ゲームを楽しもう!

i don't really have what i would call a favourite series, per say. i have series that would be contenders, resident evil, final fantasy, amnesia, persona or sengoku basara but none of these feel like a definitive best. i think if it came down to it and i had to though, i might end up saying it's disaster report. it's not the longest running of these, doesn't have the most games or the most personal individual meaning to me or when and how i played them but it's just the one that i think most succinctly captures what i love in games. it's so full of care and love, it loves its setting and its characters and the culture that spawned those things so much. it's just the most human series of games out there. Disaster report is the kind of game series that wants you to do your best and it believes in you like nothing else. disaster report 4 might be the best showcase of this, it's everything i love about each title all put into one and it's the most personal game in the series in terms of tone and scale. I'd really like to hopefully convince you to give it a try.

if you've never played disaster report the series plays very interestingly. it's a very open ended adventure game where you navigate a city during a disaster and need to avoid things like floods or falling buildings while keeping in mind things like hunger, stress, using the restroom and thirst as well as the condition of whatever NPC is following you around. it's a lot like a traditional survival horror game but without the combat. you navigate the city, solve puzzles with items, make choices , avoid danger and talk to NPC's. they usually give you ways to shape the story like siding with certain characters or in this case doing little side stories to see how the rest of the city is coping. these usually lead to things like different endings or routes or even just little one-off scenarios. 4 doesn't add a ton mechanically beyond letting you use the bathroom and opening the choice system to more depth than you would have seen before (like at one point i ended up going down a path that let me change the games title to disaster report 5 which stuck for the entire rest of the game) but the levels are some of the most interesting and the earthquakes are a real sight to behold. they're deadly and you can get crushed by a building like it's nothing, you always need to be ready to take cover from Debre or secure your footing so you don't fall.

a lot of the depth of the game comes from it's choices though and not really its gameplay. it works a little like a visual novel or an immersive sim with your choices and dialogue options all splintering off into different outcomes for different quests and there's a seriously impressive amount of variables. you can really roleplay a unique character here in almost any way you want. you can be an amoral thief, a lecherous pervert, a hero that saves people or you can just be avoidant and ask everyone leave you alone. there's a ton of variety in how you can respond and it's fun to play through this disaster in a way that feels very authentic to how you would navigate it. though not all of them are fully fleshed out, like the pervert path doesn't feel super thought out though at least for the female protagonist. i noticed that those options only really extend to the female NPC's even when you play as a woman so it just feels like they tacked them onto her without really considering it. there's also an in depth clothing system that lets you customise your outfit down to things like gloves and hats and if you co-ordinate right it can even lead to new interactions and dialogue, like wearing the conbini outfit in a conbini. from what i can tell the DLC costumes are exempt from this though. there's even some fun distractions from the gameplay formula to keep it interesting! bike segments, an extended chunk of the game set in a boat, chase sequences , escort sections and even some stealth and they all help a lot to keep the game from feeling boring, though those stealth sections aren't the best and the boat controls can be a lot to have to work with.

the game has a super varied and interesting set of environments and they all look really pretty. it looks like a ps3 game that never released, which it was, but with higher fidelity and better lighting. it leads to a really unique washed out and sun bleached look for the environments which i think makes it look really striking and unique. it fits the game well given the summer themes. the environments the game sends you to are all really cool and varied too both in themes and mechanics. you'll see really pretty urban streets, nearly flooded riverside bus stations, clothes stores, conbinis, office buildings, streets but on fire, shelters, shopping streets, train stations and some fun gimmick segments like a flooded area with explorable apartment blocks or a highway full of cars. it has a lot of verity and can even be pretty detailed, especially the interiors or spaces like the cool shopping district at the games midpoint. i love that shopping street especially, it's got a neat divide in wealth between them that the story expands on very well and it's neat going back and fourth and seeing that divide in action with how much worse the damage is on one side and how people have been handling it.

