The Playstation 2, as one of the largest and best selling videogame consoles in the world, is home to one of the most fantastic game libraries in recent memory. From Metal Gear Solid 3 and Okami, to Shadow of the Colossus and God of War, the PS2 is often held in high regard amongst the gaming public. As is entirely self-evident with any popular platform, the copious amount of absolutely abhorrent software that threatens to bury these modern-day classics is almost overwhelming, both in stench and quality.

Unfortunately, sometimes a game just won't have the polish to keep it afloat in the shit creek that is the bargain games market, and it gets lost amongst the floating turds that are Super Trucks Racing, Crime Life: Gang Wars, and Final Fantasy X. These sunken treasures are sometimes hauled up years later, often taking on a second life as something many people like to call a hidden gem.

Raw Danger, released in March of 2006 in Japan, and June of 2007 in North America, is the follow up to Disaster Report, an urban survival game where your only enemies are the forces of nature, and the ruined structures in which you're forced to traverse.



Developed by IREM, the Japanese development house known for arcade and console classics such as Lode Runner and R-Type, Raw Danger puts you in the role of several different characters, all of which share the same goal, survival. On Christmas Eve of the year 2010, Del-Ray, also known as the Geo City, the safest and most advanced city on the planet, is in the midst of celebrating just how awesome they are, when “shit” begins to go down. The extremely adept designers of this “accident waiting to happen” metropolis decided to build the city below sea level, with a gigantic levee in place to keep the Hudson River from flowing freely through the streets.

As the laws of disasters would dictate, it isn't too long before a torrential downpour puts a damper (Get it? Damp!) on the atmosphere, busting open the levee and sending the Hudson crashing down into Del-Ray. From there, you lead your decidedly feministic main character, Joshua the waiter, through what is some of the most intense, effective, and all-together engaging survival-action sequences in any game to date.

What really sinks the ship for Raw Danger is the lack of polish. In plainer terms, it looks worse than a first-gen PS2 game. This is somewhat of a large deal in a game where the environment and your surroundings play such a vital role, but it does more to give it a campy quality that truly sets it apart. Certainly, the scale of the disasters that surround you at all-times are vast, sometimes portraying mountain slides wiping out an entire section of a town, while you furiously row an emergency raft through the flooded streets, but the fidelity in which they're displayed is almost always disheartening, and it does nothing but make you wish IREM had some real money to sink into the series.


Yes, the game really does look this awful.

Where Raw Danger fails in visuals, it makes up for itself in gripping game mechanics. For instance, your health isn't measured in terms of HP, or any other such conventional mechanic, but instead simply takes into account your body temperature. Obviously, in a disaster involving flooding, a main concern is staying dry and keeping yourself warm. Raw Danger employs a conditions meter, comprised of your current status of your clothes, and the incline or decline of your current body temperature. As you make contact with water, either by stepping through it, being splashed by it, or being rained on, your clothes and body will begin to take effect. It's absolutely necessary to keep your shoes and clothes as dry as possible, as often as possible, in order to keep yourself warm. Running around in wet clothes will only result in your imminent death. Keeping warm is fairly simple, thanks to designated “survival points” where heaters are present, allowing you to dry your clothes and warm your body. In more dire situations, where the chance to dry your clothes seem far off, your best chance is to obtain and then cook a hot meal for yourself, which raises your body temperature back up.


Afore mentioned Survival Point. Cook some noodles!

The thing that makes these mechanics even more interesting are the various items and options you have for creating useful items from nothing. At the start of the game, you'll get a relatively small backpack that can hold several things, but as the game progresses, you'll be able to find larger backpacks, allowing for more items to be obtained, which you'll desperately need. Aside from standard fare, such as flashlights and ramen noodles, you'll come across certain items that can be a god send. Items such as umbrella's, warmer clothes and even pieces of trash could end up saving your life in the long run. Finding a garbage bag and some duct-tape, for instance, can keep you dry for a very long time, by combining both items to fashion yourself a makeshift rain coat, usable to keep the rain from soaking your clothes. Even weird odds and ends can be used to start fires, enabling you to cook meals when death's icy grip begins to take hold.


Garbage bag+tape = Life saver. Me:1 Rain:0

Yet another interesting take on this survival aspect comes in the form of clothes that can actually wear out. Fall from a ledge and need to scrap and drag yourself back up? You'll probably tear your pants, making them less effective when it comes to keeping you warm and dry. All around the game world you'll find different (sometimes ridiculous) clothing items, from children's hats to pink ear muffs and nurse uniforms. Depending on what the clothing is made from, and where it's worn, these different articles of clothing can last forever, or for a short duration. As an example, my garbage bag raincoat only took a couple of tears before becoming completely worthless, but my fuzzy pink gloves survived for nearly the entirety of my adventure.


You'll be stuck with this kid for the "main" portion of the game, and unlock new characters who play through the same time-frame in different scenarios. A cheap way to extend the length, but it works.

While having to deal with keeping your body warm and dry at all times is tough, trying to traverse some of the constantly changing, consistently crumbling environments is even more so. As you move about sections of the game, whether they're buildings falling apart at the seams, or completely flooded highways you need to traverse via jet-ski, there's always something huge and terrible right around the corner. At any given time all hell can just completely break loose, culminating in you being washed away by a vicious flood of water, or being crushed by debris. In these situations, the best course of action is either to run, or hold on for your life. Every one of these situations is not only tense and nerve-wrecking, but occasionally, it's fairly challenging.

Raw Danger is easily one of the most unique games I've garnered an affinity for, and amongst the many many under-the-radar games the PS2 has seen, it's one in which I would gladly recommend to anyone with a PS2. Despite its sub-standard graphics, stiff controls and overall lack of polish, Raw Danger stands out as a survival-action game like no other.


Actually not as lame as it looks.

In terms of availability, Raw Danger is most likely an easy pickup. While not overly common by any means, chances are if you scrounge through an EB/Gamestop or two, you'll come across a copy for $10 or below. Do yourself a favor and pick it up immediately, you won't regret it.