E3 2005: Level Up
Capcom Aplenty
Product: Capcom Console Lineup
Company: Capcom
Date: 05/25/2005
Avaliable On:

Capcom had a healthy E3 lineup this year.

U.K. developed Without Warning is set in the backdrop of a terrorist siege on a U.S. based chemical plant. It will be a shooter featuring 12 main characters that you will switch between during the course of the game. The timing of these switches won?t always be linear, so what you do as one character may affect another if you control them during the same time period. Without Warning will be appearing on Xbox and PlayStation 2 this fall.

Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance for Xbox and PS2 is an ?urban action fighter? featuring 5 main characters and RPG elements. Featuring an engaging storyline and the ability to fight with anyone you see, it should prove most entertaining for certain types of people out there. You?ll know which ones because they?ll have this satisfied look on their face come the fall months.

One thing Capcom wanted to make very clear is that Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams is not Onimusha 4. It will begin a new storyline and will feature a new, if similar, style of play. Available this winter on the PlayStation 2, it features 5 playable characters than you can switch between during battle.

A classic returns with Final Fight: Streetwise coming in winter for the Xbox and PS2. Developed by Studio 8, Final Fight: Streetwise will mark the return of the classic character Cody and the introduction of his brother Kyle. Unsurprisingly a fighter of sorts, it seems Cody manages to get kidnapped and the player will control Kyle throughout the game.

Okami is a game that?s extremely hard to describe (those usually end up being good ones). The graphics are rendered in Japanese brush style and the story and characters center on things from Japanese mythology. The player controls a wolf goddess, spirit of nature. You use the analog sticks to create brush strokes as part of the game. You color in items to create them. You get the idea, very unique stuff. Only PS2 owners will be allowed to partake in this artistic endeavor come 2006.

The most talked about game from Capcom was Killer7 for Xbox, Gamecube and PS2. Again, the gameplay is hard to describe specifically, so I?ll just say a first/third person action title will suffice for now; you explore in the third person and fight in the first. In the game itself, you play as someone who has seven personalities each with their own names and gifts. Since they are all part of the same person, each has the last name of Smith. While it?s usually melodramatic to describe a game as something like a film noir, Killer7 comes pretty darn close.

Coming in 2006 for the PS2 is Devil Kings. Created by the graphics team responsible for, surprise surprise, the Devil May Cry series, Devil Kings is a samurai adventure game that takes place in historic Japan. For better or worse, Capcom plans to heavily westernize the game for localization, so I don?t know what to expect when it gets here.

*Insert generic joke using the word Viewtiful or the phrase ?Henshin A-Go-Go*
Suffice it to say Capcom is coming out with a new Viewtiful Joe game for the Gamecube and PS2. Viewtiful Joe: VFX Battle is the next iteration of the familiar, but unique, Viewtiful Joe game play style. The new things in store this time are multiple playable characters, multiplayer competition, and this time Joe will go ?beyond simple side-scrolling action?.

One title I will most certainly be picking up this fall is Capcom Classics Collection for PS2 and Xbox. It will feature 22 Capcom classics such as 1942, Street Fighter II, Commando, Final Fight, and Super Ghouls ?N Ghosts.

The last few titles Capcom has in store for us are Flipnic, a pinball game for the PS2 coming in July, Legend of Kay, a teen friendly platformer for the PS2, and Mega Man X Collection, a collection of Mega Man X 1-6 for the PS2.

Capcom also had their own little next generation announcement. Dead Rising, by the father of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune, is a ?zombie game? with some new twists. In it you will take on the role of a photo journalist who has barricaded himself in a mall. Unfortunately some zombies have made it inside and now you must intelligently discern how to make use of the objects in the mall for your own use. You will also take pictures to chronicle the events in the mall, though just how this will work in the end design has not yet been decided. The only announced platform for Dead Rising so far is the Xbox 360.

Check back for full reviews as these titles release.

Alucard aka Stephen Triche

GameVortex PSIllustrated TeamPS2