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At ECTS, I didn’t ever actually bother with the map, so finding Sammy was a little harder than it should have been. I should have known, though, when we reached an area where Alex said:
“Hmm, it’s all looking a bit Kentia.”
Now. I don’t mean to be too hard on Sammy, but they could have put a little bit of effort in. Sitting in an undecorated stand, facing the wrong direction at the furthest end of the hall, probably isn’t the greatest plan. But for the most part, the 4 AtomisWave machines were in constant use.
I don’t know if they were showing Seven Samurai again behind closed doors. Sammy Studios were certainly on hand and in meetings all day, every day, so I imagine they were. But the only thing I could really get a hands-on with were the AtomisWave machines.
Dolphin Blue
Mathew’s take
I think this game made me wonder if I was cut out to be a game journalist, even in the amateur respect. Brandon had already told me he felt the game was "HELLA" uninspired, in fact, he said it was the worst of the bunch in his E3 report.
I think I’m having a little trouble with that idea, because the first thing I thought when I saw it was -
It’s Metal Slug -- but it’s hi-res, it’s got some nice polygon graphics going on, and you can ride dolphins.
I can’t say I wasn’t excited by the prospect of this on free play. And I’ll admit, it’s quite workmanlike. It doesn’t do anything particularly new. But…
It’s Metal Slug.
I love Metal Slug; running along, pumping bullets into enemies that -- uncommonly -- have some character. And this has some character too -- although its art design is about as new as its gameplay (this time derivative of Skies of Arcadia):
IT’S METAL SLUG.
I shouldn’t be rewarding Sammy for this -- but if you’ve played each version of Metal Slug to death and you still want more, play this. Of course if you haven’t, this at least has some swimming sections and funky forced-scroll dolphin-riding sections. I love it, no matter how cynical I should be. Maybe Brandon has something to say about it, to change my mind.
Brandon’s take
*disclaimer!* I played the 80% build at E3. Mathew played the 100% complete version. So keep that in mind.
OMG! It’s the Metal Slug clone that all the kids are talking about; the one with the 3D backgrounds and the dolphin riding. It does have those things, and in spades. But it’s missing some important stuff – namely the personality and humanity I’ve come to expect from a run&gun these days.
Nearly every enemy looked and acted the same. There was no real character to them, and the AI felt flat-out stupid when compared to say, a Metal Slug 3.
The graphics, admittedly are very pretty. But playing the game, I kept getting sidetracked by looking at the Sushi Bar console to my left, or thinking about interviews, or what I was going to have for lunch tomorrow. It didn’t hold my attention…there’s just something about the sound design and the character art that doesn’t draw me in. It had this effect on several of us at E3.
In Metal Slug, of course, each character is different, dynamic, and appears to have a life outside of war, just by virtue of the way they animate and interact with the environment. This is true of the enemies as well. But there’s none of that in Dolphin Blue – it’s just an action shooter. It’s pretty good at doing what it intends, then. But it’s just not something I’d want to play again and again.
Because…at the same time, while it’s not got the character and heart of Metal Slug, it’s also not as technical and precise as other games in the genre. It’s a bit too slow, and lacks the twitch element we expect from a Contra title, or the GI Joe franchise, for instance. It straddles that fine line between the two paragons of the genre, and as a result doesn’t quite manage to be distinct enough to make an impression on me.
This is one of those titles that will really polarize an audience. Play it and see for yourself, I sez.
Demolish Fist
Mathew’s take
“Well the world don’t move, to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some.”
It takes different strokes to move the world; yes, it does. This was Brandon’s second most played game of E3. Of E3! He didn’t even bother to play Zelda: Four Swords!
There are, in my mind, several ways to tell -- within seconds -- if the game you are playing is terrible. After the seminal "Start to Crate Test", I think comes the "Walk Test". How your character walks is what you’re going to see the most in the game, right?
The one character, Leoneed, walks like he’s on the most leisurely stroll in history. It seems as if he’s dawdling down to the shops one morning for a Sunday paper; not that he’s surrounded by a motorcycle gang, attempting to slap, perhaps, the HELL out of him.
