Developed by: Never-Land Company / Hudson Soft
Genre: Third-Person Action
Number of Players: 1-4
Release Date: May 3, 2005
Box Art:
[quote=IGN]One thing that Konami has proven with its PSP line-up is that they're not afraid to take chances. And if there's anything to say about their upcoming action RPG Rengoku: The Tower of Purgatory, it's that it's a game that stands out. It has it's own look, and it's always refreshing to see distinctive looking games. The intriguing art style by Japanese artist Jun Suemi looks like something out of the Guyver. With that in mind, this is one game that's definitely on a lot of gamer minds, and we got our hands on a copy to see what the western PSP owners can expect.
The story takes place in the near future where robots fight one another for the enjoyment of human beings. All of them have been locked away in an eight level tower where they fight night a day in a cybernetic hell, struggling to reach the top. The one robot you control has developed a consciousness about the whole deal, and now he wants some answers. With his newly found ego, this one cybernetic gladiator will seek to discover the meaning of his own existence and figure out who controls the Purgatory Tower (a la The Architect, a la the Wizard of Oz).
The A.D.A.M. (Autonomous Dueling Armed Machine) you start off as is a stripped down human-looking figure with none of the appendages we've seen in the promotional art -- no forehead gun or any of that. You have to go collect those things in true RPG fashion, along with tons of other funky weapons that attach to five different parts of your body. Each body part has a certain number of hit points that deplete with each use. Taking out other androids will yield more attachments that you can equip at designated terminals.
The main character is the focal point of the visual presentation, and his animated movements are very clean and specific. A.D.A.M. runs around kind of awkward with a stiff back, as you'd imagine any android to run, and has agility when you need it. Even when he rolls to dodge or spins to deliver a lethal blow to his opponents, all the detail of the well-designed player model really shines through on the PSP. Lighting and complex texture really get the job done. It's easy to appreciate what this game is offering for that character design alone.
Rengoku already launched in Japan, and when we played that version, the gameplay was slowed up with the load times. In the American version, the room-to-room loadtimes look to have been sped up (most exploration is instantaneous), which helps to keep the action moving. The controls are still a bit wonky with everything controlled from the D-pad -- an issue the Japanese game had that the US version leaves the same. It seems the analog nub would have made more sense, but seeing as some games aren't incorporating it so well yet, maybe the D-pad was a more practical option for the development team.
The navigation will take a little getting used to. Many of the rooms look the same (a lot of boxes and various versions of "square" through out the environment) and remembering what door leads to what gets difficult. This will of course mean heavy reliance on the map, a feature which, in some games, can get a bit redundant after a while.
Following in the footsteps of Coded Arms, another Konami title on its way to PSP, the game engine randomly generates stages for infinite stage design. The floor plan on each level is never the same, keeping in theme with the ever-evolving nature of an RPG. In terms of aesthetics, the game environment tends to use the same elements over and over again, so the randomizing doesn't seem to get as much bang for the buck. Nevertheless, the feature is still interesting to have present in the game. The placement of boxes as obstacles have a lot to do with how you approach fighting, as dodging and evasion around them are all apart of the strategy of effective defense against an attacker. Boxes are lifesavers when your energy is low and you need to fall back and regroup. Destroying those boxes becomes a risk/reward kind of deal, as you will need to destroy them to find more health if you're in desperate need of some, but also means destroying cover needed to avoid deadly range weapons.
Screenshots:
