News: Even More TGS

September 21, 2005, 02:19 PM

by eric-jon, via TGS -
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More! There's a sort of interesting 3D platformer by Tecmo for the PSP, called Karakure (for "Character Collector", best I can make of it); you're surrounded by a group of "characters" -- these little Servbot-like creatures -- who you can align into various formations to perform tasks for you. You can, for instance, get them to hang onto each other's feet so you can grab the one at the end and swing them around like a whip. Or you can climb on them, or get them to guard you, or whatever. A decent idea, though for once I was glad for the booth babe to keep interfering and telling me what to do. It was a little tough to figure out the controls, and the demo was set up as a series of puzzles, each of which demanded a totally new use of the characters.

Then there's Londonian Gothics, for the DS -- that gothic loli game Brandon mentioned a while back. It's... inscrutable. Everyone kept telling me that it sucked; I don't know, because I just didn't understand it. The actual game engine was good. Every technical aspect was solid. There's a submenu where at will you can change your little girl into at least half a dozen different outfits. The thing is, the part of the game showed in the demo just seems to involve walking around in a dungeon and avoiding enemies. I feel like there's got to be more than this. There really wasn't, though.

The new Sega Ages stuff (post-D3) is coming along well. The Space Harrier collection, for instance, contains pretty much every version of the game: the arcade one, the Master System one, the sequel for the Genesis, and Space Harrier 3D for the Master System. That one even has a new 3D mode that lets you use red/blue tinted glasses in place of the Master System shutter goggles. There are a bunch of options for each game, and you can even select the jet from a menu in the Master System version. Basically, if you like Space Harrier, this is darned cool. Same thing with the SDI (Global Defense)/Quintet package. No real reason to play the Master System version of either. They're on there, though!

<Brandon's note: I looked at the Panzer Dragoon Ages game for a while, and it really does seem to be an upgrade, rather than a port. I say this because the jaggies are mostly gone, or as gone as they can be without significantly increasing the number of polys, and the framerate is MUCH improved. Overall it looks like a game to buy, if you like the series.>

Speaking of such things, Hamster also had its PS2 port of Terra Cresta up and running. I don't really get these ports, as Hamster's sampling from everyone's catalog, from Konami to Data East to Nichibitsu. Still, if they could be compiled, it would be neat to see something like a Data East or a Nichibitsu collection. The PS2 version was lots easier than I remember the original game being.