I get no feeling of character from anything in this game. I’m not going to blame it on the polygons, as it all looks very nice. But it’s as if someone approached a team of Microsoft Word programmers, handed them several Japanese art books, and asked them to make Final Fight. We’ve got Leoneed (or, essentially, Law from Tekken), Vanessa May, apparently taking time out from her world tours to cosplay as a member of STARS and limply fight street thugs, or Undead (Christ, I don’t even know where to begin. Raiden? K’? Any one of the recent Castlevania leads?).
It’s not like the design had to be so dull. The characters are all members of "The Missionaries", the special operations unit of "The Church" -- an organisation dedicated to fighting violent crime and terrorism. (Ooh, topical.)
Wouldn’t they be cooler if they were all, I don’t know, kung fu priests, swinging rosary beads and throwing crosses? The smart bomb move could be the Virgin Mary crying a river of blood, washing away all the enemies!
No?
Well, then it’s a shame that it’s just all so dull, to be honest. The fighting, with combos, blocking, and a pleasing ‘Vertigo Mode’ in which your chosen character can rack up a hideous combo, is all very solid. But it’s all wrapped up in such a characterless, meaningless brawl that I was glad to stop playing.
Brandon’s take
If this were Tim’s story, I’d be round about ready to ‘fire’ Mathew for canning my ‘most played game of E3’. As it is, he’s on thin ice. We all know fire and ice simply do not mix. GUFFAW.
So here’s why he’s incorrect this time, the poor misguided bastard.
There has not, to date, been a great 3D beat-em-up. Fighting Force kinda tried…but we all know what happens when you only kinda try in this business. (and bear in mind, I’ve never gotten to play Spike Out.)
However!! This is a very, very good 3D beat-em-up. Given the slim competition, I’ll confidently call it the best 3D beat-em-up that I have ever played. The system is rather cool – button sequences and directional leanings yield a solid set of fixed combos. Branching is also possible – not to the extent of Her Knights, but a fair bit more than Final Fight 3.
Hell, I love that the characters are nonchalant when they fight. Isn’t that the primary mark of a badass? Last I checked - very recently - it was. I mean…you can pick up cars and throw them. Everybody in this game is a goddamned superhero. The character design is more than stylish, the action is smooth and the levels are dark and threatening. There was a lot of work put into establishing a mood for this game…and it’s not much of a surprise, given that this is a Dimps property.
More than that, this is the first Dimps game that is not built around an existing license…the first game that’s theirs, after all of that (largely solid) Bandai work. And it shows in the heart they put into Demolishfist. It’s funny how Mathew and I are completely opposite as regards this game. I really got a distinct feeling of character from it, given the nifty Daraku Tenshi-esque designs, the ridiculous bonus stages (DESTROY ALL FORKLIFTS!!! for some reason), the dark, gritty environments and the fun, if slightly mindless combo system.
Eric-Jon felt the same way about this game…that lends credence, does it not? I am confident that with more playtime, Mathew would come around to feeling this way as well.
Case in point, Mathew had a problem with the characters not running – but a double tap on the stick makes them do just that, and they seem pretty urgent about it. If you’re looking to play a 3D beat-em-up, this is a good way to go.
Maximum Speed
When I arrived in London the first thing I did was check out the arcades around Tottenham Court Road. I was on the lookout for Initial D, because I’d never played it. I found it the first place I looked: an arcade situated beside the "Scientology Shop", which offers free IQ tests (the results of which, I imagine, are "You should convert to Scientology!").
Initial D is everything an arcade racer should be. For one, the card system really adds something to the experience. The turning circle of the wheels is huge, so it feels a lot closer to driving than it could at home. It was so good, that I continued to think about it all week before I finally managed to take time out from ECTS, to find and play it again.
Maximum Speed is everything an arcade racer should not be, in this day and age. For one, it doesn’t look any better than the original Daytona USA -- and it plays far worse. The selling point is that you can choose to drive either trucks, stock cars, or Formula-1 vehicles. After playing the game in stock car mode, I actually could not bring myself to try any of the other options. I’ll take an educated guess, though, and say that the driving feels the same in every possible vehicle. From what I've seen, the driving model is horribly unsophisticated, and the tracks are generic to the point where I imagined I would go into a coma.
A "White-Hot Racing Game that Will Thrill All Your Senses!”, this is not.
