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September 22, 2006 | 4:59 PM PST
by: Adam Beck
Square-Enix’s presence towards the Xbox 360 has been a bit on the downside, while their offering towards the Playstation 3 may be only Final Fantasy XIII (and Verses XIII), its still probably one of the most anticipated titles in Japan. The only title Square game that has released on the Xbox 360 is a game released over four years ago (in Japan, over two years in North America) for the Playstation 2 and the PC, Final Fantasy XI. This is the start of Square’s interest in Microsoft’s next-generation system, but still without any big upcoming titles, it’s hard to see how well they’re going to contribute to the foreign company’s product. But rest a sure, Square-Enix is supporting the Xbox 360 and is releasing a new title named Project Sylpheed in Japan later this month. Will this fast and furious space fighter be the next Square hit? And will it ever land here in North America? Only time will tell.
Project Sylpheed is an arcade shooter developed by Game Arts, best known for their work on the popular RPG Lunar or Grandia series. This will be the second game in the series and is being called a sequel to the original Sipheed released back in 1993 for the Sega CD. The game takes place hundreds of years away from our current generation. The game goes over a specific resistance force is planning to break off from Earth. On July 5th, 2632 a force named Adan Freedom Commonwealth attacks one of Earth’s Delta Savior battalion on the planet of Revendolph. This started a whole war, and now becoming known as the “100 Day War”. You will have access to a three dimensional space environment to fly in and the ability to fire your Delta Saber’s (your ship) weapons. Square-Enix has said that your Delta Saber will be fully customizable and will have 50 different unlockable weapons. Each weapon of course can be upgraded after every level both in strength and speed.
The trailer that was shown at the Tokyo Game Show this year had the majority of CG rendered videos rather than gameplay. The video shows a conflict between two male characters during their flight through an asteroid field. Based on the video it seems as if the silver haired character was sent away by the military, quickly after they begin a fierce battle between various ships. The trailer didn’t show off too much more of conflict between characters and many bun battles. After all the fighting it begins to show some gameplay. There is a lot of special effects and flashing lights that really hurts my eyes and it’s hard to focus on one thing. The screen will resemble a futuristic jet plane type navigation system. You are able to perform various moves with your Saber
They also display lots more CG videos with some chatting between an African American fellow with a tattoo on the side of his head, a young brunette who seems to be an informant with Ian in the background, and between a woman who has lots of make up and blue striped blonde hair, the young female main character and the blue haired main character. After that there seems to be a relational conflict with two of the character as their lips nearly met, after that there is quite a bit of dramatic sequences destructions and tears that run down their cheek. This should be indicating a strong emotional storyline with dramatic twists and possibly revenge. Finally at the end of the trailer the silver haired… rival (?) walks up to the main character that points a gun at him and screams something in Japanese at him, the silver haired man then falls back and it ends. Based on the trailer it seems to be an exciting storyline with some interesting arcade shooting.
During gameplay you will notice that the screen is full of indicators. On the left side of the screen there will be your level, it spans from the beginning at level one to… and unknown amount later on through the game. Below that you are able to organize your formation with specific triangular icons with number from one to four; there are two strips you can organize your icons in. At the bottom you will have your bars of health and other attributes to your Delta Saber’s ship, the Shield, Armor, Nose and Main bars. Strangely there is an indicator that comments “Padlock” to the right of the screen, Im not quite sure what this is for yet. At the top right of the screen you will be given a timer. The timer of course will be counting up instead of down timing you each mission in order to give you a score at the end. Below that there will be two counter indicators showing how many warships and warplanes you’ve taken down throughout the level. Other popups that will come up are “Warning” and “Damage” indicators in the middle of the screen when you’re in danger or currently taking damages. Other than that you will have informants who will popup at the top left of the screen that will display you information on your enemy or current status. Of course other than that there will be other people such as commanders on other ships or teammates who will contact to tell you their in trouble or any other information.
Visuals Project Sylpheed is defiantly solid. There is strangely quite a few CG cinematics considering the game will be on one Dual Layer DVD, but cinematics are very well done with some slick animation. In-game graphics are strong as it allows you to customize your spaceship giving the player more variety when playing the game. Other ships do look nice but definitely don’t look as good as some next generation titles. There are lots of different special effects which looks really good when you speed up, and when a ship goes down nothing is more pleasing.
