Interview: What's Next From Tecmo?

Three creators. Three games. No mercy. Kikizo takes a flying tour of Tecmo's top developers to check out Again for DS, Undead Knights for PSP and Quantum Theory for PS3.

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Kikizo: Why did you decide to take the risky, original route rather than going with a tried-and-tested formula?

Kikuchi: He's not here today but the director of this game, [Makoto] Shibata-san, he's all over shooter games! And so there was a desire for the next project to be a shooter, and somehow that worked with the company's decision to go for a new challenge - not a genre or franchise we're already known for. So while it did take a long time to digest within the company, we were pretty confident after doing a lot of research on a variety of shooters that we would be able to bring something unique - both visually and gameplay-wise.

Kikizo: Is there only one playable character?

Kikuchi: There are two main characters - you will play most of the game with the male character, but indirectly you'll be able to control the female character as well.

Kikizo: There's a lot of sword action in that trailer. Is she your side-order of melee combat?

Kikuchi: As we've shown her so far she has a sword style, but her weapons will also change to more of a shooting weapon. Both characters will have a variety of weapons - as you progress through the game there is a weapon levelling and power-up system. So, the characters are not necessarily one or the other. And also they can perform combination actions. There will be instances when they will only be able to overcome hurdles by acting together, and others where they will act separately.

Kikizo: Which shooter would you say Quantum Theory is closest too?

Kikuchi: Simply for the cover system it would be Gears of War, of all the games out there right now.

Kikizo: If you're looking to attract the Gears crowd, why make this exclusive to PS3?

Kikuchi: Initially the game concept was built around this game being a PC game. So the team started working on the gameplay portion on the PC, and the graphics - the project was altered slightly, and we tested out the graphics and visual presentation on the PS3. And looking at that, we were pretty confident that we were going to be able to display and execute what we wanted to using the power of the PS3. The environmental detail you see in the trailer is something we really want to push to the max, and we just thought the PS3 worked better for us.

Kikizo: How closely do the actions in the trailer resemble gameplay? Will the player be riding on dragons and the like?

Kikuchi: While strictly speaking this is a kind of third-person action game /shooter, the main play style skews towards the shooter side. The movements of the characters and their enemies, how they appear and how you attack them... we feel we've already been successful in executing action game elements, as in Ninja Gaiden. So it's mainly a third-person shooter.

Kikizo: Whew! Kikuchi-san, Shibata-san, Yamaguchi-san - thanks for your time.

Again is scheduled for release on DS this spring. The other two titles both have 2009 release dates pencilled in. Interviews conducted by Sharan Dev Jain. Words by Edwin Evans Thirlwell. Produced by Adam Doree. Koichi Yamaguchi photo stolen from Destructoid. Kohei Shibata photo courtesy of Matt-IGN's blog. Keisuke Kikuchi and Tecmo photos courtesy of, er, our previous features. Sharan: remember to take our own photos next time, eh?

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