Brandon’s note
Discussing a game without extensive play?? We at insert credit would never condone that.
Sports Shooting USA
This was actually available in the arcade where I played Initial D and Demolish Fist. I didn’t try it at the time. I can’t say I’m overly bothered by the loss. It is something to note, though, that someone was playing Demolish Fist while I was there. I couldn’t tell if he was having fun or not. I put some money into a Metal Slug 3 machine, rather than try Sports Shooting USA.
This game is actually quite interesting in theory, as the gun has a laser sight; if you look through it, it should offer a direct hit wherever you are aiming. Since I can’t believe that Sammy would exhibit a machine that was badly miscalibrated, I’ll conclude that it just doesn’t work. Tied to the lack of depth that a monitor has, this system is just far too messy -- and it doesn’t have the precision that a sports shooting game needs, particularly in two-player mode. If you are not facing the screen dead-on, the aim is even further off. Even were the game precise, it would still merely be a humourless Point Blank with a cheap, plasticky gun.
Compared to Virtua Cop 3, this seems wilfully backwards; possibly an attempt to draw in the "Golden Tee" golf crowd. It might succeed if it weren't that the weapon looks like a 99p space gun.
Sushi Bar
Good god man. A copy of this game belongs in every home. If you’ve any plans to purchase an Atomiswave mainboard, and I know that several of you out there do, do not hesitate to purchase this game. This is the puyo puyo successor I’ve been awaiting. Forget this Puyo Fever business. Sushi Bar is the next level for puzzle fans.
You take the role of a young sushi chef, competing for…well…something. That’s not important.
So you’re up there at the top of the screen, in all of your high-res animating glory, towel wrapped around your head, tossing sushi combinations down to the proverbial customer. You grab them in groups of three or less as they rotate around a conveyor belt. This makes the action incredibly frenetic, but also very tactical, given that you actually choose your own pieces.
You then have the option to rotate the pieces, but thereafter you must drop them directly. No guiding of the sushi is possible after that, which makes it distinctly different from most other puzzlers out there. It doesn’t feel like a hindrance though, it just takes a different strategy to get into the groove.
Four pieces of like type linked together will eliminate the string of sushi. Naturally, chain reaction eliminations cause flotsam to fall on your opponent. These are represented by empty plates, which are worth no points, and do not link together.
At any given time, there are sushi combinations that are worth more points and do far more damage than any other. This comes up in the far upper corner of each player’s screen. When you’ve gotten a particularly nice run, a gigantic sushi piece will appear on the conveyor belt. This piece counts as a chain all on it’s own (sort of like a square gem combination in Super Puzzle Fighter II), and does extra damage if used in a chain. It does even more damage if it happens to be the sushi-of-the-moment up at the top.
If you watch the video, the system will become quite clear to you.
The system makes this game utterly playable. The character designs and lively animation give it presence and appeal. The frenetic gameplay gives it a long lasting freshness.
It’s damn fine. If you see this in your local arcade, don’t spare the quarters. I was contemplating prior to E3, whether it would be even possible to make a puzzle game with a new gameplay system these days, as the establish trends are just so lordly, and tend to influence all other games that try to enter the genre. But Sushi Bar manages to stay unique, though the governing tenets of play are largely familiar to us.
Demolishfist was my second most played game of E3 - this was the first. And unquestionably my favorite.
Final notes from Brandon:
The Atomiswave is an interesting beast. It’s got Sega chips at the core, backed by Sammy dollars. Arc System has pledged themselves to it, as have Dimps and IGS. Arc and Dimps both contain ex-SNK members, and IGS is SNK’s most loving imposter. And now SNK has even thrown their proverbial hat into the ring.
Atomiswave is in a great position to assert itself as the savior of deep-investment (or ‘hardcore’) gaming. It’s very curious to see all of these companies uniting under one arcade board, but hopeful as well.
The great thing is, Sammy’s amusement section is building ties with the console sector…so there’s a much better chance that we may see some of these games come to the home. Keep your fingers crossed. This could be just the thing we’ve been waiting for since the untimely demise of the Dreamcast/Naomi coupling.
Mathew Kumar is White-Hotter-Than-Ever!
Brandon Sheffield mourns the lack of vegetarian sushi selections in videogames.
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