by [name redacted]

Episode forty-one of my ongoing, irreverent news column; originally posted at Next Generation

Game of the Week:

Steambot Chronicles
Irem/Atlus
PlayStation 2
Tuesday

You have likely read, if you like to read, of a game called Bumpy Trot; this site in particular, in the hands of Japan columnist William Rogers, has taken every possible opportunity to name-check the game – resulting in a blurb on the its Atlus USA site. Here’s where I remind you of its Western name – the Haruki Murakami-esque Steambot Chronicles – and mention that it really is nifty, for what it is. For a more elaborate description you can turn to NextGen’s “Ten Best Games in Japan” column for last year; for here, suffice that it’s sort of like a Zelda game done right, thrown into a post-GTA sandbox, and produced on a shoestring budget by a sincere bunch of underdogs who aren’t used to making this kind of game. So it’s a little wonky, and a little glitchy, and it doesn’t know what it’s not supposed to do, which results in as many weird decisions as inspired ones. It’s not really made for prime time, and yet it’s got so much heart and it’s got such good ideas that it’s got the workings for a real sleeper hit. Give it some hype and some word-of-mouth, and this game will surpass expectations.

Atlus has done a pretty good job on the localization; the voices are… solid enough, and the writing is appropriately stark. Though something tells me the game might have made more of an impression with its original Japanese name, the new one maybe fits the game a little better. This is only one of maybe a half-dozen impressive new acquisitions Atlus USA had to show at E3; if Atlus can just get the word out the way it did with Trauma Center, this could be one of the company’s best years yet.

Rest of the Week:

Field Commander
Sony Online Entertainment
PlayStation Portable
Tuesday

For a while now the DS has been the place to go for handheld turn-based strategy games. Now Sony’s added “multiplayer” to that acronym I refuse to attempt – and the reviews have been good! IGN calls Field Commander “handheld strategy done right”, then goes into detail about how controlling an army is one of the “ultimate dweeb fantasies”. Then it observes that “you simply won’t find any elves or fairies anywhere near this game. And there’s a great chance that a ton of people prefer it that way.” Um. All the other reviews to date are in print magazines, so I’m afraid that’s as good as the quotes get. Still, the praise lumped on this game is pretty significant; I’ll not be surprised if this niche explodes over the next year.

Heroes of Might and Magic V
Nival Interactive/Ubisoft
PC
Tuesday

Back in Ye Olde Day, Might and Magic ranked up there with Ultima and Kings Quest in the land of untouchables. By the mid-’90s, the series had graduated out of its Bard’s Tale template to innovate in some ways that have still never been copied. The mid-’90s, of course, was also when the multimedia fad lay ravage to the old order; New World, like most medium-sized developers, sook shelter under the most convenient parent company. Unfortunately, that company happened to be 3D0; now that 3D0’s gone, so is New World. Still, no body stays interred for long; Ubi’s picked up the pieces, and assigned the most recent iteration of the series (well, kind of) to Silent Storm and Blitzkrieg developer Nival.

Heroes isn’t exactly Might and Magic; one of 3D0’s first ideas was to spin Van Caneghem’s series out in as many different directions as possible: turn-based strategy, action-adventure, even first-person shooter. The strategy series – Heroes – has proved most resilient in our photocopy world; even more so than the core series. From Ubi’s standpoint, I can see how it makes the most sense to revive. I hear the game has been causing Nival some difficulty, alarming fans all over the Internet; whatever was wrong, though, seems mostly to have been straightened out. Even so, we’re no further ahead. If Ubi wants another game, it’ll have to start from scratch; Nival has already flown the coop, and itself been bought out by another firm. Oh, this wacky industry.

Jaws Unleashed
Appaloosa/Majesco
Xbox/PlayStation 2
Wednesday

Speaking of this wacky industry, remember the Dreamcast version of Ecco the Dolphin? It was pretty good, wasn’t it? Or… well. It was pretty pretty, anyway. Appaloosa (formerly, long long ago, known as Novatrade) planned a sequel to it, before Sega of Japan pulled the legs out from under the Dreamcast. Even afterward, Appaloosa intended to put the sequel on the PS2. Then Sega of Europe suddenly got dismantled, for no apparent reason, only to be rebuilt a year later. So… okay. Soon after, Appaloosa decided to make a game based on a shark instead of a dolphin – presumably in lieu of that sequel. When Appaloosa went to Majesco about publishing, Majesco said “Great! Let’s slap the Jaws license on it!” Appaloosa shrugged, since if you’re making a game starring a killer shark it’s pretty clear where your influence lies anyway. Now here we are: the Shadow the Hedgehog of Ecco games! Grand Theft Dolphin! Back before the Jaws license, the Internet thought it sounded amazing. Now everyone’s making fun of it. Odd how that works. Perhaps I’ve helped straighten things out.

