CRISIS BEAT
Original Release: Bandai, 1998, PlayStation
Other Releases: PlayStation 4 (2013)
An early 3D beat-em-up from Bandai that by strange coincidence came out a lot like Sega's Dynamite Cop, but was released right around the same time
Crisis Beat (PS1, Bandai, 1998)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
Crisis Beat is a pretty clear knockoff of Sega's Dynamite Deka/Die Hard Arcade, which came out two years prior. It's tempting to say it's a clone specifically of sequel Dynamite Cop, given both take place on a giant cruise ship overrun by terrorists ... but both of these games came out in 1998 not far from each other! Unless Bandai had ninja that managed to infiltrate Sega's operation, it's one hell of a coincidence ... as it works out, Crisis Beat sort of works as a PlayStation off-brand of Dynamite Cop when the home port wouldn't come out for another year and would obviously be exclusive to the Dreamcast.
Anyway, whatever the case ... Die Hard Arcade/Deka had at least modest success, and it's pretty widely regarded as being the first 3D beat-em-up (at least the first one that made a mark in the arcades), so I guess it's not a surprising template for a clone. Crisis Beat plays everything straighter and less goofy, though, and I think it actually benefits from it. I mean, the story and dialogue are no great shakes when they pop up between levels. However, the in-game visually storytelling, scene-setting/transition and tension-building is actually quite good. It's kinda like a lo-fi Shenmue at times, but almost a year before Shenmue would drop. I also like the choice of some scenes having no music, just some well-done ambient ship background sounds.
I don't want to set up the story as being anything amazing though. It's kind of a barely-there pastiche of Die Hard, Under Siege and The Rock just to set up an excuse to use a cruise ship as a brawler set piece. A rogue military unit from Unspecified Western Country uses a submarine to hijack a Japanese cruise liner on its maiden voyage, but rather than rob boomers of their pensions they're going to use it as a base to fire a nuclear missile (even though apparently they had a nuclear sub to get here?), and there's eventually an even more ridiculous subplot involving the kid sister of one of the playable characters ... just repeat to yourself, it's just a vidyagame.
Also, the cinematic direction is about the only real praise I can give it. Like predecessor Die Hard Arcade, the gameplay is generally slow and kludgy. It's an easy game to get through, though, because the enemies were made extremely loafy and dumb to compensate. It's not incompetently executed, it all works on a basic level, it's just there's really no challenge and it's extremely repetitive. You start to feel bad for some of the hapless mooks they keep wheeling out, like the big guys and their super-slow telegraphed charge, and the guys with guns and flamethrowers that seem to barely be able to handle their weapons. You also get loads of health if you're diligently smashing background objects along the way, as well as extra lives at certain point thresholds. And while combos are necessary to quickly dispatch mooks, it's one of the most forgiving combo button press systems I've ever seen. It's definitely one of the easiest beat-em-ups I've ever played on any platform.
It's also extremely linear - there's a different first level for each character, but then they converge and all have the same levels from there on out. It is longer than the very short Die Hard Arcade, I'll give it that, but it's pretty much the same experience every time and probably only going to be good for one playthrough. So it's the odd beat-em-up that's worth experiencing more for its aesthetic sense than its gameplay, but I guess that kinda tracks with the handful of 2D beat-em-ups Bandai did before this.
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