|
Four Flew Over
Taiwan’s digital game industry was represented at E3 2004 by a quartet of game developers at a booth in the southwest corner of Kentia Hall: XPEC Entertainment Inc., InterServ International Inc., Lager Interactive Inc., and EASYFUN Entertainment Corp. Given the short history of Taiwan’s digital game industry, every Taiwanese game developer is a pioneer, but at the moment only these four companies provide entertainment to the international market audience of E3.
And Then There Were Two…
Taiwan’s best chance for international legitimacy as a videogame industry currently rests upon XPEC and Intersev, who are its only console developers. XPEC and Interserv have broken rank with their Taiwanese peers and expanded their operations beyond the PC-MMORPG paradigm of gaming that currently dominates the digital game markets of Taiwan and Asia (outside Japan). Their efforts have earned them publishing deals in the Japanese and Western markets, and expanded the horizon of Taiwan’s game industry. By contrast, Lager and EASYFUN are PC MMORPG developers for the Asian and Greater China markets, respectively. These markets are hugely important, and not to be diminished, but the console market has more clout and legitimacy. Thus, XPEC and InterServ will be the focus of this report.
XPEC
Although XPEC was incorporated in 2000, it has already laid claim to a series of milestones firsts in Taiwan’s nascent console game market. Its first console title, the RPG Ex-Chaser/Blackstone-Magic and Steel, was the first Asian (outside Japan) console game in history. Released in March 2003 to Japanese and North American markets, Famitsu Weekly gave it 23/40 (6, 5, 6, 6), which is a D-. The game was mediocre, but its poor marks must be evaluated in light of the fact that this was XPEC’s, not to mention Taiwan’s, first console game.
Max Lin, a producer of Ex-Chaser, candidly admitted what anyone in XPEC will tell you, namely that Ex-Chaser had many faults because it was their first console experience. Wonder Lin, who incidentally has no relation to Max Lin, disclosed that XPEC couldn’t help but approach the XBOX development of Ex-Chaser from a PC MMORPG point of view, since that is all anyone knows in Taiwan. That notwithstanding, Ex-Chaser was first in XBOX game sales during the week of its release, and ended 2003 as the sixth overall in XBOX software sales. XPEC also informed me that Ex-Chaser was the first game for which Microsoft Japan ever ordered a second shipment. Granted, Ex-Chaser had little competition in the Japanese market, where the XBOX sold poorly, but their freshman accomplishments are still significant.
No sooner had it released Ex-Chaser, however, than it had become the first Taiwanese gamer to acquire the rights for a Gamecube development kit. It was also the first Taiwanese game developer to acquire a PS2 development kit, a feat it accomplished at around the same time as Korean firm NCSoft for its Lineage II. The justification for these kits was a game tentatively titled Hello Kitty: Mission Rescue, which will be a cross-platform release. Needless to say, this is an unexpected blessing for newcomer XPEC, especially since it will be the first company to develop a 3D Hello Kitty game. Publishers are vying to sign with XPEC simply because Hello Kitty is one of the most popular global franchises ever.
HELLO KITTY: MISSION RESCUE
It was a time…when life remained simple
It was a destiny…for Earth to be invaded.
But in a time when the peace was their own language,
The citizens of Sanrio face it with silence,
Except for one.
Now, one cat is reuniting her friends
To turn love into endless power
It will take friendship,
It will take knowledge,
It will take the power of one little creature.
Because they’re not just taking on the unknown,
They’re taking on the most brainless bravest enemy ever encountered.
And the only way to win is to believe in love.
This winter, the cat that swept Asia off its feet is coming to conquer America.
One Cat, one enemy, one love.
Hello Kitty: Mission Rescue - the first Hello Kitty 3D videogame.
This trailer evokes so many thoughts and emotions, its hard to sort them out. I laughed because it was so corny, but I smiled because it was so cute. Most importantly I thought deeply, because some of what it says is poignant and true, especially that bit about love. The question to be debated is who is the enemy? But that’s another question for another time.
<
Now that you know the story, lets get to the technicalities. XPEC has picked up the development rights to the one the hottest, most globally popular franchises of all time, Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, on the eve of her 30th Anniversary. Like the trailer said, the cat conquered Asia, and by the time the last leaf has fallen in America, she will conquer you.
