Few new insights at Konami’s conference
July 16th, 2008, 5:18 pm · Post a Comment · posted by jsimmons
Konami’s brief press conference didn’t shed much new light on any of their upcoming releases. Most of the titles talked about — “Silent Hill: Homecoming,” “Castlevania: Judgment,” “Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia” and “Rock Revolution” – are out on the floor. Anyone in attendance has had a day and a half to talk up these games.
The “Silent Hill” update we mentioned yesterday spilled all the beans at today’s event. We saw a smidge of a level, we saw half a boss fight. The only new thing showcased was dialog trees — different responses affect the game differently and can provide different endings.
The game clip, narrated and not played by lead designer Jason Allen, was … well, Silent Hill. It looks really similar to previous incarnations in the franchise. Eerily similar, one might say. There’s a lot of minor upgrades, like a first-person view and visual cues for items lying around. The biggest change – the fixed camera going to a roaming one — will be interesting to watch; one of the strengths of horror-survival titles is a certain level of helplessness invoked by that static view. We’ll see if the increased playability is worth any potential loss in atmosphere.
The Castlevania games were previewed by series producer Koji Igarashi. In his trademark cowboy hat, he played “Castlevania: Judgment.” He described the Wii game, through a translator, as a “3D versus action game,” not a fighting game.
After the demo, I’m not sure why he’s drawing the distinction. There’s two people fighting each other. They have life bars. There’s a round timer. Players can score combos. It’s a best-of some number of rounds system (at least 3 rounds, as Igarashi played 2 rounds). And there’s no platforming or moving through levels. Under his definition, “PowerStone 2″ was an action game.
“Order of Ecclesia” is another DS entry for the series, but we only saw the preview movie. It looks and sounds like other DS Castlevania titles, end of story.
Finally, “Rock Revolution” got a demo, opened with a cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop” by Ramones-tribute band Sheenas. Brand manager Lauren Faccidomo joined the group, and the song sounded good. Rockin’ on to “Rock Revolution,” right? Not so much. After failing out halfway through the same song on the game, Faccidomo — understandably — spent 45 seconds to thank us for coming then jetted from the stage.
The end result? No real news, no big updates.
