Disaster Report Diaries (Raw Danger!) Part One

Released in 2006 on the PlayStation 2 in Japan, then in 2007 worldwide, Raw Danger! (known in Japan as Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 2: Itetsuita Kiokutachi) is a direct sequel to SOS: The Final Escape (AKA Disaster Report). Despite that, it was called something completely different?

In this game, you control five different characters instead of just the one, and only one at a time across a series of chapters. The disaster this time is a flood, and the map in the manual shows a dam up in the mountains holding back a body of water called Cascade Lake. I’ll let you jump to your own conclusions. In the previous game I had to monitor my character’s water intake, this time I have to take note of how wet and cold they are, so quite a change-up.

So, let’s see how much of a disaster this game was!

This is my exploration of the Disaster Report series where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. Now let’s begin Raw Danger!...

On an indeterminate day, Joshua Harwell, college senior, attended the Del Ray Relief Center to participate in some disaster simulations. Five experiences in one room each, so I went through them in numerical order. At the end of room one was Geo, the mascot of Geo City — a kind of hedgehog with a ring around his waist (and a huge zipper up his back) — and I was told he was waiting in each room for me. Geo was standing in front of some tables with pamphlets, posters, and three mini Geos dressed as Santa, a police officer, and a paramedic. I assume it was a paramedic, the prompt just said “dressed in green”, like the green cross on the helmet wasn’t a good enough indicator.

I spoke to Geo and he stamped my card before I left for the next room. As the instructor began speaking, someone dropped a bucket of water on me from the floor above. They claimed it was an accident, but my body temperature had begun to drop. Luckily, almost by design, there was a Heating Pad on the table in front of me so I picked it up and used it to dry and raise my body temperature.

Geo waited ahead of me, so I walked towards him and beneath some pipes which drenched me again. Geo was next to a Survival Point, which I used to dry my clothes and warm up, then I got my stamp from Geo and went on to the third room.

The instructor told me to shout to get Geo’s attention, as he was facing the other direction and on the opposite side of a grating. Geo told me to go to him, so I moved a chair that was blocking my way and crawled through to get my stamp.

The fourth room was upstairs, so I went up and entered, finding Geo on a higher level than me. I had to jump across a gap and climb — but Geo had moved, somehow climbing a ladder while being orb-shaped with short arms. By the time I had also climbed the ladder, he was across a “log bridge” (it was a metal beam) and had climbed down a level! However, I was able to reach him and get my stamp.

For the final room, I had to cross multiple sections of running water to reach Geo. The first water section was a strong current, the second had waves that required me to hang on to a pillar to survive (I failed once), and the third was just full waves so I had to cling on to a handrail (also failing once). I dried my clothes at the Survival Point, then got my stamp and a final score from the instructor: 60 points, Average. I was given a Relief Center Compass for my troubles, and left the centre.

24th December 2010, 2:06 pm local time, Joshua Hardwell was working as a waiter at a fancy gala in Geo City, an underground section below Del Ray City. The gala was being held in honour of Mayor Goldstein, the “hero of Del Ray”, and a banner read “Geo Grand Opening Celebration”. Record-breaking rainfall had soaked the city over the past few days, but news reports stated that Geo City was the safest city ever, and nobody ever mentioned what happened on Stiver Island five years prior.

While the mayor gave a speech on stage, one of the other waiters asked me if I knew one of the waitresses, then told me that her family was supposedly rich. I told him that I didn’t care about that, but he didn’t believe me.

The mayor wrapped things up and my boss told me to get some food for the centre table, so I went into the kitchen and grabbed a trolley, delivering it to the woman from before as ordered. I offered to help her place the food, then she asked me to help carry planets, so I did. Our boss called her Stephanie, and told her to guide the guests outside — were they leaving or arriving? — while I attended to the guests inside.

Noticing a guest crouched on the ground, I spoke to her and she asked for help. She had lost a contact lens, which I found almost immediately and returned to her. Not wanting to get caught on the many cameras aimed at the mayor, I decided to take the trolley back to the kitchen. The boss asked what I was doing, so I told him that the head chef had called for me which he bought. Once the trolley was in the kitchen, I headed out to the public area to have a look around and found a Mascot Compass which I equipped.

A side room contained a Survival Point, as well as a Pot and a Tomato Soup which I picked up. Just outside of the room was a woman acting a little suspiciously, but as I went past her I could hear a child repeatedly saying “I want my mom, waahh”, which was where I found Stephanie with a child. I agreed to find the mother, then went right back to the suspicious woman who admitted to having lost a four-year-old.

