 Preview By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | SEGA |
| Publisher: | SEGA | |
| Genre: | FPS | |
| ESRB: | Rating Pending | |
| # Of Players: | TBA | |
| Online Play: | TBA | |
| Accessories: | TBA | |
| Estimated Release: |
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what the PS3 FPS-ish game Fifth Phantom Saga is about. In fact, I'm not really sure anyone knows what it is about, except maybe its developer, Sega...maybe.
The screenshots of FPS (in this case, "FPS" stands for Fifth Phantom Saga, not first-person shooter) are hardly the most impressive of the PS3's lineup. Of course, that’s not to say they are ugly, just not exactly pretty and hardly a step above the current generation of video games. One could argue that either A) Sega has lost their marbles and are churning out a butt-ugly game or B) Sega wants people to focus on the actual gameplay of FPS and not squabble over whether or not it is pre-rendered. For the sake of keeping this preview going, we'll pick the latter.
This is where Fifth Phantom Saga gets weirder and, if possible, even more vague. You see, in all the footage Sega had to show, this seemingly standard first-person shooter added a touch of the supernatural, with a ghost always looming nearby! I can only assume that the mysterious spirit puts the phantom in Fifth Phantom Saga, but we do know that the specter is looking to be an integral part of the gameplay.
It’s as if all the puzzle elements and handy tools-of-the-trade from the Legend of Zelda games are all wrapped up into one, ethereal form. As your FPS (first-person shooter, this time) character gives the phantom commands, it will do any variety of tasks, from moving boxes to blowing up walls to solving puzzles. It is unknown at this point how interactive a task involving the phantom will be (such as solving one of those puzzles), but the standard shoot-em' up gameplay of any first-person shooter seems intact, making this game an interesting mix of Geist (GCN) and any of the army of squad-based military games out there.
Assuming Sega gives Fifth Phantom Saga the kind of visual showing we have seen from most other PS3 games, and more is revealed on how involved the player actually is with the otherworldly element of the game, FPS could turn out to be one of the most unique PS3, and maybe even FPS, games out there.
Posted: 2006-02-07 20:01:38PST