E3 06: Spectrobes Hands-On

LOS ANGELES--Spectrobes for the Nintendo DS is an interesting blend of quirky sci-fi real-time action with role-playing elements. You play as an Interplanetary Patrol Officer who finds an old man who has crashed on one of the planets in your solar system. It emerges that his solar system was destroyed by dark energy creatures called the Krawl, and they're now invading your system.

The only way to defeat them is to excavate and reawaken ancient creatures that are buried deep underground, called Spectrobes. To help you in your quest, the old man gives you a baby Spectrobe to begin with, which has the ability to sense where other Spectrobes are buried.

The game is really split into two halves--the RPG-style character development of your Spectrobes and the real-time battle section where you progress the game.

In the hands-on we had with the game, we played through a bit of both, starting with the excavation minigame. The aim in this section is to scrub away the earth around a buried fossil using the stylus. You'll need to be careful though, since if you rub too vigorously, you'll damage the fossil. Once you've gotten through the debris, though, you can blow away the rubble and pick up your Spectrobe.

The next step is to take the fossil back to the lab and reawaken it. This is another minigame and involves making a certain level of noise, with the tone and pitch of that noise playing a part in deciding what kind of Spectrobe you will get once the process is complete.

After that, you'll need to nurture your newly awakened creature and feed it minerals, which will determine the strengths of your Spectrobe. At the same time, if you have a second creature in the pen, they will begin to develop a bond--an important aspect, since when you fight the battles, you'll need a pair of Spectrobes, not just one.

Once your pair has become adults, it's time to head out into the wild and start fighting. The lion's share of the combat to begin with will be taken on by your Spectrobes, since they're more powerful than you, though you'll be able to collect increasingly powerful weapons as you progress through the game to make more of an impact. At the end of each battle, your Spectrobes will gain additional hit points, and with more experience, will later evolve further, from adults to even more powerful Spectrobes.

There are a number of key battles along the way, as well as a big finale for which you'll need to have developed some serious creatures. The game is set across seven worlds and is still in development, so there's no release date set at this point. We'll bring you more as we get it.