With that mystery solved, Stephanie vanished and I continued exploring for a moment, listening to the opening 15 seconds of “Jingle Bells” on an endless loop that played over some speakers. However, there was nothing else of interest other than people commenting on the rainfall, as seen through a massive skylight high above us. Finally returning to the hall, I went over towards the mayor and despite people telling me to move, Mayor Goldstein stopped me and asked me for a glass of mineral water. Almost immediately, someone in a blue suit who I took to be his assistant excused himself and ran off, with the mayor explaining the guy must have had a nervous bladder.

I went to the kitchen for the water, and blue suit hurried past me back towards the mayor. Stephanie was in the hallway that he had just come through, so I asked if she was okay, but she excused herself and returned to the hall. As I entered the kitchen hallway, two police officers and someone in a trenchcoat walked along the adjoining hallway and entered a side room which I’d noticed earlier was being guarded. In the kitchen, one of the cooks asked me to retrieve a recipe from his locker and I had a quick look around the kitchen. I found a Geo costume in a box after I crawled beneath some shelves, but unfortunately, it was too big to leave with, so I took it off — also there was already a Santa Geo in the hall.

I nipped off to the locker room to get the recipe, and found an Employee List and issue of the Capitol Post newspaper, then grabbed the Italian Recipe for Saltimbocca from locker F-5. It was weirdly accompanied by a photo of the Head Chef, who was not the same guy who asked for the recipe… The Employee List gave Stephanie the last name McMurrough and had me on there twice. The Capitol Post gave some guidelines for Geo, kinda like costumed employees at Disney resorts.

In the kitchen, the cook thanked me for the Italian Recipe, and I overheard the Head Chef on the phone when I went to ask for mineral water. The water and gas were out, so I really wasn’t sure what the others were cooking with. The Head Chef indicated a Water Pitcher, so I picked it up and as I went to the door I saw Stephanie run past. She and the door guard were looking at a drip coming from the ceiling right next to the main power breaker. The guard said they would call someone and dismissed us both, so I returned to the mayor and he drank the water.

Blue suit ran up and whispered something to Goldstein, and the mayor made his exit, wishing us a pleasant evening. Then, one of the other waiters came to me and said we had to assemble outside the kitchen. When we were all there, our boss explained that the Hudson River levee had broke, so the guests had to be evacuated. I was told to guide the guests from the lobby back into the hall — but then things began to shake. Ankle-deep water rushed in and the boss told us to remain calm and do our jobs — I questioned if I was being paid enough for this.

As I headed for the lobby, the mayor and a workman exited the guarded room, with the man in charge complaining that he needed to do something. At least he hadn’t evacuated to his escape submarine or something… As I reached the door out into the lobby, there was another tremor. I informed two groups of guests that they needed to go back to the hall, and someone told me that Mayor Goldstein’s assistant had just gone into the men’s room, so I went to get him.

A jet of water was spraying at the ceiling, with blue suit desperately trying to stop it — until he saw me and decided it was my problem instead. Moments after he left, the building shook and part of the ceiling came down, blocking the way. Thankfully, the tremor also opened a hole in the wall but also brought more water in, so I had to crawl out while my body temperature began to drop. At least I knew where a Survival Point was! Just next door!

After warming up, I noticed that shutters had come down, and some debris was blocking the door, so I had no way back into the hall. I called out to another waiter who told me they were using the emergency stairs. He asked if I had seen Stephanie, and said that she might be in the locker room before leaving me to my own devices. But then I noticed a hole in the wall, giving me access to the kitchen (the Geo suit was still too big), and I used one of the gas stoves to warm up. Seems the gas was still running, Mr Head Chef…

I decided to check the main hall first and found Adhesive Tape which I grabbed, then headed for the locker room to grab my knapsack from my locker. It was just in time, as my pockets were getting full! As I had been told, Stephanie was in the ladies’ locker room, but the door was jammed and there was no way to open it — but a hole high up in the wall was a possibility. I dragged a stepladder over, but some electrical wires prevented me from going past, so I had to go back down the hallway to turn off the breaker box.

As I turned to return, water began to burst through the blocked hallway behind me! I sprinted towards the ladder, but a build-up of pressure knocked me down. Thankfully, I was able to reach the ladder an instant before the torrent of water tore through the hallway, and I reached the safety of the locker room…