Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance First Look

Capcom announced a new 3D action game at its press event this week in Las Vegas called Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The title is being developed by Cavia, who were last on the gaming scene with Square Enix's Drakengard. This time, the game is a modern twist on the old-school 2D beat-'em-ups along the lines of Capcom's own Final Fight franchise. While still a good ways out from shipping, Capcom had a rough work-in-progress version on hand to give us a taste of what to expect from the final game.

Beat Down casts you in the role of one of five playable characters and charges you with seeking revenge against the ruling body of Las Sombras. The demo of the game on display at Capcom's event let you play as either the hotheaded Raven or as Aaron, the love child of Zanetti, head of the most powerful cartel in Las Sombras. Given the current state of Las Sombras, you'll set out to find like-minded people to join forces with and build enough power to strike back against Zanetti's forces. Why can't you all just get along? It seems that when Zanetti learns of a rival clan's drug deal, he dispatches five of his top mercenaries from his inner circle to intervene. When they arrive on the scene, they find their targets have already been executed, and to their surprise, they are ambushed by members of their own cartel. Unfortunately, they were double-crossed and set up to appear as traitors who were out to nab the drugs and money for themselves. By who? Was it a scheme by the cartel to exploit them as scapegoats? Did one of the five betray the others? Such are the questions that burn in your mind as you're pursued by both your previous cartel and law enforcement officials. As a result, the five mercs are forced to split up and disappear into the streets of Las Sombras.

Your base of operations will be a low-key downtown bar that you'll return to for maintenance as you search for allies and info from local goings-on. Your quest will require that you take different jobs around town that will add much-needed funds to fuel the growth of the posse. By proving yourself in street battles, effectively utilizing negotiation skills, and using clever disguises, you'll be able to build influence on the streets.

The PlayStation 2 demo on hand at Capcom's event offered up just a small taste of what Beat Down will have to offer, and it let us play as either Raven or Aaron in a small chunk of the city. The third-person action game features a hybrid style of gameplay that works surprisingly well. You'll walk around the city streets in a typical third-person view and interact with characters. The in-game map we were using let us explore a small but varied area of the city, including the streets and the underground areas of the subway. The areas were already populated by chatty, but moody, non-player characters.

Talking with NPCs will often yield conversation trees that will feature good and bad paths like we've seen in the KOTOR games. If you manage to tick off your conversation buddy, the game shifts into a close-up, one-on-one fighting mechanic as you guys duke it out. Your characters have a solid array of moves that are pretty easy to pull off. For the occasions when your fists and feet aren't enough you can use whatever's handy in the environment, such as pipes or bottles, hidden weapons found in crates and bins, or you can even smash opponents against cars and barbed wire.

Over the course of your battle, you'll notice an icon underneath the name and health bar of your foe in the upper corner of the screen. When you've doled out enough punishment, you'll be able to either rob your enemies of their cash (fighters on deadly quests for vengeance are pretty cash-strapped and always on the lookout for "donations"), force them to join your group, or simply keep beating them down. Once you've sorted out your enemies' conduct, you can resume your normal rabble-rousing activities with your posse. As you collect people, their numbers will show up as entries in your cell phone's calling list in the game. So, while you can only ever have two artificial intelligence characters trailing you when you comb the streets of Las Sombras, you can swap them out for any member of your posse. Unfortunately, having a crew of 10 doesn't help your run-ins with the law too much, and as a result you'll need to make sure you avoid conflicts with officers when on the streets. For the occasions when you'll need to explore new environments or locales, you can use disguises to blend in to enter these new locations undetected. You'll pick up disguises at your bar, which is your home base, and you are welcome to come on by to change your look every so often to suit your mood. The character-customization bit is not complete, but when it is, it will come in handy as you go about chatting folks up. As you interact with NPCs, you can learn about making friends with the right people and gaining access to valuable resources, like cars, money, and other useful connections.

The visuals and audio in the game are looking sharp, thanks to some new technology that Cavia is using for the game. The character models are detailed and animate well, even at this stage in development. The large environments are comparable, although they are smartly designed to ensure maximum performance without bogging down gameplay. As is often the case in games that let you roam a 3D world, you'll see little touches such as NPCs and even cars going about their business. You'll actually want to keep an eye on said cars as the bloody things aren't ornamental and will most certainly mow you and your crew down if you're in the way.

Based on what we've played so far, Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance is a promising modern twist on the old-school brawlers we enjoyed during our formative gaming years. There's a lot to appreciate in how the combat, negotiation, and character interaction work. There are some notable rough spots, due to the early stages that the game is in, but we assume issues about camera and control will be tweaked heavily. Also, while we weren't able to play it, Beat Down will have a multiplayer mode (but no online) on top of its single-player offering. To keep the single-player game spicy, the team is aiming to offer multiple endings that will reflect which character you choose and that character's path through the game. So far, Beat Down looks promising on a number of fronts and it has left us wanting more. Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance is slated to hit the streets this fall. Look for more on it in the coming months.