Reviews » Raw Danger! [PS2]
Reviewed by King_Andy
Raw Danger is an adventure/survival game. It's actually a sequel to the game Disaster Report, but it's completely possible to play this one without playing its predecessor, which is good, because it's nearly impossible to find. (The only connection seems to be an unlockable level featuring the previous game's protagonist.) The overall point of the game is simple. 'Geo City' is a city that was built well below sea level and now a big storm is coming through and all the levies have burst. The game tells the stories of six people and their escape from the rapidly flooding city.
This is a game about staying alive and surviving in a catastrophe. It features gameplay like you'd expect from an adventure game, standard tasks like finding a way to open a door, or talking to the right character who can help you, but it also includes action elements like running from rapidly rising flood waters, escaping from collapsing structures, etc, but the main focus of the game seems to be to your constant battle with the environment. While you're constantly moving forward through the mostly linear plot you must work to keep your character alive and healthy. This is a game that makes you worry about the comfort of your characters. This is a game where you do your best to make sure you and your sidekick have warm and dry clothes. This is a game where you do your best to avoid stepping in puddles and go out of your way to walk under an overhang to stay out of the rain. In short this is a game that makes you care about your characters and think about the details and reality of surviving a natural disaster.
Or, at least, the first chapter is.
Sadly, that's where my positive opinion of the game breaks down. After an interesting and emotionally engaging first chapter, the tone of the story-telling shifts gears very noticeably and everything that you've learned to do and care about in the first chapter becomes little more than window dressing for an extremely clichéd conspiracy and corruption story line. Suddenly the storm that's destroying your city is now little more than a nuisance while you gallivant around, solving murders, exposing government corruption (unrelated to evacuation efforts) and assisting scientists in lab coats who seek to destroy the evil they have created.
This abrupt change in focus was a big disappointment for me. There are a zillion games that feature heavy handed conspiracy storylines. What drew me into this game's story was the man verses nature gameplay. When that faded into the background I lost pretty much any interest I had in the game.
I'm afraid I can't even recommend this game as a rental for its first chapter, it just has too many other problems. The most damning of these problems are the clumsy controls. Characters move stiffly and awkwardly and it's too easy to get caught up on corners. In addition the camera is very awkward, suffering from the standard camera complaint of not automatically orienting itself in a logical manner. (You can control the orientation manually with the right thumb-stick, but not if your thumb is holding down X to run.) Camera control is also 'inverted' with no option to turn this off.
The other set of problems with this game relates to the frankly bizarre attempt to localize it. Don't get me wrong, the dialog has all been translated fine, and most of the voice acting is decent. The problem comes from the fact that the game was originally about a fictional Japanese city and they tried to change it to be a fictional American city. So the game takes place in an American city, located on the Hudson River. Except, all the streets have keep-left traffic patterns and half the signage is still in Japanese. Furthermore, the overall design aesthetic of the city is more Japanese than American. Worse than that are all the characters: to make the characters seem American they simply took the original Japanese characters and gave them blond hair! This does not make them look like Americans. It makes them look like a bunch of Japanese people who have all bleached their hair the exact same shade of blond. To add insult to injury many of the still images of the characters that are used throughout the game show the characters with their original dark hair. This includes the cover art.. Seriously. Look at it. Both of those characters have the same freaky blond hair that two thirds of the entire city has.
As much as I really like the concept, I just can't recommend this game. If the entire game was like the first chapter I would have put up with the clumsy controls and the hybrid American/Japanese setting and characters, but the abrupt change in focus killed this game for me. By the time I'd gotten used to all of this game's problems it had already stoped being worth playing.
Raw Danger! - PS2
Presentation
The game's weird Japanese/American hybrid setting is a bit off-putting, but otherwise a solid look and feel.
Gameplay
The weak controls and horrible story after the first chapter stop me from recommending this game.
Replayability
If you enjoyed it the first time through, you'll be glad to find that there are multiple endings, criss-crossing plot-lines, unlockable "hard" and "free" modes, and various collectables to encourage you to play it again and again. This depends heavily on you actually enjoying it the first time, though.
Value
It's in bargain bins now, so if you're really interested it's not much of a risk.
Overall
Great concept. Poor implementation.
