War of the Grail First Impressions

Though speculation ran high going into this month's Amusement Machine Show in Japan that Capcom would unveil Street Fighter 4, there was no fire-balling, megaton announcement of that nature. However, there was a trailer running in Capcom's booth for War of the Grail, an ambitious new arcade game that's big on hacking, slashing, and enormous mobs of troops. Details were slim on the game, which called to mind the enormous mobs of enemies seen in Capcom titles such as Chaos Legion and Devil Kings or in Koei's Dynasty Warrior games.

However, before you think the game is some kind of retread of those games, hang on. While there wasn't much info to glean from its short trailer, we're hopeful that it's going to be interesting, for a few reasons. First, the game is being developed with input from some seasoned development staff that contains some old-school vets. Second, any game that has a large minotaur-like creature capable of plowing through mobs of soldiers like a bull in a china shop clearly has its heart in the right place.

Though concrete details, such as the arcade hardware that's being used to develop the upcoming title, were kept under wraps, we expect to hear more soon. With Tokyo Game Show just around the corner, the odds are that more information will hit soon. The War of the Grail is currently slated to hit sometime in 2006.