At least that’s what XPEC is hoping. In truth, however, a lot of people might doubt if Hello Kitty is the right pet for them. A lot of people don’t like cats. More pressing, however, is the great wall of gender identity that stands between Hello Kitty and millions of American males. Apparently, some people think Hello Kitty is just for girls. I’d like to address this concern about the intellectual property before I discuss the game itself.
Although Hello Kitty has an unquestionable affinity towards young females, many men can recall secretly admiring the cat as one of the cute accessories surrounding our elementary school sweethearts. So ubiquitous was Sanrio among girls, especially in areas with high concentrations of Asian-Americans, one couldn’t help but identify them with Sanrio. And in a strange way, you, yes you male reader, liked Hello Kitty too.
But if you ever let that cat out of the bag, you would be sure to endure the ridicule of all your male peers. Years later in the high school locker room, when letting the kitty out of the bag became a rite of passage to manhood, the irony would finally set in. But this was long before puberty and the only ones who would accept you then would be the Sanrio faithful. This only drew you further and further into a tangled web of gender identity. Like Lennon before you, you simply could not resist the allure of the juvenile Japanese kitty.
With this in mind, Steve Porter, producer of Hello Kitty: Mission Rescue has included that icon of masculinity, Badtz-Maru, in order to assuage the unspoken fears and concerns of a huge, anonymous and as of yet untapped male market.
But in the unlikely case that this scenario does not unfold, Hello Kitty: Rescue Mission will probably sell well because of brand love and loyalty. That, and the female majority that is. Steve knows this, and added that some female testers swooned just to push a button and see Hello Kitty jump. Unless the game is horrible, which it isn’t, it should be a success.
Now about the game, it allows you to select either Hello Kitty or Badtz Maru. Your choice, as well as your success in the missions will determine the storyline that you travel upon. Thus there are different endings depending on who you are, and how well you do in the game. I’m betting there is a secret character option.
Whomever you choose, you will begin your quest inside a plush and soft world, with bright and friendly colors. The character models are simple but so is Sanrio. Yet even given that aesthetic, the character models and textures are often too simple, and many could have been done on the PSX or N64. This is not to say things are poor, but it is a late generation software release on the current console systems and the game must justify the hardware. To be fair, Hello Kitty: Mission Rescue is incomplete and the mechanics are good, but it should be mentioned that the game must increase polygons and sharpen textures, despite the simple cartoon nature of Hello Kitty. Thus if Hello Kitty is simple and clean, XPEC should make the characters as razor sharp and clean as possible. If Hello Kitty features bright and solid colors, XPEC should make them as bright and solid as possible, etc. The game will not be done in cel-shade, because the game uses a pre-existing engine and XPEC does not want to switch horses mid-river, but that does not mean that many things can not improve graphically. They can and will, especially with Sanrio watching XPEC for Hello Kitty’s 3D debut.
That said, the character models are true to their 2D Sanrio renditions, and the alien enemies adhere to the Sanrio style. These enemies have amusing designs and even more amusing behavior, turning red with anger and charging you in some cases.
The gameplay is enjoyable, a lot of hopping and bopping on pink roller skates, along with a wand-like weapon that you will use to whack enemies and open gates. The levels I played took place outdoors, in a verdant and floral terrain divided by picket fences. Hello Kitty would roam about to and fro on her roller skates, finding objects and opening gates. She was also accompanied by a small dog of sorts, but as a newcomer to the Sanrio scene, I don’t know its name (Robowan). So there’s a bit of a Megaman and Rush dynamic going on. I wasn’t able to see a lot of the more creative gameplay featured in the game, which included turning into a washing machine like block, and being carried by cherubims, but what I saw deeply interested me. My criticism would be that the interaction between the models, such as the wand and the gate switch, needs to be more coherent and connected. Moreover, the game’s 3rd person camera is good, but needs some fine-tuning, especially when switching directions close to the camera. It would help to see more at once, especially when you are being chased by the angry critters in the game.
