Glockstar
08-15-2006, 10:59 PM
Finally, some real, honest-to-goodness concrete info on the game - courtesy of GameInformer Online:
Originally available as a freeware PC game, Every Extend was designed by a Japanese University student. Q Entertainment was so impressed with the game that they decided to pick up the rights to the title, rename it to Every Extend Extra, and release it on the PSP. Part reverse shooter crossed with the music and art feeling from Lumines and Rez, Every Extend Extra could be another portable hit from Q Entertainment.
Last year at the Tokyo Game Show Q Entertainment debuted the game as the next title in its ((qb)) partnership with Namco Bandai. Since I was a huge fan of Lumines (serious understatement) I decided to give the game a try. Unfortunately, since I had no real background and zero instruction with the game, the game over screen came up moments after. Now that the game has been released in Japan, I’ve sat down with Every Extend Extra for numerous hours, and can finally understand why Q Entertainment decided to pick this game up.
While tricky to describe, the easiest way to explain Every Extend Extra would be to call it a reverse shooter. Instead of actually shooting anything at the objects on screen, you blow up your ship, which in turn explodes items near the radius of your explosion. This will create a combo, also detonating things that are in the radius of what you took out. There’s a moment or two when your ship is reforming where you cannot detonate or be injured by enemies. Only one button is used to detonate your ship, and the longer you hold the button down, the larger your explosion radius becomes. By holding down the L or R shoulder buttons as you’re charging your explosion you can move your ship away from the core of the explosion, just in case you want to steer your way out of harm’s way while you’re charging for a big combination.
For each round you’re given a specific allotment of ships and a certain amount of time to complete the level. You can get more ships or extend your number of ships by getting a certain amount of points. In each of the levels there are three crystal pick-ups which are dropped by specific-colored enemies that are crucial to success. Green crystals give you Bonus Score, red crystals give you Quicken (which speeds up your ship), and yellow crystals add a 10 second extension of time to your clock. Most of the time both red and green crystal-dropping enemies will be strung along with normal enemies that do not drop crystals. Meanwhile, yellow crystals are dropped by either mini-bosses or by the boss of the end of each stage.
You can increase your quicken eight times, and if you touch an enemy or their fire you’ll lose all of your Quicken and have to start over. Quicken is important since you’ll spend a good portion in the beginning of each level trying to position your ship by weaving in and out of enemies for the most optimal explosion. Since you have a limited amount of ships, you want to detonate only when you can create as long of a combination chain as you can. Plus, the more crystals you can net out of each explosion is also key. There are bombs that will also be floating around that will release a second delayed detonation that can increase your combo even further, so trying to string one of these when detonating is also smart.
Each stage is broken up into two parts, the first part where you battle the normal enemies, and the second part where you battle the stage boss. Each of the bosses differs in form, and has a number of different rules to follow to beat each stage boss. Most of the time you’ll have to detonate a certain number chain a few times near the boss – three, then five, then eight, then 12. Finally, you’ll have a final damage count to put down the boss in which you may have to have a total of 30-50 hits. Since at the end of the level you’re going to be nearing not only the end of your time, but less ships, strategy and conservation becomes important. The bosses change up their patterns quite often, and while you may have rocked right through the first part of the stage, the boss area can be an exercise in frustration, especially when the clock is ticking down to a few seconds and you only have two ships left in your arsenal. Needless to say, it becomes quite intense.
While the visuals mix up trippy backgrounds with varying shapes for enemies and bosses, you can see how the game took a cue from Lumines. Each of the stages has a distinct look and feel, which is complimented well by each of the songs. The soundtrack is mainly comprised of up-tempo techno and ambient beats. If you liked the electronica feel of Lumines, you’re going to feel right at home with EEE.
The main mode of EEE is the Arcade mode, and after you open up each of the levels, you can revisit them and the level’s boss in either the Caravan or Boss Attack modes, respectively. As a bonus, you can also play through the original Every Extend game in the Original Mode, which shows the game’s true roots. EEE also allows for Game Sharing in which you can share a level with a friend. Ad hoc wireless is also supported for two-player play, but since we only had one copy of the game we have yet to test out the multiplayer aspect of EEE. It’s just a damn shame there’s no online (infrastructure) multiplayer.
While much like Lumines, it took a while to learn the art of EEE. But now that I’ve got the hang of things I’m completely addicted. Just as Q Entertainment changed how a puzzle game generally works with Meteos and Lumines, they’ve completely reversed how a shooter is supposed to play. It’s just a shame that North American gamers will have to wait until November to see a localized release.
