Death by Degrees
- January 27, 2005 00:00 AM PST
Tekken's Nina Williams fights bad guys with swords and the ghosts of her past in Death By Degrees.
Namco recently stopped by to show us the latest version of Death By Degrees, the action game starring Tekken's very own Nina Williams. If you've been following the game's progress, you already know the fighting system uses the right analog stick to control your attacks, much like last year's Rise to Honor--you simply move the stick toward an opponent to engage in any number of kicks and punches. Pressing the shoulder buttons in tandem with the analog stick let Nina perform grapples, special dodges, and focus attacks. The focus attacks switch to a special x-ray camera view where you use a cursor to target "weak points" in your enemy's innards in order to deliver a lethal dose of damage.The system's biggest advantage seems to be that Nina can fairly easily attack multiple foes if surrounded. Nina can also wield different weapons on occasion, adding to the versatility of the moves she does. Since we last played the game, the controls have been tightened up, and the developers have added an analog sensitivity option to the menu. The biggest disadvantage seems to be that you feel rather disconnected from the moves she performs--it may just be a matter of "getting used to it," but when you initially pick up Death By Degrees, it doesn't feel particularly Tekken-y, and Nina fans will have to adjust to the somewhat more "automated" controls.
Namco is using the story of Death By Degrees to shed some light on Nina's past and shed some light on the rocky relationship with her red-themed sister, Anna. A Namco-trademark CG sequence explains that Nina and Anna were separated as young children by strange soldiers who attacked their father's plane after it had recently crashed in the snow. One of the boss battles in the game takes place in this "memory," as a matter of fact, as Nina has to fight an assassin while protecting her childhood self from zombified soldiers.
Current highs include the graphics, which are looking quite nice--the backgrounds are well-wrought and diverse, and the x-ray vision attacks look particularly cool. Current questionable stuff includes the camera (the right analog stick is already spoken for, remember?) and swimming (diving underwater loads a special "first-person underwater section). The jury's still out on the combat system, but Namco's made some noticeable improvements since the last time we picked up and played--here's hoping they can tweak it all the way before it ships next month.
