Bicho Combates!
Pit your scrappy little bugs in mortal combat with Daxter's offbeat wireless multiplayer game, bug combat.
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The we checked in on Daxter, Ready at Dawn Studios' first PSP project
starring the Jak series' loveably annoying eponymous ottsel, we found a
platformer that reprised its predecessors' platforming action with
surprising effectiveness. But aside from the core platforming action,
which really does seem like Jak with its own unique twist, we didn't
know if there'd be anything else to back up the core gameplay. Now
we've gotten a further taste of what Daxter has to offer, including a
wireless multiplayer mode, unique gameplay mechanics later in the game,
and secrets and unlockable bonuses galore. All this seems to add up to
a game that should tickle platformer fans' fancies on the PSP for some
time to come.
But let's back up a second and look at the inception of the
project, which ought to strengthen the game's pedigree in the eyes of
longtime Jak fans. Ready at Dawn president Didier Malenfant--who helped
wrap production on Jak II one week and shopping for office space for
his new studio the next--says that the ideas for Daxter came about
through his conversations with Jason Rubin, former head of Naughty Dog.
The Jak creators gave regular feedback to the team at Ready at Dawn,
and the game was even written and voiced by the same writer and actors
(including Daxter voice Max Casella) who brought the original games to
life.
Anyway, back to all that content. Malenfant told us Daxter will
be long for a platformer, with 18 levels (not counting the city hub
between them), six "dream" levels, and three bosses that should amount
to between 10 and 15 hours of gameplay even for skilled gamers. We got
to take a look at some of the later levels in the game, and learned
that generally, each level in the game will feature some sort of unique
mechanic. For instance, Daxter obtains an insecticide sprayer early in
the game, and after a while he'll gain the ability to light the spray
on fire, creating a flamethrower. In one level, then, you'll encounter
a bunch of giant ice blocks, and you can use the flamethrower to melt
these blocks to the appropriate size to use as platforms or to push
around as necessary.
In our previous look at Daxter, we saw the Matrix-style
dream sequence that had us hitting button patterns in quick succession
to make a Neo-styled Daxter fight off hordes of Agent Smith-looking
enemies. We got to check out a few more of these dream levels in the
updated build of the game we saw, each of which had some kind of
classic movie hook that tickled our sense of nostalgia. One level cast
Daxter as Indiana Jones, forcing him to whip oncoming spiders and
snakes while dodging giant rolling boulders. Another was patterned
after a certain epic battle for Scottish independence (okay, fine, it's
Braveheart). The interesting thing about these dream levels is
that they're not just for fun--completing each one successfully will
award you a health bonus, a new movie, or some other upgrade that's
relevant to the main gameplay.
It sounds like Daxter will be chock-full of hidden things to
dig up as you jump and swat your way through the many levels. Aside
from the standard metalhead collectibles that return from the Jak
games, you'll be able to find a number of masks for Daxter that you can
then put on or take off at will. We weren't shown any of these masks so
as to preserve the surprise, but they're said to reprise characters
from certain other popular Sony franchises. Then there's the USB
connectivity between Daxter and Jak X for the PS2. In Jak X, connecting
the two will enable new drivers, such as the villainous Kaeden, as well
as the best car in the game, the Daxtermobile (which looks like nothing
so much as a four-wheeled giant Daxter head). You'll also get some new
bonus goodies in Daxter through the connect, though again, we weren't
able to find out what these will be just yet.
And then, speaking of hidden stuff, there's the bug combat. The huh?
Well, Daxter has a two-player wireless game that's almost entirely
separate from the core game. You'll be able to find various combat bugs
throughout the game, as well as potions and tokens you can use to
upgrade these bugs' abilities, and then you can drop to the main menu
and take on all comers in a bug-versus-bug combat mode that's
reminiscent of Yu-Gi-Oh or even Pokemon. In bug combat, there are three
kinds of attacks--spit, claw, and trap--and the three are connected in
a rock-paper-scissors manner whereby each one beats one of the others
and is beaten by the other one. Though we didn't get to mess with bug
combat much ourselves, between the purportedly over 200,000 possible
bugs and the many ways to level up and upgrade them--not to mention the
epic amount of trash talk flying between Ready at Dawn members engaged
in the game--bug combat looks like it'll provide an interesting and
competitive diversion from Daxter's core platforming.
Daxter continues to impress us with its nearly PS2-level
visuals and gameplay that's highly reminiscent of its forebears. Add
all these new peripheral features to the mix and you've got one loaded
PSP game. Will the game live up to its pedigree and the impressive list
of features Ready at Dawn has laid out already? We'll find out when
Daxter ships next month. In the meantime, check out a number of new
gameplay movies and an exclusive developer interview on the game's media page.
Source: GameSpot