We’re now six days into February, and a month into the new year. After getting through the desolate wasteland that is the January release schedule, we can start to look forward to some more exciting content in the next few weeks. The peculiar thing about this month’s release schedule though is that it features two remakes of classic games to take advantage of the new hardware available today. It’s a testament to the quality of the gameplay that both contained, that the engine can be revamped and still deliver a compelling experience.
Chrono Trigger: old school
First up is one that’s hitting the shelves this weekend: Chrono Trigger on the Nintendo DS. For European gamers, this has been the end of a fourteen year wait for it to finally reach our shores. First released on the SNES back in 1995 and re-released on the PlayStation in 1999, it’s a traditional Japanese role-playing game from the same team that produced the hugely popular Final Fantasy series. But while we’ve seen twelve iterations of the FF storyline and number thirteen due to launch this year, Chrono Trigger only got a showing in Japan and North America. The rest of the world has been able to enjoy this classic since November last year, with Europe slated for 6th Feb. It’s not clear why there’s been such a gap in release schedules, with one possibility being a fear that European gamers brought up on more western fare would shun a traditional JRPG.
In fact, the DS is becoming a home for classic RPGs that are being brought out into the light for a new generation of gamers. Final Fantasy III, IV and Tactics have all made their way to the handheld, along with The World Ends With You and Dragon Quest IV. This may actually be a smart move, as RPGs typically take up many hours of time to complete. Although games like Fable II and Fallout 3 are doing well on home consoles, they require a fair amount of investment and commitment in order to be able to get the most out of them. As an alternative, a compact handheld that offers the ability to pick it up and play it pretty much wherever you are is ideally suited for games that have a long and involved storyline. Short session games can be fun, but their repetitive nature can bore players quickly. It’s no wonder then that the Nintendo DS is being seen as the RPG console of choice for 2009. It may well be that this trend migrates to other gaming platforms such as the iPhone, although this will probably involve generating new games instead of porting existing titles, as mainstream developers have yet to seize the platform in any meaningful way.
F.E.A.R. 2: Scary stuff
Next up is F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin, a horror-based first-person shooter from Monolith Productions. The guys over at Monolith have been in the first-person market for a while now, coming out with the successful Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (a heavily Anime influenced shooter featuring 30-foot tall mechs) back in 1998. Since then they’ve tended towards the horror end of the market with Condemned: Criminal Origins and the original F.E.A.R. The demo is currently available to download for XBox360, PlayStation 3 and PC, and is currently tailored to showing off some of the unique gameplay mechanics and storytelling techniques used in the game, rather than setting the scene or leading players in.
One of the key differences between the new release and the original is the use of open spaces in level design. One of the criticisms leveled at F.E.A.R. was that levels largely consisted of narrow corridors in order to help facilitate the close quarters combat and maintain the mood and atmosphere of the game. In the sequel, enclosed spaces are broken up with lobby areas and atriums, or completely open air segments. This in turn has required a development in the combat systems used and the AI that creatures have in these open environments. It’s this kind of opening up that has allowed the game to pull in influences from across the horror spectrum, and while it remains rooted in Japanese style, elements of Nightwatch and even Saw are noticeable. It should mean that rather than bashing the player with the same experiences over and over and eventually losing impact from it, that the experiences are mixed up a little, keeping the pacing fresh and interesting.
Mechs: further gameplay options
One of the other additions to gameplay in the F.E.A.R franchise is the ability to pilot mechs. These aren’t the same gigantic robots that are found in Shogo, but instead have a similar look to the ED-209 from Robocop. Again, these serve to break up gameplay slightly – instead of being hunted by a number of AI creatures the roles are reversed as you chase them down with rockets and chainguns. It’s one of those dynamics that will work well if used sparingly, but trying to scare someone who’s inside an impenetrable suit of mech armour is a tough job at the best of times.
Both inside and outside mechs players can also invoke a “slo-mo” mode – a mechanic that works in a similar way to Bullet Time in The Matirx, or the Time Stop spell in Fable II. Although it allows for creative shooting or providing extra time to dive into cover, it’s not clear at the moment if it’ll be a key gameplay element or just another crutch for players to lean on. The demo hasn’t really shed light on this either, so it will probably have to wait until release to see how it shapes up. Either way, F.E.A.R 2 promises to deliver a different experience to Half-Life 2 or Halo 3 while still retaining a broad appeal to first-person shooter fans.
Street Fighter IV: Classic gameplay, gorgeous looks
Another treat for this month is the hugely anticipated Street Fighter IV. What’s surprising about this game is that it’s a complete reinvention of what many judge to be the best fighting game ever made – Street Fighter II. This arcade classic, first released in 1991 before being ported to various consoles, has been universally acclaimed for it’s cameplay, winning several awards. It even features in the Guinness World Records as the first fighting game to use combos and the biggest selling coin-op game. With such a strong heritage behind it, it’s hardly surprising that a new take was made on this classic game.
The great thing is that seasoned gamers who grew up on the original will feel right at home with the new version. All the old button sequences are still there and all the old combos still work, so if you remember how to throw a fireball or pull off a dragon punch, you’ll still be able to manage it this time round. There are a few new quirks on the gameplay in there, such as unblockable focus attacks that charge up over time, but the vast majority of feedback so far indicates that this is an authentic remake of a game that is still dear to many older videogamers.
In order to get the best out of the title, Capcom have done a deal with Mad Catz to produce officially licensed arcade sticks and other controllers. In lavish attention to detail, the Tournament Edition stick uses the same parts as the coin-op arcade machines in order to recreate the exact same look and feel. It could be said that this is over the top, and the £150 price tag much too high in today’s credit crunch economy, but Mad Catz seem confident that the stick will sell out rapidly based on the preorders already taken. Fingers crossed, the game will play well regardless of the controller you have in your hands.
So, while none of the titles above offers something strictly new, they all bring something that was classic for it’s time and show it to a new generation of gamers. In a similar way to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy or the soon to be released Watchmen movie, they widen the audience of something that fans have been enjoying for years. And just like fans of the original books or comics can also be fans of the films, so are players of the original games likely to be fans of this month’s new releases. There certainly seems to be a lot to enjoy here.