Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day - Suda 51 and Yohei Kataoka collabo

[chopemon]

From Siliconera:

This week?s Japanese magazine leaks reports that Killer is Dead director Goichi Suda is working with Namco Bandai on an upcoming PlayStation 3 side-scrolling game, Ranko Tsukigime?s Longest Day.

The game is based on Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo?s upcoming film, Short Peace, which will play in theaters later this month. The film is made up of four short films with different styles and stories, directed by Otomo and others. Ranko Tsukigime?s Longest Day will be considered the fifth short story of the film, but it?s a video game.

Goichi Suda, known for Killer is Dead and No More Heroes, is the scenario writer for the game. He will team up withTokyo Jungle director Yohei Kataoka who will be the directing the upcoming title. According to leaks, Ranko Tsukigime?s Longest Day is a 2D side-scrolling ?high-speed effect action? game, that will require the use of ?effects? to take out enemies. The game?s theme will be in a modern day Japan setting.

Ranko Tsukigime?s Longest Day is currently in development for PlayStation 3.

[fuse]

Suda + Tokyo Jungle guy + Otomo = \o/

[chopemon]

First trailer. Hard to tell exactly what you're doing but looks stylish.

Would love to know why when I try to embed a video it always says the video isn't available.

[chopemon]

Longer trailer. Lovely looking cutscenes and crazy looking platforming.

[fuse]

I am not sure yet how I buy this.

I've seen some places offering the Short Peace BD special edition for sale, is that it?

[chopemon]

It might be PSN as well. I assume the Short Peace BD won't have English on it either. Actually, sorry for the noob question but is the PS3 region free for blu movies as well as games?

[BaronSqwelch]

No,On PS 3 blurays are region locked sadly.

Though quite a few of the disks are region free anyway.

[chopemon]

Confirmed as coming to Europe.

[chopemon]

More screens.

[chopemon]

More screenshots.

[chopemon]

Boxed NTSC-J copy on Play Asia for preorder for March release. Might go for it.

[fuse]

Boxed NTSC-J copy on Play Asia for preorder for March release. Might go for it.

I thought this was out later this month?! I could've sworn I also heard someone talking about this getting a PAL release. Not sure if I hold on or not?

[chopemon]

Yeah, that's my bad, I was looking at pre orders for something else when I wrote it. It is January, cheaper on Nin Nin as well.

A PAL version hasn't been confirmed but Namco have registered a European URL for it. I also heard it was a PSN release for both regions but it looks like disk in Japan and having disks sure is way cooler than not having disks.

[chopemon]

Still waiting for my copy to arrive but in the meantime, here's an article about the inspiration for the game.

I didn't realise the game came with the anime.

[chopemon]

IMPRESSIONS REVIEW REVIEW:

You play an assassin that wears lingerie-esque bridal wear and an eye patch. You have a sniper rifle in the shape of a violin. It starts with a Killer is Dead reference. The Tokyo Jungle pomeranian chases you.

Each 2:30 minute stage is a race against an unstoppable force that pursues you. This unstoppable force is sometimes a horde of street thugs and other times is a giant pomeranian. Your goal is to reach the end of the level without being caught by this force. Everything you do will speed you up or slow you down. The levels branch in a way reminiscent of old Sonic games, as you speed through you will see branching routes that lead to different platforms and enemies. Soon enough these branches converge for certain choke points before the level opens up again. There is no life bar as hitting enemies slows you down and puts you in danger of being caught by the Unstoppable Force. To get through the level quickly, you need to jump gaps, slide under barriers and perform chains of hits on enemies. When you hit an enemy they explode in an orgy of pop art. If this explosion hits another enemy they also explode. With one hit you can clear a section of level without having to slow down to do multiple attacks or avoidance jumps. Killing enemies charges your Bullet bar which allows you to push back your pursuers if they get too close.

The levels go by at a blistering speed. Sometimes the levels are a little unreadable and you won't realise there was a branch before you've gone past or you'll slam into a wall you should have slid under because you didn't see the slide gap. Also the jumping animation has an amount of priority when landing meaning you can't chain jumps as fast as you'd like. This is normally only a problem if you've messed up and are trying to recover though.

There are also boss battles and while the one I played will not go down in the boss design hall of fame, it was an enjoyable twist on the mechanics.

Every cutscene so far is done in a different style ranging from high end cell shaded CG to motion comics in the style of pulpy manga. Despite not understanding all the dialogue, I'm following the story, something I'd have had no hope of doing if I were playing Japanese language versions of other Suda games. The game comes with the full Short Peace movie on it and BY JOVE I cannot wait for that to get an English release, it looks fantastic. When you put it in your PS3 will boot and auto play the movie. You need to back out and launch it from the Games section of the XMB.

I'm really enjoying the breezy nature of the short levels and the lovely visuals. If you want something light hearted with gallons of pop arty style, this might be for you.