The game was a solid Beat'em Up, characterized by excellent graphics, great cut scenes and an atmosphere loyal to the dark anime series that follows the story of Guts, a dark knight who carries a gigantic sword. Of course, this 7-feet long sword, nearly identical to the one used by Cloud in Final Fantasy VII, was also your main weapon in the game. As Guts, you could literally cut into pieces monsters and creatures, and the result was one of the goriest games to date.

Yuke's is now bringing the Beat'em Up genre to Playstation 2. Eve Of Extinction has more than an element in common with Berserk, but there are also a few novelties introduced to create a deeper gaming experience.

The Story
United States Of America, early 21st century. Wisdom, a gigantic company in the field of bio-genetics, is secretly working in the development of a new weapon called "Legacy". Legacy is a fusion of ancient metal and the human nervous system, a weapon able to give world-wide military control to the ones who own it.

Both Josh Calloway and his girlfriend, Eliel Evergrand work for Wisdom. One day, they find out the true nature of Wisdom's business. But it's too late to escape the company's clutches. Josh and Eliel are captured. Wisdom strips Eliel's soul from her body; her nervous system is rewired into the core of the latest Legacy model. A soul without a body, Eliel can now take shape as a weapon or as human being, but her human form I merely an illusion, an hologram. The codename of this model is Eve Of Extinction.

Josh, now gifted with an unnatural physical strength due to the experimentation Wisdom carried out on his body, is the only one able to stop Wisdom's plans and save Eliel.

The Game
Basically, Eve Of Extinction is a 3D adventure game with a strong emphasis given to action. In the game you can freely explore the 3d environments, while fighting hordes of enemies and solving puzzles.

The gameplay is based on the use of the Legacy System. The Legacy System can be transformed into a series of different weapons thanks to Weapon Crystals that you find during the game. The basic weapons are the Rod, a simple yet effective weapon used to bludgeon enemies, and the Sword, the best one to slice enemies, but throughout the game you will use more than 10 different forms of the Legacy System like the Katana, an axe, a broad sword, a crossbow, a snake sword and others you should find out playing the game.

What makes Eve Of Extinction different from the classic Beat'em Up games is the possibility to use many of the weapons to solve puzzles and difficult situations during the game. For example, the Rod can be used to pole vault to jump higher. Adding to that, each weapon has a special ability called "Legacy Drive". These special attacks vary from thunder lighting to water attacks, in a fashion similar to RPGs, plus many unusual ones. For example, the broad sword creates a double image of the wielder that temporarily confuse enemies. If you have liked Total Recall, I bet you'll like this one.
Eve Of Extinction also features a level-up system based on experience points. As you fight enemies, your character gain experience that is divided up among the weapons you used during the combat. In this way, the more you use a weapon, the more powerful it becomes. You can also use more than a weapon in the same battle. Overall, the gameplay of Eve Of Extinction seems much richer than the one of a Beat'em up title.

The Graphics of the game are very promising. The characters are solidly built, and it seems the game will feature a great variety of opponents. Since Josh has to perform special movements like hanging and climbing and also martial arts' moves, the developers have animated with care their models. The environments seem varied and detailed; special effects like thunder lightning, flames and water look extremely well-done.

On February 26, gamers could get an exciting action game for their black console. Stay tuned on Ps2Fantasy.com for a review of Eve Of Extinction.

Special thanks to Denny Chiu at Eidos Interactive