Astro Boy is one of the oldest names in Japanese comic books and is considered to be the first true anime. Because this is such an influential story with a long history, there are some really big shoes for Astro Boy: The Movie to fill, and the same could probably be said of the tie-in, Astro Boy: The Video Game. Fortunately, one of my favorite developers, High Voltage Software is behind the console versions of the game, and for the Wii version, the same graphics engine that powers The Conduit is being used to give Astro Boy some spectacular visuals.
When describing the gameplay, the representative used some key words that made it just sound magical. He told me that much of the game’s inspiration came from, first of all, the previous Astro Boy games, but it also draws from Mega Man and Metroid. There are also some levels that take after the classic space shooter R-Type and have Astro Boy flying sideways through clouds of enemies over his home town, Metro City.
In every level, the environment is wonderfully rendered. The flying levels feature action on only a single plane, but the visuals in the background, instead of being static or scrolling past a cityscape in the distance, show an ever-moving view of Metro City in full 3D giving the feeling of actually flying through the city. It’s really quite grand and cinematic.
The platformer levels really do play out in a style reminiscent of Metroid or Mega Man. The close-range melee attacks are primarily kicks and punches, but the longer range attacks are laser blasts and machine gun fire. The huge laser charge attack is especially Mega Man-like. Astro Boy gains several powers and levels them up through the game by picking up items hidden in secret rooms much like in Metroid. When you touch them the game even plays a little jingle as a confirmation.
Another bit of fun for the game is a feature that lets a second player drop in at any point as an off-colored Astro Boy. This isn’t a huge deal, but it adds some replayability to the game. Also, the four difficulty settings make a second and third playthrough worthwhile. Since this is based on a movie, it must appeal to the little kids, so the lowest difficulty setting is basically a waste of time for any real gamer, but since High Voltage prides itself on making games worth playing, the highest of the four difficulty settings is nearly impossible. If that weren’t the case, Astro Boy: The Video Game could hardly claim to take after Mega Man, could it? This will be on store shelves in time for the movie’s release this October.
