Shaun Watson reviews…

Incredible Crisis

Sony Playstation Entertainment System video game review
Incredible Crisis
(Action/Puzzle, 1 Player)

In my experiences as a direct video game consumer, I have had only two purchases that utterly surprised me in how much they retained during their import from the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan, while entertaining me completely. One of those games is OnePiece Mansion. The other is the über-sleeper hit which I will now review.

Our story centers on the Tanamatsuri family in a cartoon version of modern Japan. The story follows the actions of our four protagonists as they try to get home in time for Grandma Tanamatsuri's birthday. The characters are:

Taneo(the father): Middle-aged salaryman who is stressed out easily. Posterboy for all of Incredible Crisis.

Etsuko(the wife): Housewife. One of the better storylines/minigames in the game.

Tsuyoshi(the son): Chubby schoolboy. How he made it to his age is a mystery.

Ririka(the daughter): Wild teenage schoolgirl. God looks after babies and fools; she has the best of both worlds.

Getting home seems easy enough, but when confronted with the madness that is Japan, you'll have to wonder if these are fictional events not based on reality in any way. Even with the borrowed elements from popular movies(Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Titanic, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial, Godzilla) and other games(the board game Simon, Parappa the Rappa and BustAGroove), this game will have your mind boggling while pushing your stress to its limit, all to a ska soundtrack from the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra.

This is Incredible Crisis.

Incredible Crisis is frickin' insane. I have never played a game that made me want to break it and cherish it at the same time. It's challenging and funny as hell to watch, let alone play. The stress meter is what can get you every time, because when you think you're doing OK, you could be on the verge of losing a life due to stress. Get it right the first time: no pressure!
There are some real memorable moments in this game, particularly the Ferris Wheel game. That game alone was so inappropriate that it had to be changed to a back massage. The sound on the game still indicates that whatever you're doing is NOT a back massage. If you feel that there are other memorable moments, then you can always go to the in-game video store and rent the games you've already beaten(and saved) to better your score. This is by far one of the many reasons to own a Playstation turbo controller. I didn't beat the game with a turbo controller; my hands wish that I did.

It'll be a hard find damn near anywhere, so be wary of the daunting task of trying to get it. Incredible Crisis gets a rating of 9.

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