Support NeoGAF

[Takao]

Platform: PlayStation Portable (Compatible with PSVita)
Developer: Artdink
Publisher: Artdink (JP) / Natsume (NA/EU)
Release Date:
October 28, 2010 (Japan)
March 19, 2013 (North America)
TBD (Europe)
Price: 5,880¥, $29.99, €TBA, £TBA
This is a digital-only release in the west

Purchase here

Summary:
A follow-up to the cult PS1 classic, Carnage Heart EXA puts players in control of giant robots — Overkill Engines (OKEs) — and pits these menacing mechs against each other in larger-than-life battles! You can control your OKE yourself or set up complex programs that automatically command your robo-battlers to follow your orders to the letter! Choose from either a compelling Story Mode, or get right into the action with Battle Mode!

• Program and control an army of giant robots!
• Pit your robo-battlers against your friends in Wireless Mode!
• Build your ultimate mech from the ground up!

Trailer | Interview with the Game Director | Japanese site | PSP XMB Theme | Japanese Demo

 

[Pierre Levegh]

I bought the original PS1 game when it came out because of the Artdink name. I remember using a program from a demo disc to break the game. I'm seriously considering picking this up.

 

[Mondriaan]

Nice job, Takao. Subscribed.

 

[badgenome]

Best OT title I've seen.

 

[Riposte]

Man, this makes me want a Vita (since I'm not going to by a PSP at this point). Carnage Heart is so intriguing to me. I'll get this eventually.

 

[JakkuFurosu]

nothing was more frustrating then spending hours programming your perfect OKE just to have him jump in place spinning like a drunk ballerina. The flipside is nothing was more awesome then getting it right and tearing shit up.


As soon as i get my spend fitty credit im grabbing this

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Zero interest in this game, but I'm going to try it because of the OT title alone



Actually, after reading the interview, this sounds pretty interesting after all.

 

[Alex Connolly]

More bought than Arthur Gies.

 

[dallow_bg]

Very funny.
I'm picking this up probably next month.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Related, I can remember they inserted manual controls into the western release of Armored Core: Formula Front (one of my utter favourites)...but with all those stats and commands to tweak and change, why anyone would want to bypass the fun remains beyond me.

Both ACFF and Carnage Heart...go hard in the workshop, put the feet up for the battle.

 

[Fragamemnon]

both ACFF and the orinigal PSX game tickled me in all the right ways. I have way too much to play already on the Vita but will try to get to this sooner rather than later.

 

[Alex Connolly]

both ACFF and the orinigal PSX game tickled me in all the right ways. I have way too much to play already on the Vita but will try to get to this sooner rather than later.

Down the line, Frag, would love to hear your thoughts on a Cruncheons broadcast.

 

[Takao]

A feature from this game is the ability to upload video of your battles. The English site just launched.

 

[19Kilo]

Wow, they actually localized this? I need a way to play this on my PS3

I guess I could always grab a used psp or something...

 

[superbank]

Yeah this looks cool but if they could get a PS3 version out...

I used to play Roboforge with my brother when I was younger. Thinking back on it the game wasn't that good but making robot's piece by piece and programming their behavior/animations was fun. His would always win though because he designed as simplistic as possible for most effective fighting, whereas I would design elaborate humanoid robots that were super fragile. It was still fun though.

 

[Schobeleth]

So.. I love mecha, but I generally prefer tight controls and rewarding combat. Is this game for me?

 

[brendor]

So.. I love mecha, but I generally prefer tight controls and rewarding combat. Is this game for me?

It's more of a programming game however it appears that you can control the robots directly if you wish.

Spent many hours on the PS1 version, can't wait for th EU release.

 

[Tain]

yeaaaah

I bought this yesterday and didn't get to play too much due to Monster Hunter peer pressure, but it seems pretty polished. The manual controls are decently responsive (obviously depending on how you program them!) but I'm planning on sticking to auto.

One worry: does this not have the tactical battles? Is it all just the 3D robot battles and programming? The combination of those three was the most appealing part of the original Carnage Heart, from what little I played, and I haven't seen any hints of the tactical battles existing yet.

 

[dallow_bg]

A feature from this game is the ability to upload video of your battles. The English site just launched.

Wonder how may English summaries will ever pop up.

 

[Alex Connolly]

It's a very visually economic game, and that's no pejorative. Really good stuff. Spent a bit of time with it last night and reckon this'll be the beginning of a very long relationship.

Incidentally, ACFF was my most played local multiplayer games with a friend who was into the thing as much as me - luckily. Near perfect metal pokemon battles. Load up, set upon each other's creation and kick back.

Goddamn linear guns in that game, though. Holy hell. Tailoring a machine to close the gap and unload as much heat as possible was a tough ask and the cause of many "Nah, nah, we'll go another round...just let me tweak my AI/chip/hardware config!"

