Boktai USA Version

[bowser123]

Just got my US copy of Boktai, you know the Konami made, Vampire game by the Metal Gear Solid dude.
1st impressions are it looks very nice and is a good mix of metal gear type stealth and I imagine that there will be some Zelda style puzzles later on.

Anyhow playing it last night for the 1st time and I now see the big flaw in the games use of the solar panel. Basically what you do is play the game in sunlight (the cart has a little solar panel on it) and it stores light which enables you to kill the vampire boss in each dungeon. However I have now sat stuck on the game as it was night time when I 1st played and the weather is now the usual dull and cloudy day in Manchester. I can't progress until I get some sun light and holding it next to a lamp doesn't work. Frustrated TBH that I can't play my new game.

Anybody else got this game?

[Bleeders]

I didn't even realise it was out Stateside.

Might have to pop on over to Tronix and place my order.

What game would you liken it to mate?

[vic_viper]

However I have now sat stuck on the game as it was night time when I 1st played and the weather is now the usual dull and cloudy day in Manchester. I can't progress until I get some sun light

I thought it just needed 'daylight' and not specifically 'sunlight' as such?

[bowser123]

I thought it just needed 'daylight' and not specifically 'sunlight' as such?

Well my attempts at holding it near the light has proved unsuccessful at raising the sun level bar. Admitadely it is mostly a dull and cloudy day and this may be the cause of the lack of light registering

What game would you liken it to mate?

I dunno really, I have had so little chance to play it as the bit that requires me to get further is all based around adequate light. I suppose a kind of action RPG like Zelda with a heavy reliance on sneaking past enemies rather than fighting them. TBH I don't really know that much about it, it just sounded interesting and was fairly cheap.

[Ady]

I've been keeping my eye on this one for a while. Leet us know once you've managed to make a bit more progress.

Always was curious about how that light thing would work...

[tiddles]

I suspect this game will have to be "localised" for us sun-starved Brits, or we won't be able to get anywhere with it....

[Dache]

It comes out in April in Europe. Localisation for the other countries has to be done first.

Are there any shots of the final cart around? I saw the prototype, but I know they had to remake it to make it work with the SP.

[martTM]

Well my attempts at holding it near the light has proved unsuccessful at raising the sun level bar. Admitadely it is mostly a dull and cloudy day and this may be the cause of the lack of light registering.

Without wanting to sound like a dullard, but... well, you are playing it OUTSIDE, aren't you? It's just that having played the Jap one, I found it virtually impossible for the cart to register daylight through a window because of the glass - as far as I can tell, you have to physically get the sensor outside before it'll work. At least, that was my experience.

[Madbury]

How import friendly is the JAP version, is it txt heavy?

[D-SG]

The JPN version's relatively import-friendly, but some puzzles will take longer to figure out than they would if you could read the text, and you'll miss the story.

You can buy sunlight energy in-game if you can't be arsed catching rays IRL.

All this and more in the Edge 128 review! The wordsy bit above the score, that is.

[Brats]

I suspect this game will have to be "localised" for us sun-starved Brits, or we won't be able to get anywhere with it....

Aye, maybe it'll be released with a little bucket that fills up with rain water in place of the solar panel .

[Ish]

I'm usually the first to applaud a new idea... but this one did seem somewhat, well, wacko to me. A poorly thought through gimmick at best.

I want to play a game when I want to play a game - and in the case of a mobile device when and where I want to play a game. Not when the games designer wants me to.

Not on my shopping list thats for sure....

[paddyo]

suppose it gets kids out of the house !!

[mr_sockochris]

I would get it, but it's pointless now. We won't see Sunlight now here until well into next year

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

I'm usually the first to applaud a new idea... but this one did seem somewhat, well, wacko to me. A poorly thought through gimmick at best.

I want to play a game when I want to play a game - and in the case of a mobile device when and where I want to play a game. Not when the games designer wants me to.

Not on my shopping list thats for sure....

I see your point, but I don't think Kojima ( I utterly refuse to say 'san' at the name of every single Japanese Dev's name, btw, just for future reference ) viewed it as a cynical gimmick in his plans, rather a way for the real-life player to be forced to adopt the lifestyle of their digital counterpart - albeit in a limited fashion.

Does a vampire hunter hunt at night? Nope, not unless they're forced to, and it'll be the same with you. You may be racing to complete an objective before the sun goes down, adding a state of urgency generated entirely by your natural environment, or you may be caught unawares by unexpected weather and placed at a sudden, strategical disadvantage.

These are the plus points I see, anyway, and it could ( potentially ) lead to an intriguing new range of videogame-player interactions in the future, which revolve around slightly more than a large plastic lightgun and/or fishing rod.