Konami, the last company I saw at E3 2011, didn’t have a single Wii title on display as far as I could see. They were supporting the 3DS, however, with two new titles due for release this fall. One was a new IP, and the other was about as old as IPs get.
The first game I saw was a title called Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights, which makes hardly the slightest attempt to hide how much it was inspired by Nintendo’s own Professor Layton series. The setting of 19th-century Paris is illustrated with lovely hand-drawn cutscenes, the characters are voiced by charming old British voice actors, and you’ll be given over 250 puzzles to solve over the course of the game. This title, however, apparently hopes to excel and surpass its predecessor in terms of, well, mostly everything.
The game is quite story heavy, first of all, and hopes to keep the story engaging through every chapter, where the Layton series could lack a bit in the story department during the middle of the adventure. The game also boasts full voice acting for all its dialogue, and a larger world that includes most of 19th-century Paris. Most significantly, though, exploration in this game actually occurs in a three-dimensional world, with you moving a miniature Doctor Lautrec around.
Puzzle solving is not the the only thing you’ll be doing in this title, though said puzzles will involve things like matching, spotting differences, crosswords, environmental puzzles, and even a variant of Minesweeper. You’ll also be wandering around a 3D world, sneaking past guards in some areas, hunting treasure in many places, and even engaging in some light combat in places. The game apparently mixes puzzles with RPG elements and hopes to deliver a richer experience than the Layton series currently offers. From the limited hands-on time I got with the game, it certainly looks like it’s capable of doing just that, so long as the story and voice acting are on par with the magnificence that Layton provides. Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights is scheduled for a September release in North America, Latin America and Europe.
The other 3DS title Konami is working on is Frogger 3D, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the original Frogger. This game, at least the levels I saw, drops you into the middle of a three-dimensional, convoluted, populated crosswalk, and you need to navigate the streets and get to the level exit without being squished, similar to the original game. Also scattered through each level are coins, which you can collect to unlock hidden levels. The game is controlled with the D-pad, containing you and forcing you to only move up, down, left or right, in another homage to the original game. While the level I played seemed fairly tame, others have reported that the game can get truly insane at times, involving moving planes firing missiles and more, and I wish I had gotten to see these.
This Frogger title will contain 60 levels, including hidden ones, in the main mode. There’s also an Endless mode you can partake in, to see how long you can go through the original game’s map without dying. You’re also able to race against another player in multiplayer, or you can pick up the ghosts of their best times via Streetpass and try to beat their records. The game controls well, with the pace of the levels feeling frantic yet not frustrating, and the 3D effect works well, though it doesn’t make the gameplay any easier or more difficult. It seems like a game that would be a good title to whip out and play for a few minutes when you have downtime, or perhaps during travel. Frogger 3D is slated for release this Fall.
Stay tuned to Nintendo Gal for more E3 impressions.
