black-knight-sword
Latest
Black Knight Sword review: All flash, no flesh
While fairy tales have evolved over centuries into the family friendly Disney/Dreamworks films our nieces are all so fond of, they originally began life as terrifying stories of murder and misfortune designed to keep children in line, lest they find themselves in the oven of an evil witch.In that sense, Grasshopper Manufacture's Black Knight Sword takes an old school approach to the world of storybook fantasy, leaving warm fuzzies in a locked box beneath the stairs. Its dark tales of captured princesses, feuding sisters and the eternally damned are permeated by a sense of macabre wonderment that would make Guillermo del Toro proud.Unfortunately, the game is also analogous to fables of olde in a different, more tragic sense: It serves as a perfect cautionary tale for other developers, lest their own games buckle under the weight of their own sense of style.%Gallery-173410%
Black Knight Sword brandished on XBLA Dec. 12
Black Knight Sword, the second collaboration between Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture, will be released on XBLA December 12. The puppet-style side-scroller, announced at Gamescom in 2011, features constantly-shifting stage backgrounds, in the story of a Black Knight and his magical sword, on a journey to destroy, rather than save, a princess.With the long, quiet development time, we wonder how much the game has changed. Specifically, we're worried the chicken guy who throws eggs at you isn't going to be there anymore.%Gallery-172808%
Suda 51 wants Grasshopper Manufacture to be like real grasshoppers
Grasshopper Manufacture revealed a major change in its development strategy during the Tokyo Game Show this year. Of the eight different games on display, the majority were downloadable titles, including high-profile titles like Sine Mora, Black Knight Sword and Diabolical Pitch. During the show, we managed to snag some time with Grasshopper's CEO, Goichi Suda, more commonly known as Suda 51. During our chat, we discussed Grasshopper's new direction, Sdatcher and even the possibility of a collaboration between Grasshopper and Kojima Productions. Suda's ultimate goal? For Grasshopper Manufacture to become more like actual grasshoppers.
Preview: Sine Mora and Black Knight Sword
PSN/XBLA titles Sine Mora and Black Knight Sword are the result of a new partnership between Grasshopper Manufacture and Hungarian studio Digital Reality. Of course, both games are strange, though only one of them is strange in the familiar Grasshopper Manufacture milieu. Both of them strongly suggest that this is a worthwhile collaboration. Sine Mora is a traditional side-scrolling shooter, developed by Digital Reality with assistance from GHM. "The art direction, sound design, music by Akira Yamaoka, it's all coming from Grasshopper," explained Digital Reality creative Theodore Reiker. "Digital Reality, we have a ten-member-strong team making the programming, the 3D modeling, and the game design." That art style is a steampunk-esque world of big, complicated machines, airships, and squat, gunmetal-colored planes against skies of bright Sega blue. It was originally a much darker game, but Reiker explained that Grasshopper and Digital Reality eventually came to a "consensus" that the game should look like Studio Ghibli's Porco Rosso.
Watch lots of Black Knight Sword and Sine Mora footage
Apart from some announcements and trailers, we haven't seen much of Sine Mora or Black Knight Sword, two upcoming downloadable titles from Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture. Until now, that is, thanks to a demonstration we received at TGS. In the video above, you will find over four minutes of gameplay footage, as demonstrated by Digital Reality creative director Theodore Reiker. After the break, find a generous portion of Black Knight Sword footage and a new trailer. Keep an eye out for our hands-on impressions of both titles soon. Update: The video embed for Sine Mora has been fixed.
Grasshopper and Digital Reality reveal 'Black Knight Sword' for PSN and XBLA
Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality are partnering for a second XBLA/PSN game, in addition to Sine Mora. Announced at a Grasshopper Manufacture event during Gamescom, Black Knight Sword is a side-scrolling platform action game that takes place in a sort of puppet play. The scrolling is made to look like the character is actually standing in place, and the background elements are constantly shuffled and replaced as if on a stage. In the above video, taken by Gamer365, Akira Yamaoka introduces the game. It's like you're at the GHM/Digital Reality party yourself!
