Hands On: Behemoth's Next Game After the Last Next Game

As promised, The Behemoth made available its latest game at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, which kicked off today in Tokyo for the first of two business days, to be followed on Friday and Saturday by public showings. Here are some impressions from the show floor.

Behemoth's next game still doesn't have a final name. During my booth visit, art director Dan Paladin referred to it as "Behemoth's Next Game After the Last Next Game" (the demo's title screen also said something to this effect). He explained that the game is super early and that everything being shown was just for sample purposes, as a means of seeing how people react.

The demo certainly did seem early, with only four mini games available. But as a good sign of things to come, these all showed potential for great multiplayer fun.

The four mini-games accessible in the demo were as follows. These all take place in maze-like stages created of colored blocks.

Block painting game

As players run around the play field, they turn any blocks that they touch to their own color. The goal is to do this for more blocks than your rival. You don't have to do anything to the blocks to change their color -- just walk over them or bump into them from the side or below.

Soccer game

Players attempt to knock a soccer ball into a goal. This is done by simply bumping into the ball or punching it.

Gold collecting game

There's a giant goldfish floating about the stage. When struck, it releases gold. The goal is to collect as much of the gold as possible.

Soul collecting game

In this mini game, when an enemy is defeated, his soul floats away. Collect an opponent's soul, and you get big points. If you lose your soul, you can chase after it once you've respawned, assuming it hasn't already been taken.

Of the four games, I had most fun with the block painting game. And that was when played in single player mode! The frantic race to touch as many blocks as possible looks like it will heat up even further when multiple players are going at it, online or offline.

In the soccer game, it was a bit difficult to control the ball, but once three other players joined in, everyone playing on my team against CPU opponents, this became pretty enjoyable as well, with some of the nicer moments giving me this strange sense that I was really charging at a goal on a soccer field.

I got the feeling that simplicity and pick-up-and-play are the concepts with Behemoth's latest. You have only a couple of actions for your character: a jump, a punch, and a single weapon that's chosen prior to the stage (along with your head shape). You defeat your rivals by stomping on their head. All it takes to send a foe respawning somewhere in the stage is one head stomp.

The stages share some common gimmicks. There are rising platforms which carry you up to higher ground, fire blocks which launch you up, and plenty of death traps, like spikes and deadly columns of light (I don't know what these are, but they kill you instantly).

The demo, it should be noted, was on the Xbox 360. However, Mr. Paladin told me that The Behemoth isn't talking platforms yet. Noting that Alien Hominid (also being demoed at the show) appeared on pretty much everything out there, he said that the goal is to get the game played by as many people as possible.

If the final version offers as much fun as the early demo version suggests, this probably won't be a problem.

The Behemoth also had a few additional non-game products in its booth, and was giving away t-shirts and signed posters. Here are a few additional pics from the booth.

Character toys from The Behemoth. The two large ones in back are in development.