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Of Capcom’s PlayStation2 titles on
show at this year’s E3, none are more anticipated than
Okami and the newly announced God Hand. Not due for
release until early 2007, there’s
 still plenty of room for expansion
and tightening of the title – not that the Preview Code really
demonstrated too much need.
The basic premise of the title sees
you playing as a character in possession of a God Hand and searching
for the other, while a group of bandits are trying to remove the
current one from your arm. The E3 Preview Build was limited to a
single Level, however, as this Level was in an almost complete form
it was easy to ascertain how the game would play.
The title plays similarly to the
recently released Final Fight: Streetwise in that it offers a
modernisation of the early nineties Scrolling Beat-‘Em-Ups. However,
the play progresses through a series of Arena-based Levels in which
the main objective is to eliminate every adversary contained within.
Basic moves are performed with the Face Buttons and plenty of
weapons are available – although the Collision Detection on many of
the larger weapons is currently a little unreliable. Special Moves
are performed in quite an eccentric fashion, to say the least. The
R2 Trigger executes a God Move when pressed with the corresponding
Face Button. A second series of Special Moves is available, known as
Roulette Moves; a tap of the R1 Button causes a Roulette Wheel to
appear in the bottom-right of the screen from which the player must
hit the correct choice of move at the time in which it rolls around.
The title plays surprisingly well given it’s distancing from the
traditional Scrolling Beat-‘Em-Up releases, and will no doubt
attract gamers outside the usual fanbase.
The title’s presentation was
comfortable for a late PlayStation2 release, but currently,
special-effects of any kind are thin on the ground. Given that the
title will, according to the reliable informant recently placed
in-charge of Capcom’s UK Sales and Marketing, be given a £29.99 SRP
upon release – and will no doubt retail within
Electronic Theatre
below £27 – God Hand could be the PlayStation2 bargain of
2007. |
