New Legends

Take a look at a New Legend in the making, the first Xbox title from Berkeley, CA-based developer Infinite Machine.

Confucius on Black ICE
Welcome to China of the "ancient future"?a place where cybernetic tanks, mythic dragons, and a big alien blue guy wielding a wooden staff and a big loud boomstick can co-exist in perfect disharmony. New Legends, the first game from Berkeley, CA-based developer Infinite Machine, is an Asian fusion combo of ancient saga and modern manga, with a heavy emphasis on combat and lots of fancy-ass fightin'.

The story centers around a young warrior named Sun Soo, trained in ancient martial arts as much as in heavy artillery, wrapped up in a political (and personal) war against the rise of an uber-emperor named Xao Gon. As New Legends' epic tale unfolds, Sun Soo will acquire a vast array of weapons, and make friends with a whole slew of ally NPC?s who fight by your side, Dynasty Warriors 3-style, during combat.

Year of the Cyber-Rabbit
GamePro got a chance to sit down with New Legends a couple months before the Xbox launch drew nigh, and even in its unfinished state?with a few combos unfinished and refinements yet to be made to the fighting?the game was fun and straightforward. The variety of combos and weapons was impressive, and it was really cool (though not quite Devil May Cry cool) to wield a sword in one hand and a portable cannon in the other.

The animation was modeled after one of the fight choreographers for The Matrix?who also happens to teach martial arts to some of the developers. His moves were taped, and then used as a basis for hand-animation, and it gives the combos a very unique, fluid, and surreal feel. The camera controls in the preview were extremely versatile, and could actually be used as a viable way to walk around.

Fortune Cookie
Since the game?s comic book and manga influence naturally lent itself to a more bright, simplistic look, the preview version didn't quite have graphical flair of some other Xbox titles you've seen. Still, the "little things" that developers save 'til the end (like water ripples, lighting, and shadows) were still in a state of flux in the preview build--and the details can make all the difference. If Infinite Machine can polish up these little things and bump up the frame rate (another one of those optimization issues programmers tend to save for the very end), it looks like they could have an Xbox legend on their hands. If not, well...then that?ll be a different story.

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