That said, the game’s premise works for the world of Hello Kitty, and the CG sequences are pure and smoothly rendered. They are reminiscent of the Jumping Flash CG scenes, which is probably no surprise since JF shared many aesthetics with Sanrio. Hopefully, Hello Kitty: Mission Rescue will share some gameplay aesthetics with JF, which was a short but sweet game. From the trailer, I could see lots of creativity in the gameplay and character and level design. The levels I played were much more mundane that what I saw in the trailer, but perhaps I was just in a bad spot. I still believe the gameplay concept is solid, and may make Hello Kitty: Mission Rescue, a guilty pleasure for this young man. The graphics, however, could have been better. If Hello Kitty: Mission Rescue looks as good or better than it did in the trailer, then XPEC will have a huge hit on their hands. The very fact that they are behind this property, albeit with Hong Kong based Typhoon Games, is a remarkable feat. Hello Kitty: Rescue Mission will most likely raise the profile of XPEC and Taiwan’s console gaming scene.
That’s all for Hello Kitty, but not for XPEX. There's also their newest console venture: Daemon Vector, which is scheduled to be the first Taiwanese or Asian game (outside Japan) for XBOX Live. I spoke with Max Lin, producer of Daemon Vector, about his latest creation.
DAEMON VECTOR
Daemon Vector is a gothic 3rd person action title that features a Dynasty Warrior like fighting engine, and a secondary RPG element that allows you to develop your character with anima and experience. But just as there’s more to water than H2O, there’s more to Daemon Vector than that bare genre description. And what better way to find out than through the game’s producer, Max Lin.
Daemon Vector - Developer’s Corner
Max Lin’s last name means tree in Chinese, which must have taken upon a new meaning after standing in one place at one booth in one corner of Kentia Hall at E3 2004. He genuinely likes his game, and would gladly show it off to any interested observer, including myself. While not exceptional, Daemon Factor would be at home outside of Kentia Hall, and that is exceptional because Taiwan’s console game industry track record is XPEC’s previous title, Ex-Chaser.
When I first met Max, he gave me the basic description of Daemon Factor. Yet Daemon Factor had already described itself to me as a very complete and coherently constructed game. Present at the Daemon Vector demo were all the components of the game, be it the fighting engine, special effects, frame rate, texture quality, and the organization of the game vis-a-vis the world map and menu screens. With the exception of the character models, everything was very well executed. More importantly, an overarching theme created a unity that is present in the 2D art, 3D art, and storyline.
2D Art
The first impression of the game comes from a 2D gothic title screen, and a subsequent menu/map screen that evokes Castlevania. This is especially true of the world map, which is simply but fantastically rendered. The 2D character models are also impressive, and while authentically gothic they bear the unmistakable stamp of an artist steeped in an East Asian style of anime. Behold Asgard Roy and Rhea, Daemon Vector’s deadly duo:
I praised the 2D art to Max, who then introduced me to the 2D art director to whom I complimented for the clean (hi-res) sophisticated art. Not much more was said due to what I perceived as a possible language barrier, given my rapid fire English. Asgard Roy and Rhea, are similar to Korean gothic art featured at past E3s.
3D ART
Max Lin played through a couple of levels as Asgard Roy, who bears a striking resemblance to Soul Calibur’s Siegfried. It’s possible that there is a relationship between Siegfried and Roy, which would explain why XPEC inserted an Asgard before Roy, in order to keep the two from coming up together in people’s minds.
In any case, I observed the 3D world in which the gameplay occurs, and found a gothic style reminiscent of Chaos Legion and Resident Evil. Nighttime is the constant backdrop to a Medieval Europe infected by the scourge of the Black Plague, which unlike its historical counterpart, turns its victims into monsters a la Resident Evil. There is an ample amount of arterial geysers, but unlike Samurai Showdown’s high pressure streams, Daemon Factor’s blood spurts out globularly. There are even more special effects, including motion blur, slow motion, real light-mapping effect, wave, rippling, and underwater distortion, which can be seen throughout the game.
XPEC puts the power of the XBOX to very good use for the particle effects, however, it does not optimize its power for its polygons. The characters, while not anemic, are slightly outdated. In the cinema sequences, when the dogs eat the man and turn him into a zombie, it is clear that the dog and the man lack polygons. They aren’t horrible, but are missing some things here and there. The dogs, for instance have some rough textures on the spikes that adorn their spine. Similarly, as the human recoils in horror against the oncoming dogs, the close camera angle makes it clear that the entire cast of characters suffer from too low a polygon count. You can’t cut corners in the game’s development with low polygon count characters, the gaming public will notice.
Thus, while Daemon Vector’s frame rate, animation and particle effects are very smooth, they seem to be optimized for the current incarnation of the 3d models, which need to be revamped in order to take full advantage of the XBOX. The Daemon Vector E3 demo may have been able to run as well as it did if the polygon count were increased. There is no doubt that Daemon Vector could improve, but they may not have enough time to improve by their 2004 holiday release date.
