Itagaki, the mad genius behind Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, is proving that there is life after divorce. In advance of E3 proper, Itagaki has announced and revealed his new game, Devil's Third, which is currently in development at his fresh studio, Valhalla Studios. It will be, of course, published by not-Tecmo.
Judging from the footage of the game released recently, Devil's Third appears to be a third-person shooter first and a beat-'em-up second. This would be accurate, according to Itagaki. "If you think of it as a shooting game that includes a level of melee combat and fighting that has never been done in a shooting game before," he told Eurogamer in an advanced conversation, "that's a good way to think of it."
== TEASER ==That seems like an odd combat design direction for the guy behind Ninja Gaiden, a game that featured brain-numbing hack-and-slash combinations. The fact that it is different is the reason Itagaki decided to go guns-first. He told Eurogamer later that he didn't want consumers to confuse it with a Ninja Gaiden- or Devil May Cry-type of experience. Silly consumers.
Devil's Third is set in a post-apocalyptic universe where dudes have a lot more blood in their bodies than we do. The game is clearly over-the-top; air juggles make enemies appear as if they're meat-sprinklers, while the on-the-ground stuff is just as nasty, if not moreso. Big guns of the Gatling variety are confirmed, as well as fast-paced combat, acrobatics, and fluid hand-to-gun fisticuffs. Man. Call me silly, but I think I want this already even though Itagaki has never made my cup of tea.
THQ is set to publish the title on the Xbox 360 and PS3. No release date was announced, but the media have been told not to expect this one within (roughly) the next two years. Bummer!
Either Itagaki's Tecmo contract had a non-compete clause regarding video games with ridiculous boob physics or he was out of office the day they had to get approval for this trailer. I don't even want to think about the alternatives, the implications for humanity of an Itagaki game without ocean-like bouncing breasts are really too horrible to imagine. Especially since this game actually looks pretty sweet.
Well judging from that trailer its got three of the four elements I associate with a game by Tomonobu Itagaki. 1) Ninjas, 2) Resevoirs of blood and 3) a Female character with her tits on display for all to see. All we need is word that its got element 4) Finger blistering difficulty
@FluxWaveZ: Ok I'll agree with that assessment. But it still has the other hallmarks of an Itagaki game does it not. Well aside for difficulty which we cant test and must rely on the good folks at GiantBomb to test for us until release.
@Brackynews: I've never heard of Rising Zan before, but from screenshots, it looks like what I'm talking about. Not so much Red Steel 2, though. I just mean characters who are extremely agile (wall running, jumping all over the place...) and who attack with a sword and a gun. One of the reasons I was so interested in WET before release was because the main character was all about that (and she was a tough female protagonist, to boot).
Seeing a lot of comparisons to WET which tells me people aren't considering who's behind this. Gameplay has always been number one with Itagaki's stuff which just happen to also look awesome and have never been style over substance. They cut this trailer from a product that still has ~2 years development left and even the skeptics think it looks kinda fun to play. Do you remember the first trailer for WET? Broad was just sitting in a bathtub looking at her guns. They spent more time designing her than making something you'd want to play. Give this some time he'll impress you. Title is stupid though.
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