Capcom had an impressive lineup at CES over in the Planet Hollywood suites. We headed there to check out several new titles:
- Dark Void
- Mega Man 10
- Final Fight: Double Impact
- Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
- Super Street Fighter IV
- Monster Hunter Tri
- MotoGP 09/10
- Lost Planet 2
We first sat down and played four player co-op Lost Planet 2; a very impressive sequel. We were thrust immediately into a boss fight that spanned an arena the size of a football field. The boss was a giant armored monster that was knocking the four of us left and right; the scope and scale of the battle was intense and felt cinematic. Having three friends with you makes it possible to defeat the megalith, but it was not an easy fight.
In addition to the awesome four player co-op, you can fully customize your character–the image of which will remain persistent throughout the game, even showing up on friends’ consoles.
Next we saw a game that we admit neither of us were expecting to be exciting: Monster Hunter Tri. This Wii exlusive is the third game of the “big in Japan” Monster Hunter series.
In Monster Hunter Tri, you are a hunter who must take down huge and powerful monsters in order to gain fame, gear, food, and more. You can choose to follow the main quest line, or leave town and roam the countryside to freelance it. These battles are essentially entire games within themselves: expect monster battles to last a significantly long time. The monster we watched was something to the tune of a 50 minute battle–and that’s just one of hundreds of monsters available to hunt.
The battles themselves are strategic third person action smash-em-ups; think God of War-style weapon swinging, grappling madness. After you’ve successfully hunted a monster, saw it up and use its guts, meat, and bones for gear upgrades, trade, and food.
If things are getting rough for a monster, it may call out for help. In the battle we witnessed, the monster limped away, bellowed, and came back to the fight. Suddenly, the mini-map showed a blue winged shape approaching from another zone; the monster had summoned a draconic mega-beast to give it a hand. Beat up a monster enough, and it may flee and try to lick its wounds. Nobody said hunting giant monsters was easy.
Next, we meandered over to the siren call of Super Street Fighter IV, where we were shown the improvements and new characters that will make this the “definitive” version of SFIV. Some of the new characters were blacked out in the press review copy that was playing at the suite, sorry to inform our superfans, but Cody and Guy from Final Fight will be in the game. SSFIV will be less expensive than the original SFIV, in a nod to angry fans who felt cheated that such a major update is taking place so soon after the original SFIV.
Capcom Associate PR Manager Wes Phillips, as returning character C. Viper, decimated Icrontic reporter Charlotte Tarlitz’s Juri with some exceptionally bold and brash combos that went into an amazing cinematic of her secret agent fire and shock suit basically ruining Juri’s day. The character art, cinematics, animation, and backgrounds are all as absolutely polished and astounding as can be.
Next we got to sit down with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, a Wii exclusive fighter that mimics the style and craziness of the earlier Marvel vs. Capcom franchise. For those who aren’t aware, Tatsunoko is basically a Japanese analogue of Marvel comics; a full roster of nostalgic and current comic book heroes from the distant shores of the far East with a variety of superpowers and backstories. Capcom claims that Tatsunoko vs. Capcom represents the pinnacle of online gaming for the Wii: matchmaking and online play are fully functional. Here also is where we mention that Charlotte, playing as Morrigan and Ken the Eagle, made Brian, playing as Mega Man and Roll, pretty much look like a buffoon in front of all the nice Capcom people. The spanking caused some psychological trauma that resulted in Brian referring to himself in the third person for a bit. Brian sad.
Nothing, however, soothes a bruised ego like reliving your childhood and remembering the days of plowing quarters into arcade machines. The “Andre the Giant” guys in pink polka-dot spandex are back in the new/old Final Fight: Double Impact–a dual release of the original arcade Final Fight and the Japan-only Magic Sword. Both are sixteen bits of glory for us old gamers.
Enough fluff. Brian was here for one thing and one thing only: Mega Man 10.
Yes, we got to see all the names of the new robot masters. Unfortunately, we told Capcom PR Specialist Jason Allen that we would not reveal the names. Suffice to say they are awesome. We got to play a stage of an unannounced robot master that is baseball-themed. Ballcap-wearing baseball robots pelted the Blue Bomber with robo-baseballs while Mega jumped through typically difficult screen after screen of robotic ballpark madness.
Whiney, spoiled gamers everywhere complained about the difficulty of Mega Man 9. To that, we say “Call the Wahhhhhmbulance…” Capcom, however, had a bit of a gentler response: Mega Man 10 will include an easier difficulty level that makes a few changes to the levels, such as covering up strategic spike ball pits or making some gaping chasms more easily surmounted. Cry us a river, kids… back in our day, games were super hard, there were no quicksaves, and when you died, you threw the controller you were so pissed off. Hard mode or bust.
The last game we looked at was MotoGP 09/10. While we can’t intelligently comment on the mechanics, gameplay, or realism of the title, we can say that Capcom most likely has the definitive GP motorcycle racing experience. Instead of releasing just the 2009 season, they are calling the title 09/10, and will update the game with free DLC updates as the 2010 season progresses. Expect at least two DLC updates to bring the game current with the 2010 season.
All in all, we were impressed with Capcom’s showing at CES. While gaming is not usually considered a primary showstopper at the Consumer Electronics Show, we left Planet Hollywood pleased, knowing that Capcom has some serious fans and gamers working behind the scenes to provide fun, fan service, and quality sequels for our enjoyment.
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