The latest issue of Famitsu magazine has thrown up a number of new details about what looks like one of the Nintendo Wii’s most promising upcoming single-player experiences, Namco Bandai’s Fragile. For information on exploration, battling and enemies, head inside.

 

Fragile is set in a post-apocalyptic near future world that has lost its light and is covered in a dense fog. Almost all the world’s population has vanished, and the cities have been left abandoned. The game places the player in the shoes of Seto, a young boy. Seto wanders the world, searching for survivors and the answers behind the disappearance of everyone else. Seto also searches for a mysterious girl named “Heroine.” In his quest he must deal with ghosts and demons that lurk within the ruins of the abandoned cities. Despite this, the producer of the game insists that Fragile is not a survival horror in the same vein as Silent Hill, rather it will focus on “human drama”.

Exploration and items

Regarding Fragile’s environments and how the player will explore, Famitsu reveals that there are a wide variety of locations, including a hotel, train station, a fairground and an underground shopping centre. Players will be able to point the Wii Remote to use it as a torch, while the controller’s microphone will sound to help further immerse gamers into the experience.

Since Fragile’s game world looks much to be deserted, the items you find will each hold their own memories, but are often also useful in their physical form (a golf club can be used as a weapon, for instance). Graffiti artwork also holds the thoughts of those long gone, with ghostly shadows said to appear to reveal hints and clues about the adventure ahead.

Battle Sytem

Famitsu reveals that Fragile’s battle system is completely seamless, meaning that there will be no continuity-ruining cut scenes before each bout. Namco Bandai has used the darkness of the ruined environments to spring surprise attacks on players, with enemies pouncing upon players as they nervously explore. The magazine writes that it is important that players use the Wii Remote’s torch functionality to uncover enemies before they appear and start an offensive onslaught on them before they get the chance to attack you. Hand-to-hand combat with sticks and the golf club and pre-emptive strikes with a bow and arrow appear. What’s more, different items can be combined to create new weapons.

Enemies

Since every human has vanished from the face of the Earth in Fragile, it is the wild animals and evil spectres that inhabit the world that become the enemies. Said spectres are invisible, but can be identified by haunting whispers that emanate from the Wii Remote’s speaker as well as the glare of a torch.

[Source: Famitsu via NeoGAF]

Fragile is currently set for release in Japan sometime in 2008, although there is currently no news on a Western translation.