it's the kind of game where i got so much enjoyment out of just being in that space. if you like this specific flavour of urban Japan (and as a former resident i really do) then the game will be a great time to just, immerse yourself in the environments. it's one of the best playable renditions of urban Japan out there. the destruction that happens there too is both shocking and seriously impressive. seeing the switch handle things like the earthquakes and the dynamic environmental destruction is really something. seeing buildings collapse in real time or a highway coming down on itself, seeing the aftermath and people scurrying for safety. the sheer scale of it is very cool, especially given the games lower budget and older PS3 era tech. the game was originally going to release on PS3 like i said before and i can imagine it would have been even more impressive there. if you check videos of that port it's very similar in a lot of ways to the game that shipped and i think that's really cool, it's even got exact areas and scenarios recreated almost 1:1. it gives the game even more of an out of time feel, it does hugely feel like a ps2 or ps3 game and i mean that in as positive a way as i can. it's like playing something that just shouldn't exist in the form it does at the time it does... experiences like that are very precious to me, especially these days when they feel fewer and further between.

the game also has a series best OST composed by yuki Kitamura, naoki fujihisa, shoko fujihisa and mai iida. all of whom mostly worked on other granzella titles like city shrouded in shadow, r-type final 2 and r-type final 3. mai also worked on games like the pachipara series, disaster report 3 and hammerin' hero. the vocal tracks are the standouts of the entire OST. "the promised day" is probably my favourite song on the OST, just such an emotional track. "always be yourself" is a close second, i adore this one. "evening shower" is really sweet and nice to listen to. "I'm back", "photograph" and "instead of tears" are similarly fantastic. for a game to have one or two good vocal tracks is cool but to have 5 of this high quality is really impressive. give them a listen to when you can, they're some of my favourite game music of the last generation.

the more instrumental tracks are good too! "jingle bell" which plays during the epilogue is one of the best gaming xmas songs and gives the games epilogue a very nice feeling, "a nice apparel shop", "the usual convenience store" and "a restaurant adults enjoy" have a similar feel. i love the track "reminiscence", it's so calming. the tracks "dispirited", "calmness regained" and "calmness" are fantastic too, so much of the OST has a really nice solemn piano sound to it and i love that. that last one especially was an OST highlight for me. "peace of mind" is a very rare sight, pause menu music! it's one of the best I've heard too, it really feels like a moment of respite among the disaster. "with the person i admire" gives some real VN energy, it really reminds me of the never7 OST which is super high praise. I've been playing that game recently and i love it, but i won't go on too much of a tangent about that. "preparation" is an amazing store theme and a personal favourite, i really like it. "a fulfilling time" sounds like it could fit right into an otome game, it gives me huge amnesia energy. "me-time", "a nice costume" and "coming close to a conviction" round out the rest of the OST and they're all great tracks. the funny thing is that in listing all of these i covered almost the entire OST. it's all hits and it might even be the best OST in its series. it's for sure one of the best of it's generation and an all time favourite for me. give it a listen to if you can, i at least think those vocal tracks are well worth checking out, it's a solid EP worth of music for you right there.

the story is really good, it eschews the more grand silly aspects of the previous games' stories with the conspiracy stuff for a smaller and more personal story about you and the people you meet along the way. it's much more about the people trying to help each other to survive and the good and bad the situation can bring. group infighting, tribalism, traffickers, bullying, conmen, cultists and death contrasted with people coming together, doing real good for each other and some even finding love. it's all about people getting the best out of a bad situation, despite how bad the situations can get. it really does believe in people and never tries to take a cynical stance about it. i love how everything ties into each other too. a character will show up for a one-off scene and then continue to have their story expanded as the game continues and you can never quite predict where. even incidental characters have a real role to play in the disaster and i like how nobody goes undeveloped or forgotten. my personal favourite characters were the conman kumazawa, the students and their teacher (who disaster report fans will 100% recognise) and the various companions you meet along the way with yayoi and kanae. kumazawa especially has the best of this, he's so consistently funny and there's a moment of him at the ending that had me actively cheering out loud for him. the story can get emotional, it had me in tears at least a few times seeing some of the destruction and how it affected people, it can be a really tough sit but it really got me invested and i think that seeing people still persevere even with the circumstances is really touching and it means a lot to me, it's the kind of thing that gives me hope. i will warn though. this game does have a depiction of sexual assault that while it's offscreen, is still to me very poorly handled. it didn't hurt my love for the game too much but if it being there at all is enough for you to want to skip this then i would recommend you avoid it. again it is very minor and offscreen though if you do still want to give the game a try regardless.

