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Originally Posted by Kotaku
Contact just might go down as having the most successful videogame fake-out since Metal Gear Solid 2's pre-release campaign of deception. But rather than sneakily replacing a rugged fan-favorite military hero with a fey sissy-boy and his nagging girlfriend, Atlus' upcoming DS RPG is guilty of nothing more than attempting to play off the mania surrounding Nintendo's Super NES classic Earthbound.
In the days leading up to Contact's announcement, Japanese publisher Marvelous Interactive published a series of web-based teasers featuring an elderly professor who bore a striking resemblance to Earthbound's Dr. Andonuts. Long-suffering Earthbound fans noted the similar design and graphical style of this mysterious new creation, sparking rumors that the long-awaited revival of Nintendo's series was coming soon.
The ultimate revelation that Contact was a completely new game unsurprisingly came as a disappointment to many. And, ironically, Nintendo's real Earthbound sequel -- Mother 3 for Game Boy Advance -- made its debut soon after. The timing largely eclipsed any buzz the DS game's teaser campaign had built up, and piqued fans quickly forgot about the pretender as the true sequel took form. Initial sales reports from the game's recent Japanese launch have been unimpressive.
But in a way, the fake-out did its job -- it brought the game to Atlus's attention. The company's localization producer Tomm Hulett admits his original interest in Contact stemmed from the teaser campaign, which means that American audiences will have a chance to experience the game themselves this summer.
"The Professor looks exactly like Dr. An... uh... Well, I'm a big fan of EarthBound, so Contact's similar vibe was an immediate attraction," Hulett jokes. Unlike the Japanese audience, though, Atlus' interest and confidence in Contact goes beyond first appearances and superficial connections. Despite the visual and conceptual similarities between Contact and its cult classic inspiration, they're ultimately very different creations.
"The only connection between Contact and Earthbound is the odd, quirky atmosphere and the fact that they both set out to be 'wacky RPGs,'" Hulett is quick to point out.
[click the image to check out all Contact screens]
Game Basics
But just what is Contact?
While perhaps best described as an RPG, Contact has nothing in common with the traditional random encounter-heavy style of games like Earthbound. Instead, its battle system feels more like Final Fantasy XII's, though greatly simplified. Players control a single boy (named Terry) through a variety of static 2D environments. Battles play out with a very rudimentary auto-attack system. Tapping an enemy with the stylus (or simply pressing the B button) places Terry in battle mode, where he'll automatically trade blows with enemies. Terry doesn't recruit a party, nor are there separate screens for battles; all fighting takes place in the same space as exploration.
The substance of Contact's combat lies in its special systems, some of which are more conventional than others. The most traditional is the costume system; rather than equipping armor or accessories, Terry can collect different costumes throughout the course of the game.
Each costume comes with specific advantages and abilities according to its nature. The Mogura (monk) costume boosts Terry's maximum hit points and increases his physical attack power, but limits his special abilities. The La Cuchine costume turns Terry into a chef, which puts him at a disadvantage in combat but allows him to use kitchens and campfires to cook up new healing items by combining different ingredients. Additionally, Terry as a chef is capable of wielding kitchen knives, enabling a special ability guaranteed to turn a defeated monster into a cooking ingredient.
"Think of the costumes as different character classes that come out of the closet when needed," Hulett explains. "If Terry needs to fish, you just have him toss on that funny hat and hit the lake. Something on fire? Grab that fireman suit."
Costumes are collected throughout the course of the adventure, and Terry is free to change as needed -- but he can only swap outfits in the closet of the boat that serves as his roving homebase. Thus there's a certain strategic element to costume selection, as Terry's different wardrobe selections affect his character stats differently for each part of the game.
Hulett explains: "Terry develops a wide army of stats according to how you play. As you attack, your strength increases, and as you get hit, your defense increases. Heck, your movement stat even levels up as you run around." All told, Terry's combat capabilities are determined by nearly three dozen different stats which range from the obvious (attack power) to the obscure (karma, which is earned by slaying monsters and lost by stealing, attacking people or killing peaceful animals).
This highly specific form of level-building is nothing new to console RPGs, although the games in which it has appeared -- specifically Final Fantasy II and SaGa Frontier -- are reviled by most gamers for their complex, unintuitive systems and need for excessive power-leveling. According to Hulett, though, this isn't the case for Contact. "Let me assure you, the stat bonuses come more frequently, and you really feel like the character becomes yours. A lot of the stats are class-specific, so you can have fun experimenting."
Unlike the stat and costume systems, the Decal skills (called "trick seals" in Japan) are unique to Contact and very specific to the DS hardware. While the entire game can be played with stylus input, Decals have no face-button equivalent and must be controlled with the stylus. They're "peeled off" of a menu screen album, then "applied" with a stylus stroke onto the main screen. There are a total of eight different Decals to collect, each with its own radically different function.
