Unsung Japanese publisher Koei held an afternoon event to unveil their E3 line-up, and-more importantly-debut their latest Xbox title, Crimson Sea.
Crimson was first announced last fall's Tokyo Game Show and the only image associated with the title was a picture of a tranquil red harbor surrounded by cherry blossom trees. A Chinese-style skiff sailed on the water underneath a large yellow sun. At that time, it was envisioned as a strategy role-player. But between that showing at TGS and today's announcement, the game has drastically changed.
Now, the title is a third-person action title set in space across nearly half a dozen planets in the system of Theophilius. You star as Sho and gather a team of warriors to complete various missions. It utilizes Koei's Group Control Engine (as seen in Dynasty Warriors 2 and 3) to put over a thousand enemies on-screen at once. One scene Koei that demonstrated this concept in the promotional teaser for the game had Sho and his group in the middle of a swarm of Starship Troopers-esque aliens. To fight them, you can customize your weapon using parts you find along the way.
Another key feature of the game is dubbed as the Enemy Sensor System. According to Kou Shibusawa, the game's producer, not all the enemies you run into while playing can be seen. Some blend into the background, and to find them, you'll have to rely on sound (the game supports Dolby Digital 5.1 surround) and a vibration feature to locate them, which Koei believes will add tension to the experience. Aliens will also morph - huge enemies into hundreds of smaller ones, or large groups of little enemies into one larger beastie.
Its look is quite a departure from most of the games you'd associate with Koei. Instead of looking like one of their historical simulations, it has an almost Final Fantasy-crossed-with-Phantasy-Star-Online feel to it. Perhaps they were channeling Square's star character designer Tetsuya Nomura when creating the leader character, Sho, because he looks very similar to Squall Lionhart of FFVIII fame.
Crimson Sea will be released in North America and Japan this fall, with a European release to follow in Spring 2003. Most of what we were shown were pre-rendered cinemas, but the concept and new direction the game's going in looked promising.
But that's not the only Xbox title Koei's got in the works. An enhanced version of last year's PS2 actioner Dynasty Warriors 3 will hit the console this fall as well. New features are somewhat slim, but expect nicer graphics, faster load time, new costume colors, and an overall more difficult game.
