Licensed games are generally the stuff that core gamers avoid. Shoddy production, poor decisions, lack of understanding, and attempting to appeal to a broad range of audiences usually leaves us core gamers a bit out in the cold. Strangely enough, High Voltage Software is developing one of the few licensed games coming out worth looking at. Based on the movie coming out this October, Astro Boy for the Wii, PS2, PS3, and DS, is shaping up to possibly something more than just another licensed title.
The developers have gone with a 2.5D style game so they can focus on old-school arcade mechanics. The producer for the game, Cameron Rains, told me they decided to do this for two reasons, the first reason is so that we could make a really fun game that people can come back to over and over again. The other reason is that we can offer a really high level visual fidelity that youd expect for honoring the license and the upcoming film by Imagi Animation Studios.
Astro comes with all his standard tricks: arm cannon, finger laser, and the fan favorite, the machine-gun-butt. He also has a few new tricks now, he can ground slide, duck, and can use a new super ability that absorbs enemy bullets, which will help Astro regenerate his health. There are 30 total levels that will cover the events of the movie and also delve into some new fiction, so fans of the manga, anime, and previous games will all get something new.
High-Voltage Software was able to work really closely with Imagi and get a lot of assets from them so that people who are familiar with the film will instantly recognize the look and feel of the films art. But what about people who arent so interested in seeing the upcoming film, are they going to get anything out of the game? According to producer Cameron Rains, Absolutely. Part of the joy of developing this game was developing it with so many different people in mind. Were looking at the manga fans, the anime fans, the GBA game fans, new fans coming from the film, and just core gamers in general. We spent hours and hours pouring over Mega Mans and Metal Slugs, and lots of other action-platforming games. We looked at what made those great, and what we can pull from them.
Thats where we were coming from when developing the game, so our hopes would be that someone whos just a core gamer could pick up Astro Boy and really enjoy it too. We did this primarily though our difficulty levels. We have easy, normal, hard, and hero. Easy and normal are for the pick up and play, just saw the movie and want experience that again, kind of gamers. Our hard and hero difficulty opens the game up for core gamers.
Even when developers understand the kinds of games to pull from for influence, frequently they leave the difficultly levels, which long time gamers are more likely to enjoy, locked. Cameron quashed my fears about this when he said, hard is unlocked from the start so you can punish yourself right out of the gate. While discussing the topic I brought up how slow a game feels when youre forced to play below your skill level to unlock a good challenge, and Cameron was right there with me. A slow start doesnt make you feel like coming back and playing again. So hard is unlocked from the very beginning.
Hard and hero mode are really designed more for the Astro Boy GBA fans, Mega Man fans, and anyone who enjoys a good 2D action-platformer with shooter elements. They can pick it up and have a good time with it. Another aspect of the game the developers understood is how to handle co-op. Rather than force co-op gameplay to start and stop at the same time, theyve included drop-in co-op. At any point in time player two can pick up their controller of choice, and jump into the action. One of the decisions that we made was to let both players play as Astro. We decided it wouldnt be much fun if you were a secondary character watching your buddy run around being Astro Boy with all his sweet moves. Sounds like someone use to be stuck as Tails in Sonic 2 as a kid.
Most of the game takes the action-platforming route, but there are some side-scrolling shooter-inspired levels. A highlight of the game for me, and something that I really wanted to see if High-Voltage got right. After they told me what types of games they were playing for inspiration on Astro Boy, and seeing it in action, I can safely say that they did get it right. When we were in the early stages of development for the game we looked at games like Ikaruga, Gradius, and R-Type. You know, pinnacle examples of games that defined the shooter genre.
They took it one step further too. Rather than having standard scrolling backgrounds the developers took note on Sin and Punishments method of constantly rotating and panning backgrounds so the player can get a feel of the environments and locations, rather than just see them pass by in the clouds. Even though you cant control the camera you get to see great sweeping vistas, which makes you feel very involved in the action.
Overall Astro Boy is shaping up quite well. The levels show influence and inspiration in line with the entire franchise, which is good for fans. More importantly the game is playing well, a much harder task to pull off. I tip my hat to the developers over at High Voltage Software for actually taking the time to care about what most other developers would look at as just another licensed game.
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