From Anime To Online Shooter – Hands On With Ghost In The Shell: First Assault

Adapting a story, characters and universe from one medium to another is an inherently difficult task. Just look at how many mediocre or downright bad licensed superhero games there were prior to Rocksteady’s seminal Batman: Arkham Asylum, or how many bad book to film adaptions there are for every Blade Runner or Lord of the Rings?

For the team at Neople, who bring Ghost in the Shell: First Assault to PC via Early Access today, their task is made all the more difficult by trying to translate Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex into a free to play online multiplayer shooter. Yet, that transformation seems to give them a lot of freedom as well, letting them pick and choose from certain moments and episodes and keeping a number of the trappings from the anime series, rather than having to worry about translating story arcs and wrapping them around the moment to moment gameplay.

That initial spark comes from the 24th episode of the first season, as Section 9 are forced to go on the run and take on an opposing Special Ops team, capable of going toe to toe against them. However, as we play, other episodes are regularly cited as the inspirations for the particular maps. The District Ruins played host to certain events in an early episode of S.A.C. 2nd GiG, the anime’s second season, Downtown Dejima comes from the 25th episode of 2nd Gig, while the PSS9 headquarters are explored elsewhere.

However, the most important thing by far is to try and capture the spirit of the Ghost in the Shell universe. As each map loads in, you have a few moments to run around and explore in the the swirling blue of the computer simulated Dive Mode, for example, but more challenging is the ability for the cyborg bodies of the Section 9 team to talk with one another as computers, with near instantaneous communication that allows them to silently work in tandem. It’s something impossible to recreate exactly when all of the game’s players will naturally be hindered by their fleshy fallibility, not to mention input latency and the mildest of lag inherent in the internet.

However, they have come up with a way to adapt this notion, to augment the relatively straightforward run and gun play of the game. Where some characters that you can choose from have abilities that stand alone, such as Ishikawa’s deployable turret, others are able to offer their skills to nearby teammates via SkillSync, once their ability has been levelled up to Tier 2.

As Major Motoko Kusanagi activates her ability to turn invisible, those within a certain radius will be prompted with the ability to do the same. Similarly, Paz can share his hyper-sprint, Borma will increase healing, while Saito lets you see in infrared. However, these can be combined in the heat of the action, so that you could have active camouflage and run much faster at the same time, potentially to get behind the other team, with more characters planned – both from the anime and as original creations – to create some added tactical variety.

These kinds of combinations will come to the fore more in the objective-based modes like Terminal Conquest and Demolition, rather than the run of the mill Team Deathmatch. Terminal Conquest features push and pull battling over a sequence of control points, with the added spice of a Tachikoma – a powerful spider-like AI robot – being thrown into the mix for a side that captures a control point. At first blush, this seems to unbalance the game unfairly in favour of the team who can gain control of the first point, though the Tachikoma can be destroyed or potentially hacked with some good teamwork. It’s a point that Neople will certainly be keen to analyse and alter once the Early Access game has gone live.

You’re likely to be rewarded for thinking tactically and working closely with your teammates, most definitely. There’s actually a quite curious blend of pace and weight, I felt, with a fairly high movement speed and a hint of twitch shooting when playing with mouse and keyboard, however that’s blended with a fairly miserly jump and the kinds of vaulting and weighty traversal that used to be so in vogue.

Demolition, meanwhile, is equivalent to Call of Duty’s Search & Destroy. One team defends while the other attacks two points to try and plant a bomb. With up to eight players on each team – the game will shift between 5v5 and 8v8, depending on the mode – this is where some of the tactical nuance and the various abilities will likely gel together most cohesively. There will be the mind games of picking complimentary abilities, rather than doubling up too much, so that you try and tackle whatever opposes you and adapt your plan of attack.

Of course, as a free to play game, there exists the question over monetisation. Initially that is to be restricted within the Early Access game, as outside of buying an Early Access pack to gain access – starting at $5 – you’ll have to sign up for a beta access key and keep your fingers crossed.

Until the game’s final F2P release, players will have to lean on the GP earnt through play, rather than NX bought with real money, in order to unlock new characters, more base weapons and attachments – these range from new sights to barrels, grips, and more – as well as body modification chips, which will boost certain character stats while lowering others. These, just like many other parts of the game, are very likely to change throughout the rest of development.

Ultimately, by not looking to tackle the complexities and nuance of the stories within the laudable anime and manga, this might not be the game that caters to the fans of the fiction. Yet Ghost in the Shell: First Assault does have that universe in its heart, and manages to draw upon a number of ideas and inspirations in a multitude of clever ways.