One of my last appointments during this year’s Electronics and Entertainment Expo came at the booth of my friends, Bandai Namco as well as a brief theater presentation. Bandai Namco brought with them games that the fans have been waiting some time for and their prayers have finally been answered. It was also the time for the company to show off brand new games that had the convention center buzzing!
First up was a brief theater presentation where Bandai Namco showed trailers and presentations for upcoming games. The first trailer that was shown was for the interesting team up between Goku, Monkey D. Luffy, and Naruto, Jump Force. The game was first shown off during the Microsoft presentation and will be playable on the Xbox One X and the PlayStation 4 Pro. It will also blend between the Jump reality and the real world and the tough part was making the fighters believable; that characters like Goku and company would actually be in the real world. You’ll have the chance to fight teams of three against each other in the Jump reality as well as the real world such as New York City.
The controls for the game weren’t as tight as they needed to be and they were slightly over complicated for no reason. What I mean by these critiques is in fighting games you would like the controls to be tight and smooth so you can perform combo moves and attacks quickly. Jump Force felt a little slow where I was having trouble changing fighters on the fly as well as knowing what attacks/combos to use at times. More stages will be released at a later date and I would expect more fighters as well.
Next up is Divinity II: Original Sin Definitive Edition for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This is a multiplayer role player game where you can customize a ton of it. This game can be looked at as much as a tabletop RPG as much as it is a platform RPG since there are skills you can use in and out of combat. You can also recruit characters for your party and your choices will directly determine if the characters in question will work with you. There are up to four races that you can recruit for your party and you can change the presets for your recruits when you get them into your party. It’s turn-based and you’ll have to be reactive because everything could be an issue. You will have to watch out for environmental hazards as well. The Definitive Edition is the way the developers wanted the game to be the best way it could be. Things in the game have been re-written, re-recorded and modified for this edition.
Not all the games that had hands on, playable versions in the Bandai Namco booth were mentioned during their theater presentation. One that was mentioned as well as having hands on time was Soul Calibur VI where you only had the option of playing it with an arcade style joystick controller. At first when I saw that type of controller, I thought it was going to be a problem but the attacks and combo system were very smooth and you felt like you had been playing with that type of controller for years.
Soul Calibur VI will be on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam on October 19 and runs using the Unreal 4 engine. One extra feature is that Geralt from the Witcher is getting added as an extra fighter, complete with usable signs in battle! Super moves, otherwise known as Critical Edge moves return to the Soul Calibur franchise. Soul Calibur 6 has the addition of the Reversal Edge, which allows newcomers to the series to compete against veterans in fights. The game is considered a meter game so you’ll have to charge up power in the meter to perform these abilities. There is also the Souls Charge, a transformation that powers up your fighter that allows more damage and gives access to new weapons. It also changes your fighter’s appearance so make sure you charge up and see what each fighter looks like in Soul Charge mode. Finally, there’s the Lethal Hit, which will stun your opponent and allow you have an opening for a follow up attack. The Lethal Hit can destroy armor and costumes so make sure you use it at an opportune time!
Two games that were shown off in the hands on portion of the Bandai Namco booth but weren’t mentioned during the theater presentation were DragonBall FighterZ For the Nintendo Switch and My Hero One’s Justice. The fans have been asking for DragonBall FighterZ on the Switch since the game released on other consoles and it plays great. The controls and combos are simple to perform and you’ll be fighting as your favorite Z Fighter in no time. The only thing that was a little confusing was switching fighters during battle to use combo attacks with the new fighter. That was the only thing, albeit minor, gave me a little bit of trouble. Getting to use the likes of Goku, Krillin, and Gohan and other three person teams against other three person teams on the go will be a great feeling!
The other game shown for hands on time was My Hero One’s Justice, a game based off of the popular anime series, My Hero Academia. Fight alongside Izuku Midoriya against the rest of his Quick-wielding classmates! You’ll be able to fight in teams of three, one fighter and two sidekick characters that will be able to help you in your quest for justice or villainy depending on the fighter. The environment can be destroyed as well so you’ll have to factor that into your battle too. During battle, you’ll be able to use special attacks and unleash your Quick to hopefully unleash a finishing blow against your opponent! Some of the fighting games at Bandai Namco have issues with the controls and My Hero One’s Justice is no different as some of the fighters and attacks were slow to react and use. One other minor issue I have is that the game appeared to be only in Japanese dialogue and again, I would like the option to pick the dialogue language. It doesn’t make the game unplayable but I always feel that I’m in the minority on this subject.
It looks like Bandai Namco is going to have a pretty good 2018 and one thing is certain, their booth and games were the talk of E3 this year!