FIGHTING ENGINE
Hack and Slash
Despite this flaw, Dameon Vector is still a fun game to play, because it is a simple but spectacular looking slasher. XPEC wants the fighting system to be easy to master and powerful to execute. Therefore the control method is the same even when players change weapons, so that they won’t need to learn various methods of control.
This is important because there are multiple weapons, with attacks specific to each weapon. These include special attacks, such as the one below, that can be executed when you have your special energy meter adequately filled.
Combo System
All these attack moves can be strung together to create a combo, much like Devil May Cry 3 or Chaos Legion. An XPEC brochure says that Asgard Roy and Rhea each have 10 specific combination attacks of different functions with 5 unique skills. Max, however, told me that there are 30 different combos, so the latter figure may include the combos and weapons available after defeating the game once, and the online component combo downloads.
Counter Attacks
Players can deal severe damage to enemies in a deadly single blow by using the Counter Attack System. A counter is used by first blocking an enemies’ attack, and then attacking them while they are still recovering from the block.
Death-Lock System
The Death-Lock is a finishing technique that can be used on downed or stunned enemies. Players can use this technique to quickly finish off enemies that are otherwise hard to defeat with regular attacks. I personally was not aware of this feature in the demo, but I am all for it.
Enabling the users to freely control the scene’s rotational view, angle adjustment, and zooming ability.
There is no doubt that Daemon Vector borrows from Dynasty Warriors, from the animation to the red enemy energy bars. Yet it is not identical and has its own style of fighting, as it features its own unique special effects and sword combos. Some of its move resemble Meteor Butterfly and a Blade in concept, and given that XPEC and InterServ are the only two console game makers in Taiwan, it is reasonable to assume they keep tabs on each other. The weapon system, although I have not experienced yet, sounds as if it possibly shares some concepts with M
Furthermore, Daemon Vector’s action takes place upon more linearly designed battlefields than Dynasty Warriors, and its gamemap is somewhere between that game and Lord of the Rings. The Daemon Vector lacked a variety of enemies on the levels that I played, as the only ones available were demon dogs a la Ninja Gaiden, zombies a la resident evil, and brute knight zombies a la Soul Calibur. It should also add more enemies on screen at once, and increase their difficulty with coordinated enemy A.I. patterns.
Given that XPEC and InterServ are the only two console game developers in Taiwan, it’s likely that XPEC looked at concept of using different weapons for the same character.
The art benefits from a well developed and historically grounded backstory, that places the events of Daemon Vector sometime after Marco Polo travels back from China in the 14th century. European aristorcrats scramble to explore the exotic Far East and extract its treasures. The Count Augustus Fearghall organizes an Eastern exploration team, headed by his younger son, who obtains the Fu-Xi seal. The son realizes its power, and spends years attempting to unlock it. In the interim, he kills his older brother and assumes the title of Count Fearghall. Eventually he opens the Fu-Xi and discovers the Necrolocust spirit, which is a source of power that he exploits. Unbeknownst to him, however, is Necrolocust’s master, Blight Lord, who is weak and vulnerable after thousands of years, allows Count Fearghall to use Necrolocust and empower himself. As Blight Lord regenerates his power, he slowly takes control over Count Fearghall’s consciousness through Necrolocust. At the time of Daemon Vector, Blight Lord has assumed full control over Count Fearghall, and attempts to take over the world by turning his people into an army of beasts. Roy Asgard and Rhea thus set out to stop Blight Lord. Comic book fans should appreciate this attempt to combine fantasy and history, which combines art and story to create a cohesive adventure. This history justifies the use of gothic art and partially justifies the macabre by giving it a sense of meaning.
The game is a good sophomore effort by XPEC, and gives hope that Taiwan’s console game industry may come of age. Some improvements are in order, however, such as an increased polygon count on the models, along with a greater variety of enemies. I cannot comment on the music, as I was unable to analyze given the clamor of E3. If these and other improvements were made, Daemon Vector would be a great game that could help legitimize Taiwan’s digital game industry in the eyes of the world, and provide standards for other Taiwanese digital game companies to follow.
Stay tuned for the second half of Josh's Taiwan Game report
joshua hsieh XPECs Daemon Vector to impress.
|
