Astro Boy
Boy robot wants to learn where he comes from (he comes from this preview)
Tags: Astro Boy Categories: PS2 Previews, Previews
Posted by David Hinkle on Apr 6th, 2004
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Astro Boy was originally a very successful manga(comic) in the 50’s and later adapted to television in the early 60’s in Japan. Created, animated, and produced by Osamu Tezuka, it was the story of a young robotic boy set in the futuristic Metro City in the 21st century. This game is being released to coincide with a new series to debut on Cartoon Network later this month (already running on Kids WB on Saturday mornings). Heading the project is none other than SEGA’s Sonic Team who are responsible for just about every Sonic game and the quirky, yet surprisingly fun, NiGHTS for the Saturn console.
First impressions of this game make it out to be standard third-person action fare, yet at a closer look reveal a few interesting surprises in the mix. Astro Boy will start off with a few basic attacks (punch, kick etc…), but soon gain other abilities such as flight. Astro Boy’s new abilities are obtained by progressing through the many missions of the game. Getting to these missions is one of the more interesting aspects of the game.
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Every mission or area needed to be completed for the story’s progression is reached by flying to different locales in the city itself. If you need to get to a certain bridge, then you just fly there. The city acts as a hub, giving more of a feel of freedom to an otherwise linear game. The city itself looks very futuristic with tubeways(which I can only assume are for travel – this is the future after all) and gigantic sprawling skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. Other areas seen in the game are freeways, bridges, parks, gigantic zepellins, and Astro Boy’s house. At home you can chat with some of the NPC’s about the current events of Metro City (thus finding new areas to explore).
Also Sonic Team supposedly has adapted a similar dual-analog control scheme from Nights for this title. While flying, the left analog stick is used for direction, while the right analog stick is used to control altitude.
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The only problems so far (with the import) seem to be frame rate issues and slight clipping during close quarters combat. Hopefully by the time this game makes its way to the good ‘ole U S of A Sonic Team will have those kinks worked out.
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Seeing as how this game is going to be based on the new, updated series, it’s unknown if the game will be based on one of the original stories or a brand new one (but smart money is on the new storyline). Regardless, old and new school fans alike should be satisfied come this June when Astro Boy makes it’s way to the PS2. It’s good to see one of the classic characters make a leap to a next generation console where it can really benefit from the technology.
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Tags: Astro Boy
Posted by David Hinkle on Apr 6th, 2004 and is filed under PS2 Previews, Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
