Coded Arms

Coded Arms

North American box art
Developer(s) Konami
Publisher(s) Konami
Platform(s) PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)
  • JP June 23, 2005
  • NA July 6, 2005
  • EU September 23, 2005
  • AUS September 16, 2005
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution UMD

Coded Arms is a first-person shooter video game that was developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation Portable handheld in 2006. Tentatively it was titled "Exploration Based Horror FPS".[1]

Plot

Late in the 21st century, advancements in medical and computer technology allow for linear connectivity of human minds to computer networks, causing an unprecedented boom in computer hackers. The game takes place inside a virtual reality military training simulator named "AIDA" which has since been long-abandoned. However, the program continues to run, generating enemies and levels for the no longer present soldiers-in-training. The player takes the role of one of the many hackers attempting to break the codes of the simulator and extract the most valuable data possible for fame and profit. To do this, the player must explore several "sectors" that are infested with various kinds of enemies, including soldiers, security bots, giant bugs and other insect and plant-like creatures. The only way to survive and reap the greatest rewards is by reaching the Kernel database, destroying the enemies and the bosses at the end of each sector. The game's intro cutscene informs the hacker/player that hacking too deeply into unknown non-civilian protocols with what seem to be homebrew hacking tools carries the risk of contracting a medical condition called the "Achiba Syndrome", and warns them that upon infection that they 'will not be able to return' - presumably meaning their consciousness will become corrupted or otherwise lost and their minds will not be able to return to their bodies in the real world.

First, the player (in the chronological order of the map menu layout) arrives at what seems to be an underground city filled with snipers, drones and some insect-like creatures that are presumably analogues of computer viruses. After completing the City map, the player arrives at the "Base" map (described in-game as an abandoned mine site in an alien planetary colony). There, like the City, the player battles through a 6-floor map in order to get to the Kernel and defeat the level's boss. Upon making their way through the Base, the player will have to travel through the "Ruins" map to complete Sector 1 Training - unlike the past maps, this map contains a majority of insect and flora-like enemies and at points appears to be of Egyptian or Aztec influence. After making their way through the Ruins, the player will hack into a new and more dangerous sector called "Sector 2 Training". Like the previous maps they are also named City, Base and Ruins but possess shifts in visuals throughout progression - for example, Sector 2 City is at first almost identical to Sector 1 City, but about halfway through the art style and decoration immediately shift to a more Japanese aesthetic (interestingly, Sector 2 City is the only map to have a visible sky) - Sector 2 Base changes from an exposed, industrial warehouse look to a colder military outpost with what appear to be cryogenic pods and computer databases that can be destroyed, and Sector 2 Ruins changes to a darker and much more technologically-advanced ruin.

Upon defeating what appears to be the final boss and collecting all upgrades and special weapons, the player is given access the simulator's root Kernel. However, the simulator malfunctions and electrocutes the hacker's body in reality. After the credits end, it is revealed that the hacker survived and became infected with the Achiba Syndrome, trapping their consciousness inside AIDA permanently and forcing them to survive infinite amount of levels in the game's final Sector: "Infinity".

Gameplay

Features

Equipment

In Coded Arms, equipment is acquired from defeated enemies. Because the game takes place in a computer program, the equipment and pickups are named with extensions, much like in a conventional computer.

Weapons, grenades and armor are obtained by picking up files in the game. All of the weapons and grenades can be upgraded by picking up a certain amount of Opt_Key.upg files (The amount varies from weapon to weapon). The players health starts the game at 100, but can be increased by picking up HX.upg files which increase your health limit by 10 up to a maximum of 250.

Attributes

All of the weapons and armour in Coded Arms have one of five different attributes. The available attributes are: physical, electrical, light, fire and viral. Certain attributes are more effective against certain enemies. For instance, bots can be overloaded by weapons with the electrical attribute and bugs usually dwell in the dark so light weapons do the most damage to them. The enemies in Coded Arms also use weapons with different attributes and therefore one can get certain types of armor that are resistant to attacks of a certain type. For instance the Optical Jacket (Opt_JKT.dfn) is resistant to weapons with the light attribute.

