Deadly Premonition stands as a fantastic example of Japanese gaming. On a purely technical level, the sandbox adventure of an FBI agent called to a small American town in order to investigate a bizarre murder often seems rough and quaint when compared to the mammoth open-world releases we’re used to from Western developers. And yet, what Deadly Premonition lacks in power it makes up for in charm. While some wrote it off, those who really gave a chance to the project Japanese creator Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro poured his heart and soul into found a game overflowing with personality, attention to detail, interesting characters, and a style of storytelling that you won’t find coming from any other country.
Category: Interview
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Yasuhiko Nomura (Corpse Party: Book of Shadows)
When it came time to make up a “Best of 2011” list at the end of last year, a little PSP horror game from Team GrisGris, 5pb, and XSEED called Corpse Party was my #2 game for the year. My #1 game was Dark Souls—a choice that really required little justification, even among those who chose something else for that particular spot. Putting Corpse Party at #2, however, seemed crazy to many. First of all, it was on the PSP—and wasn’t that thing dead? Second, it looked like something from the 16-bit era of gaming—and gameplay-wise, played like something even older. Plus, not only was it on the PSP, but it was a horror game on the PSP. Does that concept even work?
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Yoshinori Ono (Poison)
You may or may not be familiar with the character of Posion. Little more than one of many enemies crafted for Capcom’s beat-em-up Final Fight—and mirror image of her partner in crime Roxy—typically she would have come and gone with not much thought or consideration given to her by the average gamer. Well, other than, of course, the fact that she was the enemy who—if you attacked her and paused the game at just the right moment—would give you a scandalous look at the underside of her breasts as her much-too-short shirt flew up.