"If Contact were your garden variety RPG -- and it's not -- decals would be like summons or super magic abilities -- you won't use them constantly, but they'll help in a pinch," Hulett says. Decal effects range from calling an ally for backup to transforming on-screen characters into less (or more) dangerous forms; additionally, they come into play when collecting Elements, which forms the crux of the game's plot.
Perhaps the most unusual gameplay element in Contact is its wi-fi support. By going online, it's possible to visit another player's game. Each person has a special town where visitors can go. Unlike, say, Animal Crossing, Contact doesn't support live direct interaction -- instead, your friend establishes a residence in your town, which you can then visit at another time. It's an asynchronous approach to multiplayer, not entirely unlike EA's Spore, but on a smaller, more personal scale.
"The WiFi features in Contact are a little unusual," Hulett says. "Think of it like a massively-multiplayer mode where nobody has control of their character. Here's how it works -- you hook up with a friend and exchange data. Next time you play the game, you can visit WiFisland, where your buddy's character will have set up his own digs. You can chat with the character and hear a custom message your friend has left for you. The more friends you contact, the more modern WiFisland will become, and you'll be able to earn secret items and such."
Curiouser and curiouser
What truly sets Contact apart from other RPGs (and adds further weight to Earthbound comparisons) is the game's setting, its unusual vibe. Situated in something resembling a modern-day world, Contact begins when a spacefaring professor and his dog plummet to Earth after an upper-atmospheric dogfight, and draft Terry into helping them repair their craft by collecting crucial Elements scattered throughout the world.
It sounds fairly standard as far as videogame plots go, but Contact's presentation makes it far more intriguing than the synopsis alone might suggest. In fact, it's precisely what you'd expect from developer Grasshopper Manufacturing -- the same group responsible for last year's mind-boggling Killer 7. While Contact is imbued with a much mellower, less demanding sort of surrealism than its predecessor, it nevertheless possesses a genuinely post-modern sensibility.
[click the image to check out all Contact screens]
"While there aren't any wheelchair-bound killers [ala Killer 7] or Kangasharks [ala Mother 3], Contact has no shortage of non-sequiturs," Hulett says. "For example, Contact never breaks the fourth wall, because there's never a fourth wall to begin with."
The "fourth wall" is a literary concept which describes the invisible barrier between a work of fiction and its reader; breaking down this division is a favorite trick for clever game designers like Hideo Kojima, who's taken the art to new levels in his Metal Gear Solid series. As Hulett indicates, though, Contact doesn't really have a barrier to be broken.
Thanks to some clever visual tricks, the Professor functions as a frank admission that Contact is nothing more than a videogame. While Terry and the world he explores are drawn in a detailed, almost realistically shaded style, the Professor is illustrated with Earthbound-like graphics reminiscent of 8-bit games: his colors are flat and bright, he and his lab are heavily outlined with black lines, and the visuals are presented in a forced isometric perspective. As Terry explores, the Professor is constantly active on the DS's upper screen, acting independently of the game -- sometimes offering directions to the player, but clearly a separate entity.
However, it's possible to interact with the Professor directly. Not only can you summon his dog with one of the Decals (ostensibly to help in battle, though usually the stupid pooch just stops and licks itself before scampering away), but Terry can enter the Professor's chamber by stepping through a certain doorway which takes him onto the top screen, outside the confines of the "real" game world.
It's an interesting stylistic choice that should give the chin-strokey types something to pontificate about. More importantly, it's a strong example of Contact's unconventional personality and sly humor -- a crucial element of the game, and one which Hulett is determined to prevent from being lost in translation.
"I'm keeping all original intent and only changing things when necessary," he says. "Contact has a lot of jokes, so a big challenge is making sure we have jokes that make sense in English. The Japanese script relies a lot on context and inflection, so it's tricky figuring out what's a joke and what is serious, or when to play down a humorous situation for irony. Long story short, I have to make all the ordinary parts feel ordinary, and all the wacky parts feel wacky."
Despite its unique feel and Atlus' loyal fanbase, Contact could prove a hard sell in America, just as it was overseas. And with all the Contact/Earthbound comparisons floating around, it's hard to forget how poorly Nintendo's quirky RPG sold in America. Gamers today are generally more willing to give unusual games a try, but it's still a hit-or-miss endeavor. For every high-selling Katamari Damacy there are countless Phoenix Wrights -- great games that break the usual mold but fail to catch on with large audiences.
"Selling a 'funny' game is tough," Hulett admits. "You have to prove it isn't just fluff - there is an actual game behind the humor. Games like Katamari have helped, as 'quirky' is the new normal. People are a lot more willing to buy a game with an abstract cover than they were, say, when a certain RPG scratch-and-sniffed its way onto the SNES."
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