Game Progression

A user progresses through the game by completing sectors. Sector 00 consists of one battlefield (Training) with 3 levels that serve to familiarize the user with the game. Sector 01 consists of three battlefields (City, Base and Ruins) and each battlefield has 6 levels. Sector 02 also has three battlefields consisting of 13 levels each with a boss at the 13th level of each battlefield. Sector 03 consists of one battlefield (Infinity) which has an unlimited amount of levels to it. The difficulty of the game increases as the user progresses through the sectors. All of the levels in the game are randomly generated when you access them.

Bosses

In Coded Arms there are three different bosses which are detailed as follows. They are Enforcer, Mantis and Colossus. Each of them are encountered in the end of a battlefield in Sector 02. Defeating all three of them concludes the "story" part of the game, but leads to the "infinity", Sector 03.

In addition to appearing on the final levels of each battlefield in Sector 02, each boss also appears in every thirtieth level in Sector 03 Infinity with Mantis first appearing on level 10, Enforcer on level 20 and Colossus on level 30. After level 30 the cycle repeats itself with Mantis on level 40, Enforcer on level 50 and so on. Also each time you encounter a boss in Sector 03 Infinity the boss’ difficulty increases.

Other enemies also assist the bosses on later levels, such as snipers with Mantis, bombers when fighting Enforcer and exploding bugs with Colossus when fighting in Sector 03 Infinity and above.

Mantis

Mantis is a giant bug that first appears first in the final level of Sector 02 Ruins. Mantis is considered a bug type enemy and is therefore vulnerable to weapons with the light attribute such as the Laser Pistol (Laser_PSTL.arm), Pulse Rifle (Pulse_RFL.arm) and the Photon Machine Gun (Photon_MG.arm). Additionally, this boss is affected by the Honeypot.cbx, a grenade which attracts the attention of any bug or insect-type enemy. This boss will be attracted to the grenade and become completely immobile until the grenade effect wears off or is hit powerfully by a weapon such as the shotgun, or the Plasma_LCH.arm grenade launcher. Automatic weapons are also extremely effective against Mantis.

Enforcer

Enforcer is a robot with rocket thrusters that first appears on the final level of Sector 02 City. Enforcer is considered a bot type enemy and is therefore vulnerable to weapons with the electrical type attribute such as the Bolt Pistol (Bolt_PSTL.arm), Bolt Launcher (Bolt_LCH.arm) and the Judgement (Judgement.arm). In addition Enforcer is effected by the Chaff Grenade (Chaff_GRE.cbx) and by using it Enforcer can be quite harmless. It should be noted, however that this boss retains a degree of mobility which can make it difficult to get a clean shot.

Colossus

Colossus is a huge towering enemy five floors tall that makes his first appearance in the final level of Sector 02 Base. Colossus is considered to be the hardest boss in the game. It is most vulnerable to weapons with the physical attribute such as the Pistol (PSTL.arm), Assault Rifle (Assault_RFL.arm) and the Shotgun (Shotgun.arm).

Reception

Reception of the game among reviewers has been mixed.[2] While it was praised as innovative[3] and for having some of the best visuals on the PSP,[4] it received criticism due to a lack of character development, poor enemy AI in the single-player mode, and bad controls.[5]

Despite the critics' mixed reviews, the game has gained a cult-following and is considered by many as the best FPS for the PSP console.

Sequels

A sequel, Coded Arms: Contagion, was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2007.[6]

A PlayStation 3 sequel was also planned under the working title Coded Arms: Assault, but was canceled. It was shown at 2006 E3.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/psp/action/explorationbasedhorrorfps/video/6098763/exploration-based-horror-fps-working-title-gameplay-movie-1
  2. ↑ http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/920834.asp
  3. ↑ http://psp.ign.com/articles/632/632225p1.html
  4. ↑ http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=psp&game=codedarms
  5. ↑ http://psp.gamespy.com/playstation-portable/psp-fps-untitled/632737p1.html
  6. ↑ http://www.creatstudio.com/games/ca2.html#

External links

Official sites