Psy Phi Hands-On

TOKYO--Veteran developer Yu Suzuki has been out of the limelight for a while now, having started up his own studio at Sega. However, Suzuki's absence from the arcade scene ended today with the announcement of Psy Phi, an original fighter being developed on Sega's newly announced Lindbergh hardware. The new arcade board boasts next-generation performance thanks to a beefy architecture, and the game is a spin on fighting games that, it's safe to say, no one was expecting.

The futuristic fighter's premise casts you as one of several warriors who are engaging in the time-honored tradition of trying to beat the crap out of one another. However, Psy Phi's twist is that, à la the old Dreamcast fighter Psychic Force 2012 or a Dragon Ball Z episode, you'll be floating around your foes and relying on powerful blasts of energy to do your butt-kicking. Granted, the premise and setting aren't exactly going to set the world on fire; but they certainly offer a workable setup for a fighter.

What sets Psy Phi apart from pretty much anything we saw at the Amusement Machine show, and at most arcades in general, is its unique control scheme and battle system. Basically, the game has no traditional inputs--such as a joystick or buttons--and instead uses its monitor, which is a touch screen, as your primary means of controlling your fighter. While more than a little unorthodox for a fighter, the touch screen mechanic has been a growing trend in Japanese arcades and, obviously, the portable market, thanks to Nintendo's DS.

Though it may seem like an odd choice for a fighter, Psy Phi's combat system works surprisingly well with the touch screen. You'll move your character with directional buttons, in the four corners of the screen, that will let you move toward or away from your foe by slipping into the four quadrants that make up the battlefield. You'll attack by simply tapping your foe on the screen. If you keep your finger over them, you'll lock on and fire off a slow-moving but powerful shot that will home in on them. You'll also be able to fire blind shots into the four quadrants to try and wing your enemy as they maneuver around you. If you're feeling adventurous, you can take advantage of special attacks the game offers, which you'll charge by holding your finger over your fighter and powering up a gauge up to two times (which yields different attacks). Once your meter is full, a symbol appears in the center of the screen and you'll be required to select an attack from different icons that spread out around the center of the screen. Once you settle on one, you'll be required to trace it before time runs out. If you manage to trace the symbol, your character will unleash a powerful attack that causes a hefty amount of damage. Of course, you'll have to weigh these benefits against leaving yourself open to attack while you charge up to unleash them.

Though sending out massive waves of energy to demolish your foe is always a good thing, Psy Phi also offers some interesting options for the more defensive-minded player. Besides dodging using the directional arrows, you'll actually be able to deflect incoming shots by tapping your character at the right time before they hit. Though the gameplay may seem a bit "out there" for some, the timing-intensive nature of it definitely presents some interesting mechanics to be mastered by hardcore players that have left us intrigued. Suzuki-san has always had a knack for crafting unique game experiences, so we're anxious to see how much depth is going to be in the game.

Psy Phi's graphics--one aspect of the game that will certainly be heavily scrutinized because it's the first Lindbergh game to be shown publicly--are currently looking sharp, but they won't blow anyone away yet. The character models sport a high number of polygons and animate quite nicely. The special effects used for the various attacks are sharp and go crazy with particles and lighting. The stages shown were low-key open areas that weren't big on detail at that moment. As far as performance went, the game ran at a decent clip. The character designs for the available fighters were a little bland, although they were detailed.

All told, Psy Phi is an interesting title that has us intrigued. Besides the gameplay we saw a sampling of, the final game is set to include magnetic-card support and the ability to customize your fighter. Yes, the notion of a touch-screen fighter is more than a little bizarre. However, if anyone could pull something like that off, it's likely to be the man who sent hundreds of thousands of gamers looking for sailors on the Dreamcast. Psy Phi is currently scheduled to arrive in Japanese arcades sometime in 2006.