-Billy Berghammer
POSTED: 8/10/2006 6:21 PM
http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/dba004b5-ec06-4782-ae8d-2197319ea354.htm
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Screenshots - from IGN
http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/723/723117/every-extend-extra-20060803002024272.jpg
http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/723/723117/every-extend-extra-20060803002502234.jpg
http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/721/721831/every-extend-extra-20060728031842599.jpg
http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/721/721831/every-extend-extra-20060728031842958.jpg
Originally available as a freeware PC game, Every Extend was designed by a Japanese University student. Q Entertainment was so impressed with the game that they decided to pick up the rights to the title, rename it to Every Extend Extra, and release it on the PSP. Part reverse shooter crossed with the music and art feeling from Lumines and Rez, Every Extend Extra could be another portable hit from Q Entertainment.
Last year at the Tokyo Game Show Q Entertainment debuted the game as the next title in its ((qb)) partnership with Namco Bandai. Since I was a huge fan of Lumines (serious understatement) I decided to give the game a try. Unfortunately, since I had no real background and zero instruction with the game, the game over screen came up moments after. Now that the game has been released in Japan, I’ve sat down with Every Extend Extra for numerous hours, and can finally understand why Q Entertainment decided to pick this game up.
While tricky to describe, the easiest way to explain Every Extend Extra would be to call it a reverse shooter. Instead of actually shooting anything at the objects on screen, you blow up your ship, which in turn explodes items near the radius of your explosion. This will create a combo, also detonating things that are in the radius of what you took out. There’s a moment or two when your ship is reforming where you cannot detonate or be injured by enemies. Only one button is used to detonate your ship, and the longer you hold the button down, the larger your explosion radius becomes. By holding down the L or R shoulder buttons as you’re charging your explosion you can move your ship away from the core of the explosion, just in case you want to steer your way out of harm’s way while you’re charging for a big combination.
For each round you’re given a specific allotment of ships and a certain amount of time to complete the level. You can get more ships or extend your number of ships by getting a certain amount of points. In each of the levels there are three crystal pick-ups which are dropped by specific-colored enemies that are crucial to success. Green crystals give you Bonus Score, red crystals give you Quicken (which speeds up your ship), and yellow crystals add a 10 second extension of time to your clock. Most of the time both red and green crystal-dropping enemies will be strung along with normal enemies that do not drop crystals. Meanwhile, yellow crystals are dropped by either mini-bosses or by the boss of the end of each stage.
You can increase your quicken eight times, and if you touch an enemy or their fire you’ll lose all of your Quicken and have to start over. Quicken is important since you’ll spend a good portion in the beginning of each level trying to position your ship by weaving in and out of enemies for the most optimal explosion. Since you have a limited amount of ships, you want to detonate only when you can create as long of a combination chain as you can. Plus, the more crystals you can net out of each explosion is also key. There are bombs that will also be floating around that will release a second delayed detonation that can increase your combo even further, so trying to string one of these when detonating is also smart.
Each stage is broken up into two parts, the first part where you battle the normal enemies, and the second part where you battle the stage boss. Each of the bosses differs in form, and has a number of different rules to follow to beat each stage boss. Most of the time you’ll have to detonate a certain number chain a few times near the boss – three, then five, then eight, then 12. Finally, you’ll have a final damage count to put down the boss in which you may have to have a total of 30-50 hits. Since at the end of the level you’re going to be nearing not only the end of your time, but less ships, strategy and conservation becomes important. The bosses change up their patterns quite often, and while you may have rocked right through the first part of the stage, the boss area can be an exercise in frustration, especially when the clock is ticking down to a few seconds and you only have two ships left in your arsenal. Needless to say, it becomes quite intense.
While the visuals mix up trippy backgrounds with varying shapes for enemies and bosses, you can see how the game took a cue from Lumines. Each of the stages has a distinct look and feel, which is complimented well by each of the songs. The soundtrack is mainly comprised of up-tempo techno and ambient beats. If you liked the electronica feel of Lumines, you’re going to feel right at home with EEE.
The main mode of EEE is the Arcade mode, and after you open up each of the levels, you can revisit them and the level’s boss in either the Caravan or Boss Attack modes, respectively. As a bonus, you can also play through the original Every Extend game in the Original Mode, which shows the game’s true roots. EEE also allows for Game Sharing in which you can share a level with a friend. Ad hoc wireless is also supported for two-player play, but since we only had one copy of the game we have yet to test out the multiplayer aspect of EEE. It’s just a damn shame there’s no online (infrastructure) multiplayer.
While much like Lumines, it took a while to learn the art of EEE. But now that I’ve got the hang of things I’m completely addicted. Just as Q Entertainment changed how a puzzle game generally works with Meteos and Lumines, they’ve completely reversed how a shooter is supposed to play. It’s just a shame that North American gamers will have to wait until November to see a localized release.
-Billy Berghammer
POSTED: 8/10/2006 6:21 PM
http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/dba004b5-ec06-4782-ae8d-2197319ea354.htm
-
Screenshots - from IGN
http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/723/723117/every-extend-extra-20060803002024272.jpg
http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/723/723117/every-extend-extra-20060803002502234.jpg
http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/721/721831/every-extend-extra-20060728031842599.jpg
http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/721/721831/every-extend-extra-20060728031842958.jpg