E3 2002Primal impressions

Sony is showcasing Primal quite prominently at its booth at this E3, and with good reason--it may be one of the more interesting and polished PS2 games currently in development. The game revolves around the lives of a young girl named Jen and her benignly demonic compadre, Scree. Jen has a unique background--she's precisely one-half demon. She finds this out one night while she's attending a concert given by her boyfriend's band. Demons break into the venue on said night and abduct her boyfriend, and the resulting carnage leaves Jen comatose. While unconscious, her being is projected astrally into the nether regions, where she learns about her unique heritage.

The netherworld where Jen lands has four tiers, and it's quite complex from a cosmological standpoint. Each of the four realms has a resident race of "demons" that are, for the most part, friendly and civilized. For example, the undine are graceful water-dwelling creatures whose realm consists of massive, natural reeflike structures. The ferai, on the other hand, are rugged and warlike, and their world seems to consist mostly of harsh, blasted canyons. Upon reaching the netherworld, Jen will be joined by Scree, the friendly gargoylelike demon who will serve as her second half throughout most of the game. You're able to swap between the two characters during most sequences, and their indivudual gameplay styles are largely complementary. The first stage being shown at E3, for instance, has you exploring a ruined ferai village. One building with a locked door had a slight crack on its wall. To get in, you have to swap to Jen, squeeze through the crack, and then open the door for Scree from the inside. Once in the room, you'd descend into some catacombs, and soon enough, you encounter a breakable wall. Using the rocky, buff Scree, you have to heft a heavy object and roll it into the destructible wall in order to get through.

Another, perhaps cooler, example of this interplay took place in a demo area called "coliseum." In it, Jen was suddenly attacked by the same huge demon that kidnapped her boyfriend that fateful night. At her current level of power, she'd stand no chance against this demon. Scree urges her to take cover, and, quite impressively, "possesses" one of the giant, menacing statues adorning the coliseum's grounds. You're then put in control of him and made to fight the gigantic abomination.

The game's combat system is based on the use of the L2 and R2 buttons, each of which has context-sensitive attacks mapped it. There are four basic attacks--two levels per button--and we saw quite a few timing-based combos during our hands-on time. Jen will eventually be able to assume a form based on each of the four demon types, and each form will have attack moves native to it. The undine form has long, glowing tentacles that extend from her hands. And in her ferai form, she'll have vicious, glowing claws that she can hack at enemies with.

Graphically, the game is looking extremely sharp. Animation blending and inverse kinematics make all the movements nice and fluid, while some smart texture work gives the world a tangible feel. The frame rate hovers around a steady 30fps, which, in combination with a very-impressive lighting system, lends the game a charged, tangible atmosphere.

In any event, Primal is looking like it'll be something to watch, and you can bet that we'll have more on it for you in the near future. Stay tuned.