TGS 2004: The Kikizo Report (Page 2)

As this year's Tokyo Game Show comes to a close, we bring you our detailed impressions of the event along with a deluge of photographic fun.

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The main character Wanda, along with trusty and unfathomably intelligent horse companion Agro, hunt down a range of over twenty monsters in the game, but the monsters, in the words of SCEI's Bill Ritch, "are levels in themselves" - towering, huge behemoths, which Wanda must navigate up to target points such as the head by manoeuvring from limb to limb, in an exquisitely designed action-puzzle style climbing environment. This fast-paced action is the core of the game and impressively, the environment changes shape as a result - it's what Team Ico calls "organic collision deformation".

--> The Microsoft booth housed some familiar titles.

Wanda and Colossus, in audio visual terms (the orchestral music in the demos we were shown was inspiring) and in terms of gameplay concept and style, could prove to be one of the freshest games yet seen on PS2 and seems it will undoubtedly please fans of Ico, with many relationship and emotion themes remaining central in the same way as before. We'll be bringing you lots more on one of PS2's biggest 2005 releases very soon, including an exclusive video interview with the game's creators.

Elsewhere at the Sony booth Gran Turismo 4's newly unveiled B-Spec Mode - in which players take the role of race team manager and give directions to produce the race - along with the Photo Mode proved popular, and confirmation that more than fifty courses will be in Kaz Yamauchi's opus proved tantalising. However, the news that the game will now not feature online play, as announced by Kaz himself at Friday's press conference at the nearby Manhattan Hotel, is a severe blow to the game's December release, although the promise of an online-enabled update next year reassured some.

Tecmo and the awesome Dead or Alive Ultimate

Microsoft's booth continued to draw in the crowds, again in stark contrast to the enthusiasm for the machine outside of the Makuhari Messe. The Xbox booth was the most visually impactful at the show, with all manner of lighting and projection coordinated in synch with various stage presentations and events, the most popular of which was for Halo 2. The biggest Xbox game of the year hits Japan on November 11, and the same Zanzibar multiplayer level from E3 was on show and hosted an impressive tournament showdown for attendees. Incidentally, an inexplicably miniaturised Master Chief was exhibited in a class cabinet next to his non-deformed brethren at the booth.

The Master Ninja Tournament Finals also took place at Microsoft's booth on Saturday, with the final showdown illustrating just how much of a ninja you'd need to be to stand any chance of winning the ultimate Ninja Gaiden prize, but Itagaki-san's showing of the Hurricane Pack Volume 2 update also pleased crowds. As our recent screenshots suggested, it looked stunning.

--> Don't panic - this is actually working out OK you know...

Neighbouring Tecmo also kept some glory at its own booth though, with Dead or Alive Ultimate looking sensational as a standalone fighting game whether online or not. As our forthcoming gameplay videos will prove, this is perhaps the best looking fighting game ever conceived, and although Itagaki-san was convincing in our recent interview about how well the fighter performs over Xbox Live, we're hoping that continued delays to the game's release do not signify the kind of problems Yamauchi-san has clearly been having with GT4. Admittedly this is unlikely, since by all accounts Xbox Live is a much more consistent and friendly platform for online developers.

Also at the Tecmo booth, GameArts' GunGriffon: Allied Strike and Fatal Frame 2 for Xbox were shown off, and you can expect in-depth interviews with the creators of both titles as part of Kikizo's follow-up show coverage.

Sega Rally 2005 - Yes please.

The rest of Microsoft's showings were primarily stuff we've seen before at E3 or already on western shelves, such as Fable, Sudeki, and also updated versions of games line Conker: Live and Reloaded. A significant number of third-party titles, such as Sega's OutRun2 and SpikeOut, were also exhibited.

Watch out for extensive gameplay videos on Kikizo.

Back in the main hall, and the replacement of the Sega booth with, well, the Sega Sammy booth, was not at all as dreadful as some may have predicted. The showing of several Sammy titles and the inclusion of a basement-style Pachinko room managed to attract the enthusiasm of, well, whoever is enthusiastic about Sammy games and pachinko, while Sega's fresh line-up happily co-existed.

Sega SuperStars, as played by Yuji Naka..

The line-up was led by Sega Rally 2005, finally unveiled last week after more than a year of licensing-fuelled delays. The PS2 exclusive was playable in a series of sit-down-style set-ups, complete with Gran Turismo steering wheel, and basically it looked top quality. Easily sending sparks flying off the paintwork of some of Xbox's best lookers in the graphics department, Sega Rally 2005 felt like a Sega Rally game, although comparisons with Sega Rally 2 over the original will be voiced by many players. The courses and the vehicles are all what you'd expect and there seemed to be nothing to make the game truly stand out, aside from the typically Sega style and design values. It is certain to go down well with fans and it will be interesting to see how well the game performs outside of the enthusiast core.

The Sega booth included Super Monkey Ball Deluxe.

Elsewhere at the Sega, ahem, Sega Sammy booth, players were getting into a six-game demo build of Sega SuperStars, the exceptionally fun and Sega IP-packed EyeToy game first shown at E3, that we've been spending way too much time with lately (editing videos, that is) - although the superb renditions of NiGHTS and Super Monkey Ball - two of our favourite SuperStars games - were thankfully not included (thankfully so that we can still be first to show you them in our upcoming direct feed videos, obviously).

Yuji Naka: Probably hates us.

Meanwhile, Super Monkey Ball Deluxe offered exactly what we've been expecting since learning of its existence in May - a whole load of monkeying around in hundreds of levels and truckloads of mini-games. Watch out for more detailed coverage of that, including videos.

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