Carnage Heart is the far more granular game, though. So much in the way of detail and programming.

 

[Daigoro]

love the tread title.

Man, this makes me want a Vita (since I'm not going to by a PSP at this point). Carnage Heart is so intriguing to me. I'll get this eventually.

just bought a psp myself for 100 at Target. one of thr best gaming purchases I've made in a while.

tons of cheap games. rip your own ps1 isos. emulators. buy and rip cheap used umds to memory. 30 gigs of mem for cheap.

seriously happy I finally got one. great system.

 

[Takao]

Wouldn't be a Natsume localization with someone actually proof reading the script:

(not my pics)

 

[cj_iwakura]

Wouldn't be a Natsume localization with someone actually proof reading the script:

(not my pics)

Well, it's step above Elminage.

 

[CamHostage]

just bought a psp myself for 100 at Target. one of thr best gaming purchases I've made in a while.

I was hoping Sony did one last price drop on PSP to get it under $100 (I've been in the market for a second one myself but I'd like to get one with a cool shell and all the packages are still full-priced and I don't trust a Gamestop Refurbished system,) but absolutely, a good old PSP is a brilliant purchase right now. Awesome games for almost nothing in bargain bins, great stuff you totally missed on PSN, a wealth of Japanese titles that you can just toss in and enjoy, and if you want to be naughty and go with CWF, a great PS1 platform that also has a surprising amount of nice apps out there including old platform emulators. Android is finally coming to market with some fair competition in that price range (buttons, 100% speed PS1 EMU, nice screens... no exploding batteries in your Chinese knock-off device, although apparently even the new Archos Gamepad has overheat issues in the UK release,) but I still use my PSP pretty much every day.

 

[thetrin]

Wouldn't be a Natsume localization with someone actually proof reading the script:

(not my pics)

Localization editing is a time consuming, and often brain-frying job, but these errors are pretty inexcusable.

 

[Koroviev]

I was hoping Sony did one last price drop on PSP to get it under $100 (I've been in the market for a second one myself but I'd like to get one with a cool shell and all the packages are still full-priced and I don't trust a Gamestop Refurbished system,) but absolutely, a good old PSP is a brilliant purchase right now. Awesome games for almost nothing in bargain bins, great stuff you totally missed on PSN, a wealth of Japanese titles that you can just toss in and enjoy, and if you want to be naughty and go with CWF, a great PS1 platform that also has a surprising amount of nice apps out there including old platform emulators. Android is finally coming to market with some fair competition in that price range (buttons, 100% speed PS1 EMU, nice screens... no exploding batteries in your Chinese knock-off device, although apparently even the new Archos Gamepad has overheat issues in the UK release,) but I still use my PSP pretty much every day.

Gamestop refurbished = used. The condition of the Gamestop "refurbished" PS3 they sold me (and that I returned the next day) was absolutely inexcusable.

 

[jooey]

Localization editing is a time consuming, and often brain-frying job, but these errors are pretty inexcusable.

it's quite th conundrum

 

[Alex Connolly]

Saw those script errors. Kinda just wish I could power on through and not have to deal with the characterisation. If I have to, I'd rather it be SLAI.

 

[Mondriaan]

Well, it's step above Elminage.

[edit]Is this supposed to be a snarky, understatement style metacomment?

Saying a step above is really a disservice to both games since it doesn't convey how horrible Elminage's localization was and how vast the chasm is that separates their localizations.

Elminage's localization was terrible, possibly the worst I've seen. I've seen plenty of games with much worse localizations than Carnage Heart EXA's that are still far better than Elminage's.

 

[SchleimanTank]

I'm interested in this. I read about the original PSone game way back and I really like the customization/programming concept. Looking forward to reading some impressions.

 

[Mondriaan]

I've gotten to chapter 9, which is roughly when you start to get lessons about developing auto-piloted OKEs. The new format is starting to make sense to me.

In the PS1 game, there is a war that is as much about resource management as it is about making kick ass OKEs. You could still win the war by using terrible OKEs in a strategic fashion, though, but the enemy OKEs never used particularly sophisticated AI.

The lack of sophisticated enemy AI was probably to keep the level of difficulty down to Earth levels, but the new format gives you a bunch of optional challenges where the enemy OKEs seem to have more cleverly designed programs. Defeating these challenges earns you challenge points that are used to buy new bodies, new weapons, and so on.

The story is kind of hilarious in that it's this thing that happens to be between chapters and precede the lessons; they are full of melodrama, but also happen to be completely, totally skippable if you would rather mess with robots and programming them. The lessons are their own separate thing.

 

[Tain]

Does that mean there are no tactics bits?

Does anyone know if the prior game (PSP 2006) had them?