After everything Square-Enix has shown on Project Sylpheed at the Tokyo Game Show this year, they’ve definitely approved on the presentation for the game with giving more detail on the game along side some great looking CG and gameplay footage. The game will be released in less than a week in Japan (nothing has been confirmed for an North American release yet), don’t hold your breath if you’re expecting a AAA title here, but you should be sure to watch out for this title when its released. Keep your eyes on Advanced Media Network for more coverage on Project Sylpheed and the Tokyo Games Show.
Project Sylpheed is an arcade shooter developed by Game Arts, best known for their work on the popular RPG Lunar or Grandia series. This will be the second game in the series and is being called a sequel to the original Sipheed released back in 1993 for the Sega CD. The game takes place hundreds of years away from our current generation. The game goes over a specific resistance force is planning to break off from Earth. On July 5th, 2632 a force named Adan Freedom Commonwealth attacks one of Earth’s Delta Savior battalion on the planet of Revendolph. This started a whole war, and now becoming known as the “100 Day War”. You will have access to a three dimensional space environment to fly in and the ability to fire your Delta Saber’s (your ship) weapons. Square-Enix has said that your Delta Saber will be fully customizable and will have 50 different unlockable weapons. Each weapon of course can be upgraded after every level both in strength and speed.
The trailer that was shown at the Tokyo Game Show this year had the majority of CG rendered videos rather than gameplay. The video shows a conflict between two male characters during their flight through an asteroid field. Based on the video it seems as if the silver haired character was sent away by the military, quickly after they begin a fierce battle between various ships. The trailer didn’t show off too much more of conflict between characters and many bun battles. After all the fighting it begins to show some gameplay. There is a lot of special effects and flashing lights that really hurts my eyes and it’s hard to focus on one thing. The screen will resemble a futuristic jet plane type navigation system. You are able to perform various moves with your Saber
They also display lots more CG videos with some chatting between an African American fellow with a tattoo on the side of his head, a young brunette who seems to be an informant with Ian in the background, and between a woman who has lots of make up and blue striped blonde hair, the young female main character and the blue haired main character. After that there seems to be a relational conflict with two of the character as their lips nearly met, after that there is quite a bit of dramatic sequences destructions and tears that run down their cheek. This should be indicating a strong emotional storyline with dramatic twists and possibly revenge. Finally at the end of the trailer the silver haired… rival (?) walks up to the main character that points a gun at him and screams something in Japanese at him, the silver haired man then falls back and it ends. Based on the trailer it seems to be an exciting storyline with some interesting arcade shooting.
During gameplay you will notice that the screen is full of indicators. On the left side of the screen there will be your level, it spans from the beginning at level one to… and unknown amount later on through the game. Below that you are able to organize your formation with specific triangular icons with number from one to four; there are two strips you can organize your icons in. At the bottom you will have your bars of health and other attributes to your Delta Saber’s ship, the Shield, Armor, Nose and Main bars. Strangely there is an indicator that comments “Padlock” to the right of the screen, Im not quite sure what this is for yet. At the top right of the screen you will be given a timer. The timer of course will be counting up instead of down timing you each mission in order to give you a score at the end. Below that there will be two counter indicators showing how many warships and warplanes you’ve taken down throughout the level. Other popups that will come up are “Warning” and “Damage” indicators in the middle of the screen when you’re in danger or currently taking damages. Other than that you will have informants who will popup at the top left of the screen that will display you information on your enemy or current status. Of course other than that there will be other people such as commanders on other ships or teammates who will contact to tell you their in trouble or any other information.
Visuals Project Sylpheed is defiantly solid. There is strangely quite a few CG cinematics considering the game will be on one Dual Layer DVD, but cinematics are very well done with some slick animation. In-game graphics are strong as it allows you to customize your spaceship giving the player more variety when playing the game. Other ships do look nice but definitely don’t look as good as some next generation titles. There are lots of different special effects which looks really good when you speed up, and when a ship goes down nothing is more pleasing.
After everything Square-Enix has shown on Project Sylpheed at the Tokyo Game Show this year, they’ve definitely approved on the presentation for the game with giving more detail on the game along side some great looking CG and gameplay footage. The game will be released in less than a week in Japan (nothing has been confirmed for an North American release yet), don’t hold your breath if you’re expecting a AAA title here, but you should be sure to watch out for this title when its released. Keep your eyes on Advanced Media Network for more coverage on Project Sylpheed and the Tokyo Games Show.
February 8, 2010
