Re-Play: Incredible Crisis

It is safe to say that nearly every household had a Playstation 1 back in the day, but how many people had the game Incredible Crisis? From what I gather, nowhere near enough people. It is one of those games that the Japanese felt wouldn't hit a brick wall in other countries, and they were right. Yet it baffles me why it was criminally underrated worldwide. Alas, I shall provide an insight into a game filled with humour, challenging yet quirky puzzles and a .... giant evil teddy bear.

 The plot to the game is basically a day in the life of a typical Japanese family, or at least that what it appears to be on the surface. As monotonous as that sounds, don't be fooled, for it's Grandma's birthday! (Everyone's favourite day of the year, right?) and the family promise to be present for their gathering after their shenanigans during the day.

You get to play as each character, Taneo (workaholic Dad), Etsuko (typical housewife) and children Ririka and Tsuyoshi. The beauty of the game is unravelled immediately when the first level sees Taneo enjoying his lunch break by dancing. Most people would think that the whole game is going to be based on dancing, or seeing an animated Bruce Forsyth break into the foxtrot, but there has never been a game invented that varies so much in its levels and challenges. Next thing we know, our beloved Taneo has to outrun a giant wrecking ball (not Miley) to avoid death. Funny how things change.

Now the thing that made this game so enjoyable as a kid was the insane and wacky occurrences that these regular people encountered, and it made me think that it could happen to me. It's one of those games that you would wanna play just to have fun and not get stressed out about. Despite being a short game in length, it has a huge replay-a-bility factor and every time you clear a level, you can play it again as a mini-game.

If you still have a Playstation, get searching for Incredible Crisis on eBay or Amazon and enjoy this classic game that never truly got its deserving place in the gaming world.