Look at Square '98: Day One

With the import of Square's Chocobo Mysterious Dungeon and the game's accompanying movie and demo disc out last week, VGS was blessed with a glimpse at the company's offerings over the next year. For the rest of this week, we'll be passing on screenshots and information about a few of these games, which seem to point out that Final Fantasy VII was far from a fluke. Today, we spotlight the highly anticipated Bushido Blade 2 and Front Mission Alternative.

Bushido Blade 2While the original Bushido Blade has only been out for a few months in the US, Square is already hard at work on the sequel in Japan. And from the looks of it so far, it's going to be a nice improvement to the unique samurai brawler, which took traditional fighting games and turned them on their ear.

So far, 14 characters have been revealed, at least seven of which are new, while others include Tatsumi, Mikado, and Kannuki. As in the first, there will be a story mode, which will see players fighting for one of two rival clans. Gameplay enhancements are said to include faster, smoother play, better defensive tactics, two-sword fighting, and more. In addition, there are more unique fighting stances for each character, although there are now only two attack buttons.

Front Mission Alternative

The latest in the Front Mission series of games, this turn-based strategy/RPG title sees players in a future world outfitting and commanding platoons of mech robots, sans the lengthy battle sequences of Front Mission 2.

Neither of the two games has been announced for US release, although it seems highly likely that Sony will bring them out late this year (as is the scuttlebutt about Square's shooter, Einhander). Stay tuned to GS News for more news as this story breaks.