Link: Vulcanus (PSP)

October 10, 2006, 01:49 AM

by ollie, via Compile Heart -
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vulcanus_1.jpgAround the time of the PSP's release several titles were touted for launch, Vulcanus was one of them. From the few gameplay movies shown a while back it's clear the game hasn't changed much (if at all). There are two new and pretty decent gameplay movies for two of the playable mecha, the Mark and the Kiev.

In all fairness, there's nothing massively new or groundbreaking here. The over boost function is straight out of Armored Core and the plodding and suitably pedestrian gameplay is all too similar to steaming pile of faeces that was Metal Wolf Chaos. It also looks like you can't fly, which for a gun toting robot isn't the best news in the world.

The only eyebrow raising feature is 4 player multiplayer, but it's only Ad Hoc so it aint anything to get massively excited about. Korean developer Zepetto is still handling this as well. Anyway, the game's released on November 16th for the princely sum of 5040 yen.

Ollie Update: A nice poster on the forum by the name of Wind-up informed me via the forum messaging system that...

"Vulcanus was actually released here in Korea around November of last year. I'd say it's more a case of a lengthy delay in release for Japan, rather than having been in development for two years ... It could (maybe still can) be found commonly in bargain and used-game piles for 15,000 - 20,000 KRW (1500 -2000 JPY ) shortly thereafter, so it would seem the mission of providing a locally-produced alternative to the highly popular AC was not accomplished with much success. It certainly didn't strike me as anything I needed to try." So, there you have it.

Brandon's note: I've played this all the way through, and it's pretty decent. Could've been made quite a bit better with some minor tweaks, but I didn't miss the ability to fly. It keeps you on the ground, but is very shooty and arcade focused, which I appreciated. Biggest gripes are the need to manually reload, and some lack of variety to the missions. All in all, probably should've come to the states.