Capcom's new IP, Dragon's Dogma now dated

If you remember back in April, Capcom's mystery game was revealed to be a new IP called Dragon's Dogma that gave us that Monster Hunter-ish gameplay where you go off to slay huge monsters.  Well the game has finally been dated and whether it's not you're kind of game or not, a new title is always good to experience.

March 27 , 2012 is the release for the US with a Europe release following right after on May 1, 2012.If you've seen footage of the game when it was released, I'm sure you're also with me that this game is the one to look out for on 2012. Dragon's Dogma will be set in a fantasy world were you get to roam around the world, hunt down monsters with a group of NPC characters and on a quest to retrieve your heart stolen by a Dragon. Yes, I have no idea how that works but hunting for a dragon always sounds good. This will be an open-world game with Capcom revealing it to be around 30-100 hours long depending if you're a side quest junkie.

The key feature with this game is the ability to climb on this huge monsters.Inspired by Shadow of Collossus(must play btw), instead of just hacking away  on creatures side, you climb on to either it's back, wing or head to deal significant damage.  Clinging on a flying Gryphon to stop it from flying away with the help of your AI companions is what makes it unique from other games. I like this direction since the player get's to experience the full encounter of facing a huge monster.

The biggest question is, why no online co-op? With a game like this, it would seem rather ideal to place that as an option, even a main focus. Sadly, with regards to online capabilities - the only thing you can do online is grab other player's characters to be used as one of your AI controlled buddies. Hopefully they surprise us in the end that we can actually play this with a friend, but with the March release, seems unlikely.

Most triple titles are either a sequel or a game that has a number right after its title, especially this year. That's good and all but I actually prefer fresh titles coming out more often. To have a good mix of the well known and the unknown. Wouldn't you want to take a risk and surprise yourself on how blown away you were? or prefer to play it safe and purchase a title that you know will be worth you're while? Depends, I know. With games priced at the standard $59.99 or PHP 2,000+ range, playing it safe is the preferred choice for most nowadays  which is why most company's stick with what works if they find that golden title. Is Dragon's Dogma worth the risk though? I definitely think so.