GUNVALKYRIE Preview

Not much is known about Smilebit's upcoming GUNVALKYRIE, though that hasn't checked the public's anticipation for the Jet Set Radio developer's upcoming action game. We got to play select areas of the game at this year's E3, and it left us with some very definite impressions. GUNVALKYRIE will be a game that focuses on action, no doubt, but the character's liberating level of mobility leads us to believe that it won't be all "run and shoot." Luckily for us, Hisayoshi Yoshida from Smilebit--the director of the GUNVALKYRIE team--was willing to talk to us a bit about the game after our initial dialogue at E3, and he cleared some things up.

GUNVALKYRIE's story is something that has never been effectively exposed, at least not to audiences outside of Japan. It's known that it centers on the plight of a set of elite commandos, who must clean up the mess started by a visionary scientist who tinkered with a previously unknown energy source. When prompted to speak on the matter, Yoshida-san most generously cleared up the game's story for us: "In a world much like our own, in a time much like the 19th century, a lone scientist, Dr. Hebble, is able to make a string of incredible technological breakthroughs. But these advances accelerate beyond his own intentions, resulting in a revolutionary form of energy that, once harnessed, could propel humankind into a new era, or lead it to complete annihilation. With the government's assistance, a group of scientists are able to form 'GUNVALKYRIE,' an organization bent on protecting these new breakthroughs and policing their use. When Dr. Hebble suddenly disappears and a host of nightmarish creatures appear, the GUNVALKYRIE unit is called upon to retrieve the scientist, destroy the vile creatures, and return order to the world--by force."

As most of the game environments revealed thus far seem to be futuristic in theme, it's easy to assume that Dr. Kebble's experiments have accelerated very quickly indeed. And as the media released thus far indicates, Smilebit is going for an almost Metroid-like feel--most of the screenshots depict lone player characters in vast, uninviting alien worlds. History has proven that this sort of setup works very well for many games, and GUNVALKYRIE's evolved run-and-shoot premise should be no different.

As many will remember, GUNVALKYRIE was originally under development as a Dreamcast game. During that time, Smilebit envisioned the game as having a dual light gun/control pad setup. The goal was both total immersion and complete mobility--players would be able to effectively control their characters, as well as precisely direct their every shot using the light gun. When the game's development was switched to the Xbox, however, the scheme was apparently dropped in favor of something more traditional. "[When developing a game,] we are always targeting a controller spec, which will allow players to easily control gameplay at, and to enjoy moving characters or managing weapons." Apparently, either the dual-peripheral setup didn't pan out as effectively as was originally hoped, or Microsoft's Byzantine stance on nonstandard peripherals killed the concept before it had a chance to evolve. Either way, you're going to be playing GUNVALKYRIE with a pad, and a pad alone.

After playing the game at E3, we found the game's control scheme to be pretty functional. In a nutshell, it utilizes the Xbox's two analog sticks to control both the character's movement and the camera. Meanwhile, the trigger buttons were reserved for firing her weapons and activating her jetpack. Finally, the face buttons allowed you to both cycle through your arsenal of eight weapons and do a 180-degree turn. Overall, the control scheme seemed functional, and the animations accompanying each action were very tight and stylized. The movement controls were a bit loose, though, so we're definitely hoping their responses are tuned before the game's let out the gates.

That said, the action in the E3 demo was fairly straightforward. We simply made our way through the environments presented, gunning down hordes of mutated insectlike horrors. Granted, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in order to fully take advantage of the gameworld's dynamic potential, we're definitely hoping Smilebit will mix up the flow with some kind of auxiliary action elements. "The E3 demo version only included only basic character actions," Yoshida told us, confirming our hopes. "The final version of GUNVALKYRIE will present players with opportunities to use their tactics, weapons, items, and action abilities, all of which players can improve as they move on to further stages of the game." So it's safe to assume that characters will indeed gain abilities and powers as the game progresses. But how will this translate tangibly into a varied experience? "As players move forward in the game, they build their own strategy and come to the situation where they'll need to retrieve useful weapons to solve problems or fight against enemies," Yoshida revealed, making it clear that GUNVALKYRIE will be combat-oriented to its core. This shouldn't come as bad news or a surprise, however--the game's control scheme is designed to facilitate a sort of fast-paced third-person shooter, more closely akin to games like Sin and Punishment (sans the rails, of course) than something like MDK. This sort of thing shouldn't imply that it'll provide a shallow experience, though. Quite the opposite--as games like Panzer Dragoon and Silent Bomber have shown, a wholehearted focus on action can make for a very engaging experience, one unfettered by superfluous puzzles and fetch quests.

As you can probably tell, Smilebit is keeping many things about GUNVALKYRIE close its chest. Aside from what we've revealed in this preview, though, we do know a few things, however hazy they are. For one, we know that Smilebit has been testing the Xbox's graphical capabilities quite heavily. However impressive it already looks, it's hard to argue that it couldn't benefit even more greatly from effects like real-time shadowing and honest-to-god bump mapping--both of which the Xbox's graphics hardware handles quite capably. Also in a hazy state are the game's online modes. While the game was being developed for the Dreamcast, Smilebit confirmed a plethora of online modes for GUNVALKYRIE, but the switch to the Xbox has brought with it a slew of uncertainties. Smilebit is being tight-lipped about it, but it seems like the status of Microsoft's online gaming network has affected the developer's plans. As Microsoft is predicting that its network won't be up and running till early 2002 at the earliest, it would surprise us if GUNVALKYRIE--which is slated to be an Xbox launch title--will boast any significant level of online support.

Regardless of whether you'll play it online or not, GUNVALKYRIE is looking like it'll be an essential chapter in the discourse of eye-beating action. We're eager to find out more about it, so we'll keep you informed. Check this space for continual updates.