Boktai 3.....
Jan 13, 2006 18:51:15 GMT -5
Post by Perseus on Jan 13, 2006 18:51:15 GMT -5
"Keep the sun always in your heart."
This exhortation should be familiar to anyone who has ever played a Boktai game -- it's spoken frequently by Otenko, the sunflower-shaped familiar who guides the series' young hero Django through his adventures. And he means it, too: the Hideo Kojima-created series plays like Metal Gear Solid wearing a suit sewn from Castlevania and Norse mythology, but it's best known for its controversial solar sensor feature that requires honest-to-goodness sunlight to empower Django's undead-slaying antics. To add to the complexity, the Boktai games also feature a real-time internal clock inside the cart as well, playing up the difference between night and day and allowing gamers to draw interest over time on stored-up solar energy.
As the heart of Boktai, this clever concept ties the action to the game's theme while playing up the portable nature of the GBA. Unfortunately, the need to be in sunlight to defeat bosses and recharge weapons is one that most gamers find too restrictive. And for better or for worse, none of that has changed with the third chapter of the series, which has just arrived in Japan under the name Shin Bokura No Taiyo: Gyakushuu No Sabata. (Don't worry, we're calling it Boktai 3 for short.)
Still, while Django's latest crusade against the forces of darkness once again forces gamers to venture into that terrifying unknown quantity called "outdoors," it also feels far more forgiving than the surprisingly difficult second game. Although most of the changes implemented for the previous sequel are intact, including the RPG-lite level-up structure and the friendly hub town of San Miguel, Boktai 3 lacks the ferocious challenge level of its immediate predecessor.
Helpfully, Django has possession of the light-blasting Gun Del Sol for the duration of this quest, making melee combat an option rather than the requirement it was last time. The arsenal of close-quarters weapons featured in the second game has been pared down somewhat; hammers and spears are out, although they've been replaced by rapiers and broadswords -- same functionality, less inventory to juggle. The melee equipment isn't nearly so underpowered this time around, and it's possible to deal damage to the undead with all weapons. Less tedium, more power means it's a win for everyone.
Also returning are Django's spiritual transformations, which are now earned by building up new power meter called "Trance." Each successful attack against an enemy adds a small amount of power to the Trance bar; when it's maxed out, Django can use a handful of spells or transformations to aid him in his quest. So far we've uncovered a Dash skill that gives him a burst of speed as well as the Dark Django transformation from the previous game, which boosts the hero's power substantially while making him vulnerable to sunlight. Unfortunately it takes a while to build up Trance power, and it's only good for a brief time, meaning that the transformations are basically a quick way to tear through boss battles. (Rumors abound of a Mega Man transformation as well.)
The series' essentials have been carried over for this third chapter, too; the usual isometric stealth-based gameplay is as engrossing and smartly-designed as ever, and the dungeons are as massive as gamers have come to expect. The standard zombies, bats, skeletons, krakens and mummies put in an appearance along with a handful of frustrating new bad guys: Killer bees to swarm you, thieves to swipe your items, ghosts to siphon away your Energy meter. As before, enemies become stronger at night, but hidden power-ups twinkle in the darkness to help keep sharp-eyed players in the fight even when there's no sunlight to be found.
The game world has been simplified; the minor dungeons appear to have been discarded in favor of more elaborate Immortal hideouts. (And more varied -- locations this time around include the interior of a massive tree and a pirate ship.) Likewise, San Miguel has been reduced to a series of locations selected from a map screen. To travel from point to point, Django transforms his handy Immortal-sealing coffin into a customizable motorbike which can be raced in a series of Excitebike-like challenges. Speaking of the coffin, it once again comes into play in the dungeons -- once you defeat an Immortal, you must seal it in the coffin and drag it back to the dungeon's entrance. A new twist is added by the fact that once you begin toting the coffin around, you have to race against a timer.
As the story is heavy on Japanese text we're not really qualified to pass judgement on what we've seen, but it appears to involve the unsurprising return of the evil Count, Django's brother Sabata being brainwashed into evil and an annoying kid wearing a poncho and a tin pot for a hat named Future Boy Trinity. As before, references to Norse mythology pop up frequently, this time in the form of a new foe named Hresvelg (who here is a grinning blue slime in a top hat).
