Impressions: Max Impact 2 (updated!)

September 17, 2005, 12:56 AM

by eric-jon, via SNKP -
[permalink]

It's here in video at least; I don't know why it isn't playable, as it looks really far along. According to the pamphlet I am not in a position to scan at present, the game's 60% done -- which was about where the original game was when I first played it.

Anyway! Details. Characters thus far announced include everyone from the original game save Mignon and Duke (though they might be in there somewhere), plus Billy Kane, a poofy-haired Kula, Ash Crimson, and new characters Nagase (a very yellow girl) and the adult gothic loli Luise Meyrink. Obvious changes to returning characters are as follows: Kyo's wearing that outfit from the Production IG character sheet; Iori looks kind of feminine; Seth's got a new, grubbier outfit; Ryo has become more Art of Fighty; all three Ikaris have new outfits, Leona being the most clear with longer pants.

From the video, it looks like every character has either been remodeled or significantly edited. At the least, there are new textures and a few more polygons. Most of the animation seems to have been redone, and is much smoother than before. All the motions seem to blend into each other, continually. There are a lot more special effects, and the lighting seems to have gotten a lot of work. There's still a little way to go with the presentation. Not bad so far, though!

Systematically, it looks like there's some kind of parrying thing going on now; at one point, Rock and Terry are kicking at each other, and Rock sort of kicks Terry's leg out of the way. They trade blows in a really seamless fashion. The game is also faster and more... extreme than before. Lots of knocking people into the air and doing mean things to them. Again, it's all smooth. No jerking around!

There's a pretty decent rendered intro. Looks like it would have been state-of-the-art about five years ago. Ryo's face looks a little weird. That's all right, though. Very dynamic and well-choreographed, for the most part. The Production IG animation is really snazzy, and actually, for how short and random it is, has a decent sense of mood and emotion to it. At one point Kyo looks shocked at a turnaround in the middle of a fight he's in.

Altogether, the game seems to build significantly on what the previous one established.

Oh! To note, Max Impact 3 also was announced for Xbox 360. So I guess this series will be around for a while.