Downloadable Beat-Em-Ups Enter the Third Dimension

Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao is a game we first saw back in February at the New York Comic-Con. Basically, it's a side-scrolling beat-em-up with a visual style heavily steeped in ridiculously over-the-top 1970s kung fu movies--a game with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that doesn't take itself at all seriously. You can read our initial impressions of the game right here, or watch a video of GameSpot Australia's Dan Chiappini attempting to play the game with foam Wolverine claws right here . The choice, as they say, is up to you (or you could just do both).

So that was back in Feburary. Yesterday, Namco Bandai held a gamer's day press event here in San Francisco and The Legend of Han Tao was right there in the mix. It was the same build they had running at Comic-Con, but with one key difference: the entire game was being shown in GLORIOUS STEREOSCOPIC 3-D.

Okay, so maybe 3-D technology isn't exciting enough to warrant that many capital letters. I mean, it's technically been around since the 19th century. And we've all seen videos of kids back in the 1950s sitting in movie theaters with those silly red and blue glasses. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, right?

Well, the technology they had on display wasn't that old stuff. Not a single pair of red and blue glasses were anywhere within sight. They were using the newfangled DLP-based 3D technology that requires a sensor atop your TV and a pair of active shutter glasses that only switch on once synched with the module. It's a fancy setup very few of you are likely to possess, but the result it provided was a really interesting one. Even for a game with 2D levels, there was an awesome difference between the foreground and the background. What's more, character really models seemed to pop up from the screen, especially in those scenes that focused in on characters for cinematic effect. And the best part is, we stood there for a good 10 minutes without getting dizzy at all. In short: 3D in HD looks awfully nice, though the setup--glasses, sensor module, DLP TV--is likely to be a huge obstacle for most people.

The game will ship with support for a variety of 3D technology, not just the DLP-based tech. And if that's not your bag, you can still play the game in standard visual mode. Could this be the newest trend in games? This year's version of Wii exercise games? Probably not, but it's an interesting exerperience nonetheless.