 

[cj_iwakura]

Looks like the game has some gorgeous artwork.

 

[Takao]

Does that mean there are no tactics bits?

Does anyone know if the prior game (PSP 2006) had them?

Simply basing it off the name is appears Carnage Heart Portable was a port (remake?) of the first PS1 game. Seems Carnage Heart is actually a pretty long running series. There were a few entries on PS1 after the one that got localized.

 

[Alex Connolly]

The series going forward, or a spiritual successor, would be a great fit on Vita. Programming with the touch screen would be very welcome.

 

[Takao]

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/Carnage+Heart+EXA/review.asp?c=49658

Offering up genuinely unique gameplay, Carnage Heart EXA does what it sets out to do well. But because of that the rest of the game suffers - meaning most battles are slow and somewhat uninteresting affairs

Pocket Gamer - 7/10

 

[KDR_11k]

I want it anyway, I love tinkering with mechs. Though I like it more when I get to control my tinkered stuff directly, even if I have to build complicated control circuits to make that possible (see e.g. Zachtronics games). Unfortunately I live in Europe so I'll have to wait for TBD...

 

[Tain]

Anyone else playing this? I started it up after beating Infinite and am enjoying it a good amount. Still going through the lessons (super long).

I have no clue how to get my saved .avi replay off of my Vita, lol. I know how to get PSP games and saved games off of this thing, but it seems like PSP game data stored outside of the gamesaves folder is sort of lost.

And if I can't get it off here, does that mean my 200+mb .avi is just sitting there taking up space and cannot be deleted? Pretty lame if so!

 

[Nags]

Purchased this but barely dove into it past the tutorial phase.
I can tell this is right up my alley though. Will dedicate more time to this soon.

 

[19Kilo]

Finally getting into this. Still in the tutorials - so long and too much emphasis on manual controls, which I have no interest in. I can definitely see the potential though.

Story hasn't gone anywhere yet of course, hopefully it won't have me skipping through all the story bits later on.

While the programming was always my favorite part of the original game, I think I'm going to miss the strategic game and R&D elements. It definitely added to the game when you were balancing the production of cheap, simple OKEs while funding companies to research new weapons and components, then buying blueprints, making smarter programs, and finally getting your latest and greatest super-OKEs out to the front line.

Hopefully there's some aspect of a meta-game here, and not just a series of separate individual battles.

 

[Tain]

lol, nobody is playing this!

I finished the lessons some time ago, and it's blowing my mind that I can't tell how far into the game I am. If things are just getting started, this game is going to be dense as fuck with a lot of time spent in each chapter coming up with ideas, tweaking them, and often tossing them out the window.

Which is awesome. Just wish I could abort a mission like I can with Test programs.

 

[Sorc3r3r]

lol, nobody is playing this!

I can't: this is not out in pal-lands.
I loved carnage heart, spent a whole summer(it was a great summer ) on it years ago.

Now i'm waiting sony to release this on my vita....when?Can someone answer me?

 

[SomethingInTheSea]

I almost bought the ps1 game back in the day, so when it comes out in pal land I may bite.

 

[Takao]

Natsume is running a contest:

We’re challenging Carnage Heart EXA owners to beat the Natsume team for a sweet selection of prizes. Hop onto SATLOKE now at http://www.satloke.jp/en/ and register your team to fight against ours!



HOW TO ENTER

1. Follow the instructions under “Register” at http://www.satloke.jp/en/

2. Find the official Natsume Carnage Heart EXA team by clicking “Download Page”, and then download the Natsume Inc. team on the "Team Data Download" page. This is Localizer Adam’s crack team!

3. Take a screen shot (via your PSP, or if using a VITA via any external camera), upload it to your Facebook with your team name and send us a Facebook message us with the photo attached.



PRIZES

The first five entrants who provide proof they have defeated our team will be able to CHOOSE ONE of these awesome Natsume titles:

PS2 Classics (Note: Digital download codes will be given out, thus a PS3 and a US PSN account is required to play these titles.)

Chulip

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life SE

Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon

River King: A Wonderful Journey

Ruff Trigger: A Vanocore Conspiracy







RULES AND SUCH

a) Contest is open starting NOW, July 8th and will run until either five correct entries have been received OR Monday July 15th at 11:59pm PDT – whichever occurs first -- and is open to anyone over 16 with a US PSN account; Carnage Heart EXA is playable on both PSP and Vita.

b) Winners will be notified via the email used to submit entries. Natsume is not responsible for incorrect, misdirected, or incomplete entries.

c) Prizes will be awarded as-is; no substitutes will be offered. No delivery estimate is guaranteed.

d) All contest decisions are at the discretion of Natsume, Inc., and are final.

e) Employees of Natsume, their partners and their families, are not eligible for a prize.