Murakumo

[Tombor]

I've gotten to what appears to be the end of the game already. Once I beat the game and try to unlock stuff I'll elaborate more but so far here it goes....

The closest thing Murakumo plays to is Zone of the Enders. You head up a special task force with said name that has to take care of rogue ARKs- futuristic AI powered worker robots. ARKs are made by a company called Lugnar and have been, as of late, running amok across Neo-Tokyo.

Levels in the game consist of navigating through and around buildings pursuing an ARK. You control your mech with the left analog stick and use the right trigger to speed boost. The goal is to shoot the ARK down before it escapes. It will follow a set path, which your onboard computer will nail down, and if you don't stop the ARK before it reaches the end of the path it will have escaped and your mission will be a failure. Once you have shot the ARK down the mission will end and the game will grade you on how well you do: SS is the highest, S is next then it goes A-D. Ranking plays a big part, from what I've read on Gamefaqs, in determining whether you can unlock new missions and mechs.

Getting a high ranking isn't tough. The game actually has set requirements on how well you have to do. The time it takes to take down the ARK, your average speed of travel in pursuit, what collateral damage you have inflicted, and what other minor foes you have hit while attempting to take down the ARK figures into the final grade. Grading appears to be weighted: on a night mission I blew up most of downtown tokyo but because I beat the ARK in under 2 minutes while wasting 10 of his little buddies I squeaked by with an A.

The graphics are amazing. Environments are huge. While the ARK attempts to follow its path you can basically fly around where ever. From appears to have actually based Neo Tokyo on the real Tokyo: The Tokyo Dome is here, along with a rollercoaster a ferris wheel, Tokyo Tower, and the Bullet Train tracks. Some liberties were probably taken though.

Missions are very short: just track down and maul the ARKs. The story doesn't have a lot to do with the ARKs until about half-way through when you run across this giant mech from hell called a Geo-Sweeper that happens to be made by a giant coporation called Lugner. Apparently from what I've gathered from what other people have done so far, Gamefaqs message board for the game is flooded with all types of stuff, once you beat the game you're allowed to go back and play any and all missions. If you get a SS or an S on all the missions with all the mechs you'll unlock Expert Mode, which sports 10 large free roaming levels. The Geo-Sweeper is also apparently playable and there are a few other suprises. There's also, supposedly, a video mode and gallery mode to unlock. I'll post about those once I get them unlocked.

I highly recommend the game if anyone has the ability to play an import Xbox game. The option screens are all in English and the cut scenes featured English voice too. Its all very pick up and play- I doubt anyone will have any problems getting into it.

On a side note From included a movie for another Xbox game they're doing called Otogi. It looks similar to Murakumo in play but with Samurai and a Japanese medival motif. It also appears to be slightly less restricting.

[gekko]

Interesting. If this game ever makes it to the states, I'll check it out.

But you made it to the end already? Seems kinda short.

[Tombor]

According to a guy I know who went to E3 From had it at the show and they were acting really goddamn vague about it. Sort of like "Possibly in the immediate distant future of tomorrow 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th quarter." I know From doesn't have a US arm so if anything Agetec may release it or somebody else. I'm pegging Agetec mostly because its fairly close to Armored Core which they sort of cornered the market on.

I don't think I mentioned this before but, honest to god, this game supports that Thrustmaster Top Gun flight stick thingy. It has an ad slipped in with it for playing it with the controller and if you go to options in the game the controls can be mapped for it.

Also, it looks like I'm not exactly at the end of the game. According to a recent faq I got about 5 levels left. I'm stuck on this nasty one that has you chasing 3 ARKs through an Oil refinery. I also looked at a couple of message boards and there's a music mode mode and a mode that unlocks all of the game's movies, including the debut trailer from the 2001 TGS, on top of completing Free and Expert modes with grades at least A.

So far I likey a lot. The only things that need improvement maybe the lock on featue, which doesn't allow you to change targets when you have a bunch of scumy little bastards protecting the ARK, and possibly a VS. mode. Other than that its aout what I was hoping for.

[Bond]

The game sounds pretty good, maybe even good enough to consider buying. But I just don't think there are enough good Xbox games for me to mod my Xbox. I mean for the Xbox I think the best games are coming out for America. But it does sound like a good game. Have any screen shots from it?

[Tombor]

In my entire life as a "gamer" I've always had this need to import something... plus the stuff that's been announced and have already emerged on Xbox are just plain weird.

As for screenshots, I don't have anyway to capture them best I can do is say that IGN had some in a preview not too long ago. I think Gamespot had something about it too. The game does, however, suffer from Gun Valkyrie syndrome in that it looks a lot better in motion than it does in single screenshots.

And if you're EVER morbidly curious about modding your system NCS does it for $85.

[Bond]

Hey, Gamespot does have a small game page on it, here are the screen shots I found:









Looks pretty good to me.

On a side note... doesn't Kumo mean Cloud?

[Joeiss]

Woah... Those screenshots are quite impressive.

[Tombor]

I think so. The mechs you control are refered to as Cloudbreakers.... so it would fit. My knowledge of Japanese is almost nil.

BTW the top 2 screens are from the games opening movie and the bottom two are from in-game cut scenes that are pretty early in the game.