games before. It's sort of true to life, though why I'd spend the time to write on post-it notes, rather than straight onto the map, I don't know. Either way, it reminded me of the objective I forgot about already.
 |
| No, it's 'Shaggy' |
Act too slow and down you go. Another Game Over. Luckily, the checkpoints are quite forgiving, so you can get right back into the action in no time at all, and do things properly this time.
The helicopter dropped a backpack so that we can carry all sorts of items and a hastily written note that gives me limited hope, I must admit.
Why is there a restaurant on a bridge? Not on one end, or the side, but right in the middle, straddling over the freeway. Who comes here? How are you even in business? Why does everything crumble beneath my feet?
Everything. All of it crumbles. Don't believe me? Say goodbye to the restaurant...
Frustrations
I was losing interest in Disaster Report, but I told myself that I had to get off this bridge before calling it quits. Somewhere in the distance, I heard a woman screaming for help, and being the dashing young hero I was, I dropped everything and set out to rescue her.
Also, I literally can't progress unless I save her. Here we go, then.
While I saw that coming from a mile away, I didn't see the rope until the second attempt, inexplicably danging from a nearby railing.
Into my bag it goes, along with bottles and keys and medical supplies. Space is limited, and you're too stupid to stuff things into your pockets, so there's bound to come a point where you need to weigh up the need to drink, say, versus the need to bandage wounds.
Just like in the movies. I want it to be known that this is the sole reason Disaster Report is included in the 1001 list - because it tackles a genre that seems to be an obvious fit for video games, but one that hasn't been done. But these cinematic moments have been done, and surviving from natural disasters has been done, it's just that they've been done in stories far more exciting and engaging because they're more than just surviving.
If you focus on the survival only, you get garbage like this:
In fairness, that's a Japanese developer not quite getting the western way of doing things. Or the cinematic way of doing things. Or the interesting way of doing things. The budget did not go into the cutscenes here, let's put it that way.
Now that we've saved Karen, we can finally get off this bridge. Better grab our rope, though.
Alright, we'll leave it here. Geez, Keith, get it together, would you? You need to survive, damn it.
Who the hell else, Keith? Damn, you're a stupid one.
A short while goes past where you are unable to do anything but listen to Keith question himself as to whether Karen has run off and left him to die or not. There is voice acting here. It's not worth seeking out in any way, good or bad. Eventually, Karen comes back to the ledge, and we're out of here.
When you've got people to talk to, you've got opportunities for branching storylines. Sort of. The emulation here doesn't show what choice I'm making, but it sure sounded like I selected 'Encourage'. Whatever I chose, I was off the bridge, and that was my goal. I was done with Disaster Report.
Final Word
I was done mostly because I wasn't invested in what was going on at all. Disaster Report is one of those games where you could quickly go through it if you were determined to look past its flaws, but for many of us, it's a game that we'll completely gloss over in favour of something more substantial.
Having said that, I've been watching it played in the background, and it just gets weirder as it goes on. Without spoiling too much, just in case you want to play through it, there's more to this than just surviving a disaster. The 'more' doesn't make any sense, but it doesn't have to. Disaster Report presents its absurd world and simple enough mechanisms and lets you get on with it.
It looks relatively linear, which might put some folks off, but this is a PlayStation 2 era survival game - we don't quite have huge open worlds full of big game to hunt, skin and cook over the fire. But there are many, many compass designs, should you like collecting compasses. Yeah...
Disaster Report offers entertainment, but because of its absurdity, more than anything else. Don't take it seriously. Don't expect realism or tough decisions. Bad voice acting, basic animation, nonsense plot, and somehow a must-play title.
Am I glad to have played it? You know what... I think I am. I'd never have played it were it not on the 1001 list. It might not deserve its spot on the list, but maybe it does, actually. Perhaps we should play the kinds of titles that don't get any apparent attention.
Is this a hidden gem? Probably not. Is it an easy game to get into to see what it is like first hand? Definitely. Fire it up for an hour and see if you're cut out for survival... and worse...
Fun Facts
Disaster Report, developed by Irem, first released in 2002.
Version played: PlayStation 2, 2003, via emulation.
Version watched: PlayStation 2, 2003 (Super Best Friends Play)