The X Button
Absolute Values
by Todd Ciolek,
Still waiting for Fumito Ueda's The Last Guardian to come out? Worried that it wasn't shown at The Tokyo Game Show? Soon you may not care so much. Each major convention seems to bring a new game with a restrained palette, a gentle style, or looming, cooperative creature that recalls Ueda's Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and the forever-in-development The Last Guardian. We've already seen Rime, The Girl and the Robot, and Ori and the Blind Forest. Now we have Vane.
Vane's Tokyo Game Show trailer features many Shadow of the Colossus staples: realistic tones, entrancing music, a subtle link between a young hero and a mysterious beast, and a majestic wasteland unclouded by lifebars or numbers. There's a good reason for that, as some of studio Friend & Foe worked on The Last Guardian before they started making Vane for the PC (and possibly other systems). Their exodus may suggest further rough sailing for The Last Guardian, but it serves Vane quite well.
NEWS
IN WHICH I REFUSE TO MAKE A PUN ABOUT SHORT PEACE DELAYS
Why did Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day take a while to reach North America? I suspect some behind-the-scenes quibbling. The game, a crazy-colored platformer about a fratricidal young assassin, is technically part of the Short Peace anime anthology that also includes PlayStation Network.
Perhaps that's why Sentai Filmworks version of Short Peace. At least the game's a unique piece of work. It finds Ranko whirling, slashing, and hoverbike-riding through side-view stages, accompanied by animated cutscenes and audacious manga sound effects. It's the sort of thing that might easily fly under the radar, so I hope that a few delays haven't doomed it.
SACRED TEARS Steam when a lot of people weren't looking, and it's another entry in the retro-RPG tradition. Developer AlphaNuts specializes in smartphone games (and not entirely family-safe ones, either), yet this appears to be their first Steam release.
The Sacred Tears TRUE has the RPG-maker look of many smartphone releases when it comes to overhead graphics, and its freshman-thief protagonists and Takashi Konno designs don't look to break many molds. However, the battle scenes show a decent diorama perspective similar to early Tales titles, and combat relies on cards for commands. That's a nice change from most of the menu-driven affairs jockeying around the retro-RPG landscape.
SAMURAI SHODOWN RETURNS AGAIN
It's abundantly clear that SNK Playmore isn't what it used to be. The headstrong days of SNK's arcade showmanship are over, the Playmore rebirth has slowed, and the gorgeous The King of Fighters XIII is over two years old. So SNK Playmore keeps up appearances with pachinko and smartphone titles. Their latest repackages Samurai Shodown (yes, that's how they always spelled it) for mobile devices and…well, at least it's not a pachislot game.
Samurai Shodown Slash brings the old Neo Geo fighting game series into a scrolling run-and-attack affair, offering cute versions of Haohmaru, Shiki, Nakoruru, Galford, Charlotte, Hanzo, Genjuro, Ukyo, and others. There are weapons to upgrade and cameos from The King of Fighters mainstays like Mai Shiranui, Kyo Kusanagi, and Iori Yagami. I'm sure they'll cost extra. It's an interesting study for those who follow SNK's decline, but it might not come out here—at the moment, it's just for the Korean market. I won't miss this one if it stays overseas. Now, if SNK made a cute puzzle game based on The Last Blade, that'd be another matter.
IMPORT ROUNDUP: SEPTEMBER
| ABSOLUTE DESPAIR GIRL: NIS America localized the second Danganronpa quite rapidly after bringing out the first one. Spike Chunsoft is not about to let a popular thing go to waste, so Danganronpa gets a spin-off. It's called Another Episode, and it's a different sort of game. Nestled chronologically between the two previous games, Another Episode returns to that Danganronpa fondness for amoral, isolated teenagers. It follows Komaru Naegi, sister of the original Danganronpa's Makoto Naegi. While her brother got to attend an elite high school run by the murderous bearlike mastermind Monokuma, Komaru just finds herself locked in an apartment and denied any with the outside world. Her sequester ends when a robotic Monokuma breaks through her door. It's one of a veritable horde of two-tone bears overrunning the city, and Komaru soon learns of a creepy cabal of kids who want to slaughter the adult population. Well, it worked in all of those Children of the Corn movies, didn't it? Komaru's best weapon in this mess is a megaphone-like Hacking Gun that turns her voice into varied attacks: she might fire electric bolts at the marauding Monokumas, or she might command them in a number of useful and self-destructive ways. Another Episode shuns the heavy conversations and cross-examinations of previous Danganronpas, and instead the game runs like a limited survival-horror action game as Komaru makes her way through a colorful and disturbingly abstract apocalypse. She also encounters Toko Fukawa, the frustrated author from the first Danganronpa, and the young writer can switch to her Genocide Jill persona during gameplay. Together they'll figure out just what happened and how it connects to the rest of Danganronpa…though it may be already clear to those who played the first game. Import Barrier: It's not quite as heavy on the text as a full-blown visual novel, but there's ample dialogue. Besides… Domestic Release: NIS America likely has Another Episode in its sights, though they can't confirm anything. While the heavy dose of graphic and disturbing child-centric violence makes it a riskier project, I suspect we'll see this localized before long. Marketability: Monokuma is already on his way to merchandising, with plush toys and Nendoroids and carrying bags featuring the scheming, abusive little monster. |
| FATAL Mai the Psychic Girl musical. |
THE LEGEND OF HEROES: TRAILS IN THE FLASH II Developer: Falcom Publisher: Falcom Platform: PSVita, PlayStation 3 If North America's Danganronpa games are dangerously near to catching up with their Japanese versions, there's no such neck-and-neck among Falcom's RPGs. XSEED Games and Carpe Fulgur labor long and hard on Valkyrie Profile. Trails in the Flash II also brings in Lloyd Bannings and Rixia from Trails of Zero, the previous course on Falcom's The Legend of Heroes platter. This isn't a cameo, either, as Flash and Zero take place at roughly the same time. Trails in the Flash II retains the original's varied approach to battles, where characters can attack rapidly, link up with fellow party , and exploit the turns of battle. Players now have a little more freedom in what they can do outside of combat; enemies are again visible before you encounter them, and you can slash at them multiple times prior to the actual fight. Import Barrier: There's plenty of text to go through, but the general exploration and combat is familiar RPG stuff. And the Vita and PlayStation 3 have no region lockouts to stop you. Domestic Release: If there is to be an English version, it's a long way off. Once the Second Chapter of Trails in the Sky is localized, the translators have its third chapter, plus Trails of Zero and Trails of Blue, and then the first piece of Trails in the Flash to go through. But Falcom's preparing a Korean version! Marketability: Falcom often goes for low-key promotions, so there's no Trails in the Flash anime or Coca-Cola bottlecap figures just yet. There is, however, a typically excellent Falcom soundtrack. |
September brought potential Wii U savior Bayonetta 2 to Japan, and it'll be right along to North America later this month. The same cannot be said of the Vita and PSP's Bakumatsu Rock Ultra Soul, sequel to the rhythm game that inspired an anime series with its vision of rock-star samurai clashing in the last days of the shogunate. Ultra Soul even has a glammed-up Matthew Perry Jr., who styles himself a godlike music legend instead of an imposing foreign naval commander. Yet that won't get it a ticket to North America.
NEXT WEEK'S RELEASES
ALIEN: ISOLATION  Developer: The Creative Assembly Publisher: H.R. Giger intended. That seems a nobler aim than the typical Alien vs. Predator shooter or Predator vs. Santa comic, and I hope it'll create more than just another regrettable sideshow. |
| Bakugan Battle Brawlers. |
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