It remains to be seen whether or not we'll ever be able to experience Boktai 3 in English; the U.S. releases of the previous games have been met with a fair amount of apathy, in part due to poor timing -- their fall release dates haven't been precisely ideal for games intended to be played in the summer sun. Konami's latest solar-powered effort features the same excellent gameplay as its predecessor while seemingly offering enough refinements to make it a better game overall. Whatever the case, Boktai 3 definitely won't be making it to the U.S. this summer, but here's hoping it comes west eventually
By J. Parish from gba.1up.com
This exhortation should be familiar to anyone who has ever played a Boktai game -- it's spoken frequently by Otenko, the sunflower-shaped familiar who guides the series' young hero Django through his adventures. And he means it, too: the Hideo Kojima-created series plays like Metal Gear Solid wearing a suit sewn from Castlevania and Norse mythology, but it's best known for its controversial solar sensor feature that requires honest-to-goodness sunlight to empower Django's undead-slaying antics. To add to the complexity, the Boktai games also feature a real-time internal clock inside the cart as well, playing up the difference between night and day and allowing gamers to draw interest over time on stored-up solar energy.
As the heart of Boktai, this clever concept ties the action to the game's theme while playing up the portable nature of the GBA. Unfortunately, the need to be in sunlight to defeat bosses and recharge weapons is one that most gamers find too restrictive. And for better or for worse, none of that has changed with the third chapter of the series, which has just arrived in Japan under the name Shin Bokura No Taiyo: Gyakushuu No Sabata. (Don't worry, we're calling it Boktai 3 for short.)
Still, while Django's latest crusade against the forces of darkness once again forces gamers to venture into that terrifying unknown quantity called "outdoors," it also feels far more forgiving than the surprisingly difficult second game. Although most of the changes implemented for the previous sequel are intact, including the RPG-lite level-up structure and the friendly hub town of San Miguel, Boktai 3 lacks the ferocious challenge level of its immediate predecessor.
Helpfully, Django has possession of the light-blasting Gun Del Sol for the duration of this quest, making melee combat an option rather than the requirement it was last time. The arsenal of close-quarters weapons featured in the second game has been pared down somewhat; hammers and spears are out, although they've been replaced by rapiers and broadswords -- same functionality, less inventory to juggle. The melee equipment isn't nearly so underpowered this time around, and it's possible to deal damage to the undead with all weapons. Less tedium, more power means it's a win for everyone.
Also returning are Django's spiritual transformations, which are now earned by building up new power meter called "Trance." Each successful attack against an enemy adds a small amount of power to the Trance bar; when it's maxed out, Django can use a handful of spells or transformations to aid him in his quest. So far we've uncovered a Dash skill that gives him a burst of speed as well as the Dark Django transformation from the previous game, which boosts the hero's power substantially while making him vulnerable to sunlight. Unfortunately it takes a while to build up Trance power, and it's only good for a brief time, meaning that the transformations are basically a quick way to tear through boss battles. (Rumors abound of a Mega Man transformation as well.)
The series' essentials have been carried over for this third chapter, too; the usual isometric stealth-based gameplay is as engrossing and smartly-designed as ever, and the dungeons are as massive as gamers have come to expect. The standard zombies, bats, skeletons, krakens and mummies put in an appearance along with a handful of frustrating new bad guys: Killer bees to swarm you, thieves to swipe your items, ghosts to siphon away your Energy meter. As before, enemies become stronger at night, but hidden power-ups twinkle in the darkness to help keep sharp-eyed players in the fight even when there's no sunlight to be found.
The game world has been simplified; the minor dungeons appear to have been discarded in favor of more elaborate Immortal hideouts. (And more varied -- locations this time around include the interior of a massive tree and a pirate ship.) Likewise, San Miguel has been reduced to a series of locations selected from a map screen. To travel from point to point, Django transforms his handy Immortal-sealing coffin into a customizable motorbike which can be raced in a series of Excitebike-like challenges. Speaking of the coffin, it once again comes into play in the dungeons -- once you defeat an Immortal, you must seal it in the coffin and drag it back to the dungeon's entrance. A new twist is added by the fact that once you begin toting the coffin around, you have to race against a timer.
As the story is heavy on Japanese text we're not really qualified to pass judgement on what we've seen, but it appears to involve the unsurprising return of the evil Count, Django's brother Sabata being brainwashed into evil and an annoying kid wearing a poncho and a tin pot for a hat named Future Boy Trinity. As before, references to Norse mythology pop up frequently, this time in the form of a new foe named Hresvelg (who here is a grinning blue slime in a top hat).
It remains to be seen whether or not we'll ever be able to experience Boktai 3 in English; the U.S. releases of the previous games have been met with a fair amount of apathy, in part due to poor timing -- their fall release dates haven't been precisely ideal for games intended to be played in the summer sun. Konami's latest solar-powered effort features the same excellent gameplay as its predecessor while seemingly offering enough refinements to make it a better game overall. Whatever the case, Boktai 3 definitely won't be making it to the U.S. this summer, but here's hoping it comes west eventually
By J. Parish from gba.1up.com
