Alter Echo Intro

D4Cougar · Post by **D4Cougar** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 12:23 pm

Anyone try this game out yet? Could anyone tell me what the Descent reference is in the intro?

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 1:28 pm

This game isn't out on PC - is it?

Defender · Post by **Defender** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 1:59 pm

From what i understood it was console only.

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 9:10 pm

I too am curious to know what the reference is. The game got panned by game reviewers and criticized for its shortness and repetitive action. Chances are I won't be buying it anytime soon...

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:09 pm

Bringing the thread back from the dead.

I got Alter Echo today. Apparently, if you can manage to find it, it's in the bargain bins now. But it's a bit difficult to find. Only one store in the local area had a copy. My thought is that after it was panned by critics, THQ didn't make any more of them.

I didn't catch the Descent reference in the intro sequence (other than that Proteus looks a lot like the sun on Descent 3's title screen), but there are some subtle hints of Descent here and there. In the manual, Paavo (the evil shaper) designed a cruise ship for a rival corporation that he subsequently vaporized. The cause was a "freak" reactor malfunction.

Of course the weird, skewed techno music of Jerry Berlongieri makes it feel Descent-like. Except for I think his music is definitely more at home here, with the strangely abstract, organic environments (the planet, Proteus, is living, you know).

It's actually a pretty decent game with a number of cool and interesting gameplay ideas. It's a third-person adventure with similar controls to Jax & Daxter or Ratchet & Clank. The idea here is that they merged this with a fighting game-style combat system where you can link together moves by pressing buttons in the right order. In a vague sense, it's like if you took Xenogears' combat system and made it real-time. The main moves, as Nevin (our sardonic hero) in his sword form, are a weak attack, a strong attack, and a juggle that flings the enemies skyhigh. You can mix and match these in many combinations, and execute them while jumping as well. You can also double-jump.

There are three different forms that almost correspond to Pyro/Magnum/Phoenix. Nevin's "sword form" is the default with average abilities in speed and attack. The "gun form" is a hulking mecha-like armor that moves slowly, but packs a wallop with its plasma gun and grenade launcher. Lastly, the "stealth form" is lightning quick and can use special paths, but is physically weak.

There's also "time dilation" which is a clever little minigame. Nevin can temporarily freeze time and render the battlefield as a grid. The idea here is that you guide a cursor through a grid of icons representing enemies, traps, and so forth. If you manage to connect several enemies and complete the puzzle, you are treated to a nice cutscene of Nevin destroying all of his adversaries in accordance to the minigame.

The game also comes with several bonus features. Aside from the game trailers and a psychedelic music track with visualization, there is also a "Making of Alter Echo" movie featuring snippets from Matt Long, Andy Crosby, and other ex-Outragers. There is also footage from the modelling tools from the artists that somehow made the hideous purple/yellow color scheme look cool.

I'd say the game is rather clever. It's not exceptionally polished or more fun than Ratchet & Clank, but it's better than a lot of similar games and definitely a fun rental.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 1:37 am

I worked on this game. I know what reference you're referring to. In the original script, when the crew was arriving at Proteus, Arana said, "Prepare for Descent!" But that line was cut in the final version.

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 8:14 am

Well considering the chaotic pace at which Nevin is deployed from the dying ship, it probably wouldn't have fit in anyway. lol

D4Cougar · Post by **D4Cougar** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 12:04 pm

I'm going to buy if only to rip the soundtrack out of it. Thanks Sol! (and Suncho)

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 1:44 pm

Aww... was it you that told us about it in the first place Sunch?

BTW, just curious as to why/how long you were working at Outrage? Internship or what?

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 3:10 pm

Seeing that it's a PS2 game, I don't think we have away of ripping soundtracks from the DVDs yet. Some PS2 games encode their music as .PSC (sp?) files, which are what Chrono Cross and other games that had a lot of music used. I suspect these are similar to tracker modules. In any case, PS2 games that used these we can playback, but I'm not so sure about the digitized music.

There's nothing tremendously special about the music. Jerry released a lot of the tracks on his web site already, and the in-game music isn't dramatically different from those.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 6:32 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by DCrazy:
Aww... was it you that told us about it in the first place Sunch?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm not sure.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by DCrazy:
BTW, just curious as to why/how long you were working at Outrage? Internship or what? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I only worked there 6 months. I was assistant lead tester on Alter Echo.