This year, Capcom was light on Nintendo material, with two DS games and only one Wii title to show, so I was able to get quite a bit of time with each of them. After getting some time with the non-crowded, media-only demos of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I headed to the first title.
Okami Den (DS)
I’ve still not played the original Okami, so I wouldn’t be able to say how the two games compare. The game certainly makes its heritage known, however, by putting the DS capabilities to use. You control the young wolf Chibiterasu, with a human partner riding along, looking down on the world through an isometric viewpoint. The game looks good for a DS title; they’re trying to keep the art style of the original, so the whole game looks somewhat hand-drawn, though it does seem a bit rough and blocky on occasion. You’ll fight enemies, break rocks, and press switches in your spare time – now that I think about it, the game bears a passing resemblance to the DS Zelda titles.
Of course, mixing things up are the celestial brush abilities, which are controlled by the DS stylus. These abilities probably control their best on the DS; certainly, painting brush strokes onto the scenery is easier when you have a pencil-like utensil in your hand. You can make trees bloom, make items appear, destroy obstacles, and draw a path for the youngster to follow – again, similar to Spirit Tracks. It controls rather fluidly, with L or R taking you to the draw menu, though you can’t control the main game with the stylus so you sort of need to be switching back and forth – not always very comfortable. Overall, the game looks like it’s shaping up well, though it didn’t exactly light my fire when I played through the one training level. Maybe the game proper has some more excitement to it.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS)
The second title I saw was the puzzle game Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. As a dead guy, you have some mysterious dead guy powers, like the ability to turn back time rather specifically, or to possess objects and make them do things. The goal of each stage is to avert some person’s death by making a number of very small changes; in one stage, I had to avoid a dog’s death by making a donut roll underneath a couch. Figuring out what you need to do isn’t always intuitive, but it is satisfying to figure out the specific series of events that saves a person’s life; the game will give you some clues on how to do this, if you explore enough. You’ll probably be giving things a few tries before you figure out what you need to do, but it’s not frustratingly difficult.
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes (Wii)
The Wii game on display was Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, a title I’ve never heard of before, but I’m glad I had time to try it out. You play as one of a number of warriors, packing a variety of weaponry (I gave favor to the shotgun-toting redheaded girl) and obliterating everyone that stands in your way. You play as one of a number of squad members, but you are really the only squad member who matters since your powerful abilities can tear straight through an army of hundreds of soldiers; over the course of my twenty-minute demo, I ended up killing about six hundred soldiers with my seven-man squad, and I was pretty much the only person doing anything.
The controls are pretty simple; you only have a few buttons, but you learn quickly how to string together simple combos and become an unstoppable killing machine. It’s pretty excellent visceral entertainment, watching one of your attacks launch seven men into the air a bit. I did eventually run into a behemoth of a soldier that I had to retreat from, which added some welcome variety. The game doesn’t look quite as good as the PS3 version, but it’s still quite pretty, and looks excellent in motion, without any frame rate drops I could see. This is a game I’m going to keep my eye on, as the gameplay was highly engrossing and I was disappointed when the demo had to end. Keep an ear out for news about this action-packed title.
Keep checking back at NintendoGal.com for updates and impressions from other publishers.
