TOKYO – Indie developer The Behemoth had a booth on the Tokyo Game Show floor, a small installation in the corner that was easy to miss. I certainly didn't take notice of it during the first couple days of the show, or else I would have made it a point to visit sooner. The company brought two games to share with the public: a PlayStation Network demo of their Xbox Live Arcade hit Castle Crashers, and its forthcoming third game, temporarily known only as Game 3.
The new game features the same 2-D hand-drawn look that their previous games are known for, although Game 3 is not another side-scrolling adventure. Instead it's an arena fighting game with multiple game modes, three of which are playable but not yet named. All three games in the demo are two-on-two multiplayer online contests, though producer John Baez told me that more options will be available in the full game.
Game 3 is very simple to understand and easy for newcomers to pick up and play. Upon logging in, each player can create a quick custom character by selecting a head shape, face, and a special ability that can be offensive or defensive. I went with a fireball, but I also saw players throwing boomerangs, land mines and bouncing bubbles.
Every character can punch and double jump, and jumping on the head of an opponent will KO that player. However, none of the game modes I saw today were a race to see who could take out the other team first.
On-screen instruction is kept to a minimum, and each game mode is explained not with text but with a three-panel comic strip. One mode features a floating golden whale and a flying safe; players smack the whale to collect gold ingots and put them into the safe to score points. Getting hit while carrying gold will knock your loot onto the ground for others to collect.
Another mode was a race to control the most territory in a room full of gray blocks. Rather than having players fighting over individual squares in a see-saw fashion, the blocks remain in your possession until a periodic room-wide reset occurs. Speed is more important than brawn in these matches.
The third game mode I saw was the only one where combat was crucial: a novel twist on Capture the Flag. Each player has a "ghost" that can be taken by an opponent. The longer you hold an opponent's ghost, the more points you score. Ghost-less players are given a guide arrow to help them track down which opponent has their ghost, so they can take it back by force.
The version on display at the show is running on an Xbox 360. When I asked about other platforms, Baez told me the company was "not announcing" any other versions at this time. Still, the PlayStation version of Castle Crashers sitting alongside it suggests that Game 3 might also end up on a PlayStation 3 someday. In the meantime, both of these games should become available in 2010, so owners of either console will have something to look forward to next year.
Image courtesy The Behemoth