Lemmings
Team17/SCEA
PlayStation Portable
Tuesday

Speaking of Grand Theft Dolphin (and of European developers who change their names just to confuse everyone), you might be aware that the company currently known as Rockstar North originally found fame in the post-Tetris puzzplosion with a little Amiga game called Lemmings – which must be, previously to Worms and aside from Tetris itself, the most-ported game in history. (Please nobody tell me where I’m wrong.) Lemmings has a cute sense of humor not unlike Worms, involves the guidance of minuscule creatures with their own abilities – not unlike worms – and plays… not unlike Worms, if you take out the Scorched Earth business. So… hey! How about if the Worms guys make a new Lemmings? Upside is that it comes with a level editor, and kind of brings the series up to date. Downside is there’s no multiplayer mode and that the controls are kind of wonky. You wonder why this isn’t on the DS instead. Getting decent reviews, nonetheless.

Monster Hunter Freedom
Capcom
PlayStation Portable
Tuesday

This is another game on which Mr. Rogers has waxed prolific. Put simply, it’s a game where you go out into the wilderness and hunt down monsters. Meticulously. Then, should you succeed in your hunt, you flay them, and cook the meat, and eat it. Step-by-step. Bring back trophies to sell. It’s a much grittier game than you’d expect from the title and its Japanese origin – and all about one small concept. It’s meditative. It’s also about as rough and awkward as you’d expect. The PS2 version got kind of poor reviews; the PSP remake is doing a lot better in the review circuit. This is a “quirky” game, though, in that it has its own little mission that might not exactly align with what most people expect from a videogame. On the DS, that would make it a hit. On the PSP… well, we’ll see how people take to it.

Rogue Trooper
Rebellion/Eidos
Xbox/PS2/PC
Tuesday

For those who remember the critically-acclaimed 2001 PlayStation title Largo Winch (my pick for Ubisoft title of the millennium), get ready for Rebellion’s next masterpiece. Like Largo Winch, Rogue Trooper is based on a well-known series of graphic novels; Eurogamer describes it as a “simple, unpretentious” adventure that puts the player in the role of a “Genetic Infantryman”, out for revenge against a traitor who sent the player’s cloned comrades to their doom. Other adjectives offered include “undemanding, short, sweet, slick, polished, and boomtastic”. From the sounds of it, Rebellion has managed to top even the kick-combo action in Largo Winch for sheer videogame catharsis. Roll on, brothers. May you win this battle.

Table Tennis
Rockstar San Diego/Rockstar Games
Xbox 360
Monday

You’ve read about this. People thought it was a joke, and wondered how on Earth Rockstar’s markojabber about next-generation ping-pong physics could be realized any better than in a PSOne game. Thing is, Rockstar’s being oh so clever here. If you’re going to make a next-generation game, and you’re going to get used to the new logistics and physics and visuals afforded by the next generation, then why not start at square one? Go back to Pong. Table Tennis is, in essence, Rockstar’s “Hello World” program for the next generation. As I said: clever. Apparently the game is fast-paced and easy to play, coming along as it does in the post-Virtua Tennis era. Beyond that, well, it looks nice. No one’s gone into much detail yet on the physics. You’ve got to wonder how this would play on the Wii – though with the lower visual standards I guess that would defeat half the tongue-in-cheek fun of this production.

Teen Titans
A2M/Majesco
PlayStation 2/GameCube
Wednesday

Take Konami’s recent PS2 revival of its arcade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series; swap in the Teen Titans from the successful Warner Bros. cartoon adaptation; publish it. IGN says the game is pretty close to the series: it’s got the original voice actors; the personalities and abilities all check out; and the game looks about right, visually. Doesn’t stop it from getting relatively poor reviews. Apparently the game has been in the works for a long time; GameStop was complaining of roughness in its E3 2005 report.