f you were all a flutter at the PS2 launch a few years back, you undoubtedly remember Kessen. The KOEI strategy title launched with the PS2 and quickly garnered a devout following of fans. Taking a highly cinematic approach to turn-based strategy, the game was heralded for not only its unique gameplay, but also its breathtaking visuals. Thankfully, the third installment is packing much of the same, but it also brings a few new features to the table that may just surprise you. Today Jarik Sikat, sales and marketing manager at KOEI, stopped by the Game Informer offices to show off the latest build of Kessen 3, and we think that you’re really going to be surprised at the new directions the game is headed.
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Change is apparent right out of the gate, and in the opening move you witness the assassination of the warrior and leader Nobunaga Oda by one of his top officers. At this point, the game switches to the years preceding his death, setting up the backstory behind what went wrong in his quest to unify the many warring factions of Japan. Nobunaga is then a young and aspiring officer, vowing to unify all those in the country, no matter what the cost. While quite a departure from previous Kessen titles, it’s a very unique way of setting up the game. More attention now seems focused on the myriad and complicated personal relationships the fiery leader forged (and broke) throughout his campaigns. As a result, the entire experience oozes with much more personality. Enemies and allies are fleeting and hard to maintain, and it’s this kind of mentality that becomes one of the central ideas in Kessen 3.
If you played the previous Kessen, you’re probably familiar with its mix of turn-based and real-time strategy action. But in this third installment, KOEI seems to be taking a much more open approach, one that seems heavily centered on action. To make the title more accessible to gamers, everything is performed in real-time. Moving troops is controlled using the analog stick, and you have the freedom to move your soldiers anywhere on the map that you wish. You’re no longer bound by taking turns or restricted by movement patterns. Combat has also gotten easier and by using the buttons on the PS2 controller you can make your troops perform varying attack combos. Quite reminiscent of what you’ve seen in games like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, the combat is both flamboyant and visually appealing, which depending on how stringent you prefer your strategy experience, is a major change for the series.
To add to the new focus on action, your officers also bring to the battlefield a host of new abilities. Each officer you have in your command can learn new officer skills, which range from things like raising your troops’ morale, decreasing the morale of your enemies, and even initiating earth-shattering magic attacks and monster summons. That’s right, monster summons. One summon that we saw has a gigantic three-headed snake emerge from the ground and tear through a squad of enemy soldiers. Others included things like gigantic tornadoes or vortexes of fire tearing swaths through enemy squads. All officer skills are bound by how many skill points your officer is capable of, but after each attack they’ll regenerate over time. Both officers and troops can level up with experience points won by defeating enemies, so throughout the game you can unlock new and more powerful abilities and skills.
Officers are also capable of performing their own unique attacks called “rampages.” When you initiate a rampage, the camera perspective zooms in on the battlefield action a bit and lets you take complete control of just your officer. The rampage scenarios only last for a certain amount of time, but allow you to sometimes decimate an entire squad of enemies if you manage to string together successful attack combos. On-screen during a rampage is a combo counter that, if you manage to acquire a certain number of kills, will add time to your rampage. Given the game’s heavier emphasis on real-time action, the officer rampages seem to make sense. Granted, if you a stickler for the old-school and still want turn-based combat, the idea will probably be a turn-off. But for those of you looking for a more varied experience (and one more akin to Dynasty Warriors) being able to control your officer and wrack up insane combos is a blast and an experience not to be missed.
While the officers may seem like they have all the power, the true strength of your army lies in its troops. KOEI is promising a multitude of different units, including the likes of foot soldiers, pikemen, male and female ninjas, archers, mounted archers, and even gun soldiers. You can also outfit a squad with a support squad to help back you up during combat. For example, say I have a squad officered by Nobunaga with a support squad of archers. When Nobunaga’s main squad gets into a conflict I can call on my support archers to rain down arrows on my enemies by hitting the R1 button during certain moments of the battle. In previous Kessen games, supporting other troops was quite a bit more cumbersome, requiring you to manually select another group of soldiers and then moving them into position. This time around, however, the entire process is much more steamlined, allowing you the freedom to focus on your main squad while also granting the entire experience more realistic credence.
Wherein the previous Kessen games were quite linear in progression, Kessen 3 is taking the idea of freedom in a new direction for the series. First off, the world map for the game contains a number of different options. Some icons indicate optional battles, skirmishes that you don’t necessarily need to take part in, but offer up the opportunity to give your officers and troops valuable experience points. Also scattered about the map are required battles that mainly serve to progress the game’s plot. These main battles, when defeated, will also unlock additional conflicts to take part in. In all, the new open-ended approach to combat seems to be going in the right direction. The ability to choose your battles is a nice touch, allowing you to have more control in how you develop and train your forces. If you use certain officers too frequently, their health and the morale of their troops will begin to fade, so it’s usually wise to sit them out of a number of fights so that they can recuperate. Given the new ability to do so, you’re pretty much assured of always having a fresh army when it comes time to do battle.
Visually Kessen 3 is easily the most impressive game out in the series, whether it’s in regard to cinematic flair or in-game graphics. Cutscenes are abundant, and besides looking great tell the brunt of the game’s main storyline. Character models for the in-game scenarios also benefit from some major visual overhauls and look far more detailed and animate more smoothly than they did before. This is really apparent in combat scenarios when they start utilizing coordinated attacks or using special abilities. Fogging issues, which plagued previous installments in the series, have also been addressed. The result is levels with far more draw distance and detail. The game is built around a completely new visual engine, and the results are looking great so far.
Aurally the game makes heavy use of voice-over dialogue, both in cutscenes and in-game scenarios. While the version we saw as still in dubbed in Japanese, what we got a chance to hear was still impressive. Musically, the game is quite a departure from previous games in the series, despite the fact that its composed by the man who did the music for the first two. Bordering on the realms of cheesy 70’s cop films and hackneyed Japanese samurai TV shows, the tunes in the game have a silly but catchy sound to them.
Overall, Kessen 3 is shaping up to blow the first two installments out of the water. First off, the game is visually impressive. The new game engine affords a great degree of detail for both troops and combat, making for a more robust visual feast than ever before. Couple this with the game’s more action-oriented gameplay, and you’ve got one of the most unique installments in the series yet. True, it may be more fantastical than previous Kessen games, but so far the changes have really got us excited.
Kessen 3 is tentatively slated to ship for the PS2 in the US on February 22nd.