Code Age Commanders

Code Age Commanders
Developer(s)	Square Enix
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Designer(s)	Akitoshi Kawazu (executive producer) Yusuke Naora (concept designer) Toshiyuki Itahana (director, character designer) Kumi Tanioka (composer)
Series	Code Age series
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	JPN 2005-10-13
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player

Code Age Commanders (コード・エイジ コマンダーズ) is a Japan-exclusive action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix on 2005-10-13 for the PlayStation 2. It is part of the Code Age series, a franchise created by video game artist Yusuke Naora and designed to span different interweaved titles in multiple platforms and media.

The story of the game depicts the struggles of people surviving in a fictional "intraglobular world" menaced by an impending destruction, mysterious warped creatures, and different factions warring against each other. The game focuses successively on the viewpoints of four main protagonists.

Critics of the game were relatively positive, with high praises of its graphics and art direction but more mixed feelings for its complex and atypical gameplay.

Gameplay

Code Age Commanders is an action role-playing game divided in missions, in which the goal is to fight enemies called "Coded" to reach a certain area of the map, where a boss must sometimes be defeated. The player controls one character while the other allies are computer-controlled and must not die for the mission to be completed. Between two missions, the player can select in a menu numerous optional cutscenes to watch and which reveal the memories of the Coded defeated, while stages already completed can be re-explored. The game features four successive main playable characters, and items and skills learned by one each time is passed to the next.

Gene battles against two enemies.

Weapons are equipped on both hands of the characters and are used with circle and cross buttons. Using both buttons in succession is necessary to execute combos. The other buttons are used to lock focus onto an enemy, guard, dash, or manually change the camera angle. The number of attacks and blocks is limited by an energy meter for each arm, which decreases after each move but replenishes with time.

A third meter increases after each combo and allows when maxed out to perform a "Code Drive" attack. Executed with the triangle button, a Code Drive triggers a brief close-up sequence in which a blue circle appears around the character. If the player presses a second button before the circle shifts to red, a powerful special attack will be unleashed. If the enemy blocks the Code Drive, a second, shorter close-up sequence is triggered. Enemies can also perform Code Drives, in which case the player's button press allows for protection rather than attack. Executing Code Drives frequently can cause the weapon used to upgrade, or the character to go into a "Code Crisis"; a mode which reduces speed and renders immune to attack, but slowly drains hit points.

Customization

In addition to Coded, enemy creatures include "Otellos", which can either be defeated normally or be absorbed, mutating the protagonist's arm into a new form with new abilities. Depending on their types, Otellos can be used to fight, heal or be shot as a projectile weapon. Multiple Otellos can be absorbed into each arm and switched for usage, although absorbing too many can result into an "Overload" mode in which attack is boosted, but one Otello must be dropped quickly or the character's hit points will decrease steadily and continually.

Characters do not level up in a way similar to standard role-playing games; instead, stats evolve according to two coexistent systems. The "Self Evolution System" alters stats and skills depending on their usage during battle: for instance, a repeated use of left-handed attacks increases the character's left arm strength, while running around often increases their speed. The second system is the "Code Extension" mode, in which Code Points can be spent on either of the two arms or up to four body slots to increase their stats or acquire new skills. Code Points are earned after each mission in amounts that depend on the quantity of "Dropped Code" collected from defeated enemies, as well as mission clear time, and damage done and taken. When replaying completed stages, the amount of Code Points earned is the difference between the mission's highest past score and the new one.

Plot

Setting

Code Age Commanders is set in an "intraglobular world" (球内世界, kyuunai sekai), a fictional hollow world similar to a Dyson sphere, with people living on its internal surface. The center of the sphere is occupied by the "Central Code", a spherical structure which goes through a transformation called "Rebirth" about every ten thousand years, destroying all life on the globe and allowing for the birth of a new one.

The game begins near the end of a Central Code cycle, while mankind has learned about the impending disaster and built the "Arc", a gigantic station intended to float in the sky and house most of them in a deep sleep state for the duration of the Rebirth. The operation works for one hundred years before objects fall from the Central Code hit the Arc and causes it to fall back to the surface, its passengers now at the mercy of those who remained on the ground as well as the Otellos; a new, warped species which arose from the dropped pieces of the Central Code. The Otellos seek humans to turn them into mindless puppets named "Coded", although the mutation fails on people from the Arc and results in free and extremely evolved hybrids called "War Heads".

Knowing this, several humans seek Otellos voluntarily, to become War Heads and try to protect mankind with the powers gained from the mutation. Several armed factions form with differing points of view on the way to save the world, while the Rebirth still hasn't been completed.

