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Gamescom 2011: Neverdead Impressions

Konami's Neverdead stars a man who can dismember himself and use his own body parts to his strategic advantage. We went out on a limb to go check it out.

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Neverdead was shown for the first time at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, but at Gamescom this week, we had a chance to see a bit more of the game and speak to the creative team. Konami's third-person action game has an interesting hook: The protagonist Bryce is unable to die and can rip off his own limbs in a variety of interesting, and sometimes quite funny, ways.

The story for the game goes something like this. Five hundred years ago, Bryce was a demon hunter who tried to defeat a demon king. The king made him an immortal, meaning Bryce lost his wife, and he has been living half a millennium becoming more and more bitter and sarcastic. However, according to Konami, there's a good chance Bryce will be able to exact his revenge on the demon king through the game's story.

There are many possibilities afforded by Neverdead's immortality. For example, he can tear off an arm holding a gun and throw it around a corner to shoot enemies or remove his head and throw it into an otherwise unreachable area to check it out. However, there's a threat in the form of an enemy called Grand Baby, who tries to eat the head whenever it's removed.

Bryce's inability to die also has other gameplay benefits. If he touches electricity, he is able to shoot electrified bullets from his gun. The same goes for fire, with bullets that burn anything in their path. Otherwise, Neverdead follows traditional shooter convention with plenty of cover-based gameplay.

You will earn XP in the game and be able to purchase up to 70 abilities throughout the campaign. However, you can also earn XP in the multiplayer mode, which is independent of the campaign and has cooperative and competitive modes. However, this XP will transfer to the single-player game, so there'll always be some reward no matter how you play the game.

Neverdead has an interesting premise, and we don't have long to wait to see if it can deliver on it. The finished game will be released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this winter.

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