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Preview
Echo
Night: Beyond
| Developer: |
FromSoftware |
| Publisher: |
Agetec |
| Genre: |
Adventure |
| Release
Date: |
Late July,
2004 |
| Platform: |
 |
Preview by Randy Sluganski
May 25, 2004
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 Yes Virginia; there are adventure games on the PS2.
Not many mind you, but
at this year’s E3 the good folks at
Agetec were kind enough to show us a sneak of the upcoming Echo
Night: Beyond, the sequel to 1999’s Echo
Night.
Agetec has
long been a leader at converting Japanese adventure games for the
North American market. If you’re a
stick-in-the-mud who dismisses the idea of pure adventure games on
console, then you’ve obviously never played the vastly underrated
Disaster
Report
or the jarring Clock Tower 1.
 Agetec’s newest adventure is Echo
Night: Beyond and if the
private demo I was treated to is any indication then you may want
to stock-up on Pampers (or Depends). In Echo Night: Beyond, you play
as Richard Osmond a research scientist who, along with his fiancée
Claudia, fly to the moon for their dream wedding. Their plans for
a lunar honeymoon soon turn into a nightmare as their shuttle takes
unknown damage during their descent and crashes as it approaches
the Lunar Station. After an unknown period of time, Richard awakes
to find himself outside the Lunar Station. His fiancée is
missing and he now has no choice but to search for her in a desolate
lunar colony that is haunted by the previous inhabitants spectral
remains.
 Armed only with a flashlight,
you can only reach Claudia by releasing the souls of spirits who
have been unable to cross over into death
until their final mortal desire has been accomplished. Ghosts can
be located by monitoring the surveillance cameras placed throughout
the station and your ultimate goal is to discover what happened to
the space station. Of utmost importance is an onscreen heartbeat
sensor that monitors the player’s heartbeat. If the spirits
are successful at scaring the playing during his exploration, then
Richard will join the spirits he is trying to help.
Echo Night: Beyond is
not a survival horror game masquerading as an adventure; rather
it is an adventure game with touches of survival
horror. Agetec is promising plenty of puzzles - and they have never
let us down yet – set amidst stunning graphics.
 Adding to the eeriness
is a unique, first-person perspective as much of the game – other
than the cut-scenes - is seen through your space helmet. The raspy
breathing from inside your helmet and
the sudden appearance of specters were enough to give me goose-bumps
in an air conditioned room. The trailer alone is enough to give you
the chills, but be sure to also enjoy some of the frightening screenshots.
If Agetec lives up to their promises, then after playing Echo
Night: Beyond, you may never look up at the full moon the same way again.
   
Trailer
(2MB)
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