as far as ports go you have a few options. the PS4 version is the base option and it plays great, it's got the full basegame in it and even an exclusive VR mode that lets you experience select chunks of the game in VR. it's a decent side mode but i don't think it's worth making a purchase decision over since it's so limited. it's the version i played for this run. the version I'm more familiar with though is the switch version. it looks and runs worse but it's portable and it comes with the epilogue DLC and costumes included by default on the cartridge, so i think it would be the version to go for if you don't mind those performance issues. if I'm being honest though, if you're the kind of person who seeks out games like disaster report 4 then i can't imagine this will matter much to you. the games length will run you about 8-12 hours your first run depending on how much optional stuff you go for, but there's replayability with finding the outfits, choices, compasses and a full alternate ending that will give you an extra hour or so of story. it's a pretty easy game though, the puzzles aren't very difficult and even the hardest gimmick segments will be doable for most after a few attempts. the DLC will also give you an extra few hours of stuff to do and is even easier than the main campaign.

there is also the case of the DLC. in this case it's mostly cosmetic but it's all pretty nice and most of it is free on both platforms. the one exception to this is the epilogue DLC, on ps4 you do get a small section of it as a free download but otherwise it'll run you £6, switch like i said is free. this DLC i think might be my favourite part of the game. it has two goals mainly. the first is to wrap up of the game by showing what became of the city and it's people. as well as a small celebration for previous titles with references, a Christmas setting and some old protagonists coming back and doing their own things. it does both of these wonderfully and i think it's commitment to showing the best of this small section of humanity really shines and it ends up being the game at it's best. you see the culmination of growth and change as people learn to better their lives while others mourn what was lost and try to move on. it wraps up the various loose ends from the main story like what happened to the weird creepy guys, what became of the cult or what did the Italian restaurant you helped decide to do going foreword. it's all so heartfelt and i like how it's all just without the series main gimmick.

there's no disaster in the epilogue, just a tour of the city as it recovers. you spend most of it just looking for characters and running errands, the only bit of action is a fist fight at the end which ends up shifting to a 2D perspective with fighting game mechanics. it's a much smaller deal and i think that works well in its favour. it's so cozy too. the low stakes and the Christmas atmosphere just give it such a nice energy it's snowing for a lot of it and seeing it fall from inside the warm stores is such a nice time and the more jazzy Christmas themed soundtrack the stores have really adds to that, this dlc was where i had the most fun just existing in these environments. the entire epilogue i had a smile on my face that never faded until it was all over even in moments when it had me crying. i was just sad it was over and that I'd done everything there was to do, but a few times it did just get to me with the atmosphere and the writing. i would consider it an essential play if you plan to play the game. it's cheap and if you get the game on switch it's literally free, so i don't think there's any real reason not to.

the game is on the slightly more expensive end depending on the version you want. PS4 copies tend to be more affordable at roughly £25-30 in PAL regions but the switch version will run you more at £35-40. it's not an unreasonable sum though and i think it's worth the price, especially since the switch version does give you the benefit of that free DLC epilogue being included. the game was developed by granzella, a personal favourite newer studio responsible for some of my favourite games of the past few gens. they're made up mostly of former IREM staffers. they made this as well as the other recent DR game with "city shrouded in shadow" and the upcoming disaster report 5, they also worked on the incredibly rad manga creation program for vita "manga kakeru" which you can see ads for in disaster report 4, many of the coolest zones in PS move, hototogisu tairan, sideview golf and the newer R-type games, the latter of which I have previously covered. the games director, one Kazuma kujo is well known in the industry. a long time worker at IREM, the developer of the first few games, he worked on games like the R-type series with delta, final, r-types and tactics, air duel, in the hunt, metal slug, steamboat chronicles, the sanyo pachinko series as well as every other disaster report game. he's a seriously impressive figure with a resume most would be jealous of. it's easily one of the best games of it's generation and i really think that if you have a way to play it, that you should track a copy down and give it a try. it's heartfelt, funny, seriously emotional and there's almost nothing else like it out there.