Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Duel of Sisters

Since I got a little break until my next midterm (next week), i decided to do post on a game that i hope would get a release in the U.S as we get softcore porn like DOAX2 coming. Anyways, the game of focus is the Oneechan bara (somtimes romanized to Oanechan bara) vorteX which i'm pretty sure i have mentioned before. The reason it's the focus today is cuz the official site added a sweet new trailer. There was another trailer that was released last week that focused more on gameplay. That one can be seen here. This new one on the official site is pretty sweet as we get some more Aya fanservice (SHOWER SCENE!). Anyways, the FMV CG is looking REALLY good (Onee 2 SE sucked) and i must commend Tamsoft for putting more effort into this game since it's not a "Simple" budget title. For those who don't know, the oneechan bara first appeared on the PS2 as part of D3's Simple 2000 budget titles. It's basically a Dynasty Warriors rip-off w/ hot ladies in revealing outfits as your main characters (most of the Simple 2000 games were like that, rip other game's engine and put in fanservice to appeal to the horndog gamers). However, the game gained popularity not only for it's shallowness, but the gameplay that they ripped off was quite fun and added some new flavour. Thus, the Oneechan bara spawned a Blue version which included Riho (who's basically the D3 Simple 2000 mascot, though another familar D3 character shows up in the sequel and has become a mainstay) in her classic bikini outfit as well as her sister Makoto (who's also appeared in a few other D3 games...to please the loli fans i guess). Oneechan bara 1 was also released last year in EU by 505 gamestreet (which releases quite a few simple titles) entitled Zombie Zone. Not too long after, a sequel was released (Oneechan bara 2) and a Special Edition (Oneechan pon - Oneechan Bara 2 SE) to the sequel was released just a couple of months ago. The SE only added some more outfits, playable characters and a new CG intro (which is pretty bad and pales in comparison to vorteX). The sequel and SE was never released outside of JPN. vorteX as you can see looks to improve in some areas as the graphics are a BIG improvement (HR, widescreen). CG looks fab, new characters (Anna and Misery) and 2-player coop (!). 2-player coop is huge as i was like WTF? when i first played Blue and was pissed off the sequel & SE didn't have it either. The previous games DID offer 2 player...2 player alternating/switching >_>. The 'tagging' that you see in that vorteX trailer is what i'm talking about. That's the two player part. SOOO old-school and dumb for this type of game. The tagging though is also available in single player.

Like DW, the game is a repetitive hack & slash against a bunch of zombies on-screen. Also, you can build up the stats of your character like DW. Combos are also available and more moves will be unlocked when you reach certain stats/levels. There's also a 'rage' kind of mode you can go into and that will add 1 or 2 additional attacks iirc. Some problems I remember having with the game was the camera and how you always have to position it and set it back in place so that you can see the action comfortably. For me it gets tedious and ruined my enjoyment a bit. The environments weren't as varied, there's not many characters and did i mention no 2 player coop. That's why DW is better. But hey, this was a budget title, so you can't expect THAT much. Graphics were very good for a budget title as Aya and the girls looked good w/ smooth animation, appealing models and some extra polys for jiggle as D3 usual. I own Oneechan Bara Blue (i think, as i don't know where it is and might have lost it or lent it or sold it)
Oneechan Bara 2 and Oneechan Pon - Oneechan Bara 2 SE. Now this game won't make me buy a 360 (that would OBVIOUSLY be Blue Dragon) but NA owners should hope it comes over as it's a guilty pleasure game and w/ crap like Rumble Roses XX and the softcore of DOAX2, this game fits just in between those boobies.



Also of note is Oneechan Bara Mobile which also comes out this winter to coincide w/ vorteX. Art is by the famed Kengo Yonekura (NSFW), who's famous for her adult doujins and work on some eroge games.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, thanks for the breakdown on the game series R8. I just may pick this up as I am a sucker for guily pleasure games such as this.

Anonymous said...

I've really no idea why I haven't picked the game up yet. Guess it's time to order/preorder :)

Dude, I take it you heard about Sony and Lik-Sang? No PS3 for launch for me :(

Anonymous said...

I watched the video yesterday, and it made me laugh at exactly how OTT the gore level was. I suspect a copy of this will be finding itself in my collection...

R8 said...

@ PB19: no prob. if you can import it, go for it. however, i would wait for the review first. With Blue Dragon also coming out in Dec., your money would probably better spent there (unless you don't play import rpgs) or another game. This game should be picked up when it's somewhat cheaper if the reviews are bad. I know Famitsu is gonna give this a crap score.

@ johnny: dude, i thought you'd be all over this game since you get quite a few Simple titles and this Simple series is like THE most famous (which is why i got them, oh and the fanservice is nice bonus :P ^^).
Yeah, i read it yesterday, and i was like "ohh shit, johnny uses that place a lot!", but then i thought "or was it play-asia?" (^^) That really sux. I was hoping to see you get your PS3 and provide a lot of sweet pics. I can't believe how SOE is sooo gay about this. I'd be SO pissed. The only places i get imports online are NCSX and YesAsia. YA is only occasional since they sometimes have a cheaper price and i take advantage of their free shipping. I use 'em mostly for my HK mangas and few JPN tanks. NCSX is for bonus preorder/LE games. But most of the time, i just go to the import store in the CHN malls for most of my games. Anyways, i wish you the best of luck in getting a PS3 before 2007!

@ digi: well, the game is just bloody and not really gory per say (there's not much limbs flying around iirc). The bloody part actually plays a factor to the gameplay ;). Yeah, it's one of those games that just oozes a sense of 'coolness' in a gamer's collection since it's not mainstream.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info man. Yeah, I've always known about the games (although not in as much detail as in your main post) but just never got round to ordering any of them.
Anyway, I've just ordered all 3 PS2 games - the first one, the second one and blue and I'm gonna preorder the 360 version later.
Speaking of the 360, I noticed the Asian version of Blue Dragon went up for preorder at Playasia recently. Unfortunately, unlike most Asian games, it's in Japanese and not English but I reckon I'll buy it anyway.

As for Lik-Sang, to be honest I don't use them all that much (I use Playasia 90% of the time) but in my experiences with them they've always been cool and I've been buying from them for years back in the PSone days when they were the import store. The problem is that I had my PS3 and Wii preordered from them for over a YEAR, meaning I was one of the first on the list and was very likely to get both at launch.
I'm trying not to think about the PS3 at the minute tbh. I know I won't be getting one this year plus I'm gonna miss out on the UK launch as most preorders have closed, so it's gonna be 6 months minimum before I get one. I'm gonna have to stay away from the AoD gaming thread and other forums where people are posting first impressions etc because it will kill me.

On the bright side, like I said before, I should be getting a US and JP Wii at launch and there is a load of awesome 360 stuff coming between now and the end of the year.

R8 said...

@ johhny: you only really nude blue and oneechan pon. cuz blue is the upgrade to 1 and oneechan pon - oneechan bara SE is the obvious upgrade to 2.
Yeah, there's a lot of interesting JPN 360 games that should be coming out soon. Hopefully BD will sell well and encourage more awesome JPN games on the 360, cuz if it tanks (dear Lord i hope not), i don't see another bright future for Microsoft's console in JPN. Crap like Kengo Zero should be banned.