Hard Grip First-Look Preview (Xbox 360)

Human Soft seems to get it. The company, which has offices in San Diego, California, and Hungary, knows after about 16 years of working on game products, that it’s good to strike while the iron is hot. Gabor Kadas, Human Soft’s president/CEO, would like to take advantage of what the game industry hopes is a wealth of motion-control products, similar to what we’ve seen on the diminutive Wii.

That’s why Human Soft is working on a rock-climbing game called Hard Grip. The new title—which we saw at the Game Developers Conference, playing under the Wii—looks interesting, especially if the concept can be brought to Natal when the new technology is available to consumers. (We expect a big presentation to debut a nearly final Natal at the E3 show in mid-June.)

Kadas is aiming for a 2011 release for the game, so it’s early yet. Indeed, the title looked to be very early in the dev cycle when we saw it (Kadas told us it was about 20% completed), and the gamemakers are still doing a lot of feature additions and assessments. However, it was a good proof-of-concept and, though it was shown on Wii, we felt it was something we should bring to the TXB readership as a game that could take advantage of Natal’s capabilities.



On the Wii, you hold a controller in each hand. Each trigger represents that hand’s grip on the cliff face. When you let go of one trigger, the available grip points on the wall light up, and making a wrist flick in the desired direction moves that hand to the point. Pulling the trigger on that controller again has the character tighten the grip on that point and move his body into position for the next move. Though a bit more coordination is required, the action of moving one hand and then the other is similar to the old arcade game, Crazy Climber, and in no time you’re moving up the climbing path. Of course, letting go of both triggers will bring a quick tumble off of the mountain.

There are also a number of special indicators along the climb. When you reach two bright handholds and lock your hands on both, you can use the D-Pad to make a special move, such as across a divide in the rock face or to pull yourself up on a ledge. And some spots have your climber making some automatic moves: One was a back-and-forth springing up a “chimney” to a ledge, while another was traversing across a vertical pole that led from one rock face to another.

Hard Grip also offers some pick-ups along the way. Point icons up your score as you’d expect, but there are others that boost your climbing ability. Adrenaline helps your ability to make special moves and combos, while Energy is essential for being able to keep your grip. If your Energy bar hits zero, you’ll lose your grip and fall off the mountain. Energy pick-ups will refill it to an extent, but you can also release a hand grip and shake out your arm, much like a real climber will do to relieve a “pump” in the arm muscles. In the demo, shaking enabled the complete refilling of the Energy meter, which will likely be changed, as it made grabbing Energy pick-ups unnecessary. Other pick-ups include a “freeze” icon that kept the Energy bar from draining for a bit, and a shield icon that represents a checkpoint, so you can lock in your progress to that point.

The game will have a number of climbing courses, as well as tournaments and races in which you’ll be able to participate. Completing any of these earns you Respect Points, and collecting enough points gets you invites to new races and tourneys.

Again, the game is in the very early stages of its construction, but it does show how Human Soft is hoping to take the concept to the various “kinetic” controllers that are expected to permeate the marketplace. While his company doesn’t have a Natal license as of yet, Kadas envisions how Hard Grip could easily be adapted—and in the case of Natal, perhaps even eliminate the need to hold a controller whatsoever, unlike the Wii or PS3. Perhaps Natal could sense when the player’s hand is open (when reaching for a new grip point) or in a fist (gripping a handhold), and the act of reaching for a grip point or shaking out the arm will be more realistic to actual climbing than the flick move required in the Wii version we tried out.

We expect that this year’s E3 will bring a wealth of Natal-based games and applications, and it’s assumed that a newer look at Hard Grip will be offered as well. Be sure to stick with TeamXbox for updates on this and other developments as Natal comes closer to being available for placement in your own living room.