Genji: Days of the Blade – Of Cameras, Combos, and Crabs

Game Informer was able to have a beefy sit-down with Kyle Shubel, producer of the PS3’s Genji: Days of the Blade. It seems like the game is going full throttle with the next-gen platform and that fans surely have a lot to look forward to. The demo’s been out since E3, but now we go in-depth into more details about your journey across ancient Japan.

First, let’s talk about the camera angles of the game. People have speculated about how the camera remained fixed in the short demo, but Shubel claims that this is only a start. He says that while the player doesn’t have control of the camera, it will still be dynamic in the sense that it slides around the battles in a fluid motion. This allows a more continuous movement in viewing the battle, instead of watching it as if they were cutscenes, switching erratically from one angle to another.

Speaking of battles, the player can choose between four different characters, and their combo moves will also differ. Each of them have around five to eight sets of weapons to choose from, and each of those characters will have varying animations for their combo attacks. From jabbing attacks to swinging motions, each weapon – each combo – will have its own pros and cons, whether it will do more damage or be more defensive. Your arsenal of strategies is sure to be tested with all these possible choices.

So you’ve got battles and weapons served up, but what about the enemies? Well, one creature that’s been getting a lot of airtime on the net (forums, message boards, etc.) is the giant crab – more popularly known in Japan as the heikegani. As a side story, Shubel mentions that in Japanese lore, the epic war of Dan-no-ura (which you’d be able to play through as one of the levels) led to massive deathtolls among the samurais that fought in it. Their numbers totalled so great that their spirits had “possessed” these giant crabs and gave them faces which resembled those of the samurais (the crab below, left, is a real crab with the samurai mask on its back). It is this little factoid that brings this game to a whole new dimension. Yes, it may be a bit too fantastic, but isn’t that what gamers enjoy?

Via Game Informer

Game Informer was able to have a beefy sit-down with Kyle Shubel, producer of the PS3’s Genji: Days of the Blade. It seems like the game is going full throttle with the next-gen platform and that fans surely have a lot to look forward to. The demo’s been out since E3, but now we go in-depth into more details about your journey across ancient Japan.

First, let’s talk about the camera angles of the game. People have speculated about how the camera remained fixed in the short demo, but Shubel claims that this is only a start. He says that while the player doesn’t have control of the camera, it will still be dynamic in the sense that it slides around the battles in a fluid motion. This allows a more continuous movement in viewing the battle, instead of watching it as if they were cutscenes, switching erratically from one angle to another.

Speaking of battles, the player can choose between four different characters, and their combo moves will also differ. Each of them have around five to eight sets of weapons to choose from, and each of those characters will have varying animations for their combo attacks. From jabbing attacks to swinging motions, each weapon – each combo – will have its own pros and cons, whether it will do more damage or be more defensive. Your arsenal of strategies is sure to be tested with all these possible choices.

So you’ve got battles and weapons served up, but what about the enemies? Well, one creature that’s been getting a lot of airtime on the net (forums, message boards, etc.) is the giant crab – more popularly known in Japan as the heikegani. As a side story, Shubel mentions that in Japanese lore, the epic war of Dan-no-ura (which you’d be able to play through as one of the levels) led to massive deathtolls among the samurais that fought in it. Their numbers totalled so great that their spirits had “possessed” these giant crabs and gave them faces which resembled those of the samurais (the crab below, left, is a real crab with the samurai mask on its back). It is this little factoid that brings this game to a whole new dimension. Yes, it may be a bit too fantastic, but isn’t that what gamers enjoy?

Via Game Informer