Characters

File:Code Age Commanders chara.jpg

From left to right: Kilroy, Aliz, Gene, Meme, and the mysterious Havel.

The events of the game unfolds successively from the viewpoints of four different War Head protagonists. The first one is Gene, a young man who becomes amnesic after the Arc accident. He is the son of professor Alvin, one of the builder of the Arc, who disappeared some time after the accident. While searching for his sister Aliz kidnapped by a strange creature, Gene is mutated into a War Head and watches his arm turning into a weapon during a battle against some Otellos. He is assisted by a small floating companion named Pake, and is later joined by Kilroy, a voluntary War Head who was an assistant to professor Alvin; and Meme, a mysterious but determined, optimistic young female War Head.

The second protagonist, Fiona, is a soldier of the White Army of Guinevere, who saved her life. Commander Guinevere was a female scientist who worked in the Arc with professor Alvin, and who became a voluntary War Head. Fiona is initially very loyal to Guinevere, but becomes more reluctant following the death of a friend and the commander's changing, more dominating behavior.

The third protagonist is Gerald, a member of the Black Army of Sullivan. Also very loyal, Gerald nevertheless wonders why people do not unite to face the common threat represented by the Otellos. Commander Sullivan was another companion of professor Alvin and Guinevere, and also became a War Head. His divergence of opinions with the White Army forced him to gather his own distinct army.

The fourth and final protagonist is Haze Healy, a member of the Keepers; a faction opposed to both White and Black Armies.

Development

Conceptual work by Yusuke Naora, the producer of the Code Age franchise, began in 2002; and Code Age Commanders was officially announced in the April 2005 edition of the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu. The development team was nicknamed "War Head" and specifically assembled for the game, with its lead developers Yusuke Naora and Toshiyuki Itahana belonging to the art field rather than project management. Several connections to the mobile phone game Code Age Brawls and the manga Code Age Archives were put throughout the game, so that information learnt from it could be used by players and readers of the other installments to understand the full picture.

The focus on customization features in the game were designed by Naora to appeal to the American market. A trailer of the game was featured at the Los Angeles E3 in 2005, although Naora later commented that a North American release date was not yet set as there were concerns about competiting with the soon-to-be-released PlayStation 3. While the gaming website RPGamer reporter at one time a 2006 release in North America, the game was eventually released in Japan only.

Audio

The score for the game was composed primarily by Kumi Tanioka, with Yasuhiro Yamanaka penning three tracks and J-Pop singer Kou Shibasaki writting and performing the theme song titled "Memory Pocket -Memopoke-". The non-optional event scenes of the game are fully voiced. The Code Age Commanders Original Soundtrack, which does not contain "Memory Pocket", was published by Square Enix on 2005-10-19 in Japan. It spans two discs and 80 tracks, covering a duration of 2 hours and 28 minutes. "Memory Pocket" was released as the B-side to Shibasaki's single Sweet Mom by Universal Music Group on 2005-10-05 in Japan, and was included in her second album Hitori Asobi published by Universal Music Group on 2006-12-14 in Japan.

Reception

Code Age Commanders scored 32 out of 40 in the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu and 78 out of 100 on the gaming website GameBrink.Com. Nevertheless, the gaming site Siliconera reported low sales in Japan and attributed the absence of a North American release to this lukewarm response.

GameBrink.Com highly praised the quality of the graphics and animation of the game, and compared them to those of the Kingdom Hearts titles. The site greatly lauded the music and sound effects, stating that they set the mood well and tie in with the visuals; and comparing their style to that of "Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star mixed together". Siliconera also considered the character design interesting and original, although they felt the textures were "blocky sort" and the environments consisted mostly of wide fields.

However, GameBrink.Com felt that the gameplay, user-friendly even to non-Japanese players, consists of too much repetitive button mashing despite featuring characters with different abilities. The Code Extension mode was considered unperfectly implemented, seeming as if it were "tacked on […] late in development", being totally optional yet difficult not to use to survive in the later missions. Calling the gameplay "shallow", the site stated that "the soundtrack would probably be a better purchase than the actual game". On its part, Siliconera noted that while the gameplay may seem complex for using every button of the controller, thirty minutes were enough to grasp how to play the game. The site felt the missions were designed with good pacing and replayability value, but added that hardcore role-playing game fans could dislike the lack of exploration, puzzle, and standard role-playing game principles.

The storyline was also criticized by GameBrink.Com for feeling secondary to the gameplay yet being told in long and numerous cutscenes; their amount was compared to that of the Xenosaga series. On the contrary, Siliconera praised the story and did not report any issue concerning it, although it regreted that playing and reading the other installments of the franchise was necessary for a thorough understanding of all plot points.

External links

• Code Age official website Template:Ja icon