428: Shibuya Scramble

428: Shibuya Scramble
English key art
Developer(s) Chunsoft
Abstraction Games (PS4/Win)
Publisher(s)
Director(s) Jiro Ishii[2]
Designer(s) Kōichi Nakamura
Composer(s) Hideki Sakamoto[3]
Platform(s) Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable,[1] iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
Release Wii
  • JP: December 4, 2008
PlayStation 3
  • JP: September 3, 2009
PlayStation Portable
  • JP: September 17, 2009
iOS, Android
  • JP: November 3, 2011
PlayStation 4
  • NA: September 4, 2018
  • JP: September 6, 2018
  • EU: September 21, 2018
Microsoft Windows
  • WW: September 4, 2018
Genre(s) Adventure, visual novel
Mode(s) Single-player

428: Shibuya Scramble[lower-alpha 1] is a visual novel adventure video game designed by Kōichi Nakamura and directed by Jiro Ishii, developed by Nakamura's company Chunsoft, and published by Sega, originally in Japan for the Wii on December 4, 2008. The game was ported by Spike to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable in September 2009.[1] A version for iOS and Android was released in November 2011.[4] A PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows version was released in September 2018.

428 is set in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo where the narrative is presented using a combination of scrolling text, live action stills and video sequences. The game shares many story and gameplay elements with Chunsoft's 1998 sound novel game Machi, the most prominent being the locale, Shibuya. Although Chunsoft does not openly state 428 is a sequel, the game contains numerous references to Machi, and an early marketing slogan reads "Breaking a long silence, Shibuya gets going again."

The game has received high praise from critics, earning a perfect score in Famitsu Weekly, Japan's largest circulating video game magazine. The game also features a special scenario contributed by Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi of Type-Moon fame, who wrote and provided character designs for them respectively. This scenario by Type-Moon got a sequel as an anime television series titled Canaan, which aired in Japan from July to September 2009.[5] A series of four novels based on the game were published by Kodansha between the months of September and December 2009.[6]

Gameplay

428 is a visual novel adventure game where players take part in events from the perspectives of multiple protagonists, all acting in parallel with no knowledge of each other. Set in the modern Japanese city of Shibuya, Tokyo, the characters are involved in a mystery that cannot be solved without their interactions, and the plot is advanced by following clues found within the game's text and accompanying video sequences and making decisions on which path each protagonist should follow. Depending on the player's choices, a number of new scenarios become available, which ultimately lead to different outcomes and endings.[7] The game has over a hundred alternate story pathways and 87 different possible endings.[8][9]

Parallel gameplay mechanic

Players read through and switch between multiple stories that take place in the same timeframe, each seen from a different character's point of view. Decisions made in one character's story can inadvertently affect the story of another character in unforeseen ways. The format is similar to earlier non-linear visual novels with multiple perspectives, such as Machi (1998)[10] and Eve Burst Error (1995),[11] and can also be compared to non-linear hyperlink films such as Pulp Fiction (1994), Magnolia (1999) or Vantage Point (2008).

For instance, the game opens with a detective (protagonist #1) waiting for a kidnapper to pick up the ransom money, which is being carried by a girl. Another character, a young man out for a walk (protagonist #2), happens to encounter the scene. Protagonist #2 now has a choice to approach the ransom-carrying girl or not; If he approaches, his story reaches a dead end by being wrongfully arrested, but not only that, the detective's story also reaches a dead end by making the wrongful arrest.[12]

The player's role is to figure out whose actions are affecting whom, and find the right choices to lead every protagonist to the conclusions of their storylines. The game offers a time chart screen where the events of all the protagonists' stories are listed in chronological order.

Blue-colored text is interspersed within the body text. The colored text, called Tips, can be selected with the controller like a hyperlink. Tips, when selected, provide a short page of explanatory text, much like a tooltip. Tips can reveal the definition of a technical term, provide some insight on the topic, or just provide a short digression from the story at hand. Red-colored text, also selectable, marks the name of a different protagonist and allows the player to jump from one protagonist to another. Jumping from red text is often the only way to make a character's story move forward.

The game unfolds in a ten-hour period, which begins at 10:00AM of April 28 and ends at 8:00PM. The game is broken up into one-hour segments. Leading every protagonist to the end of the hour unlocks the next hour to be played.

Story

A major event that could jolt the world has been triggered in the streets of Shibuya. Five main characters have 10 hours to come together and solve the mystery behind what originally seemed like an ordinary ransom kidnap case.

Characters

  • Achi Endo (遠藤 亜智, Endō Achi)
A man who loves Shibuya more than any anyone else, Achi is the former head of S.O.S., the most influential street clan in Shibuya. He has since left S.O.S. and now spends his days cleaning up the streets and picking up trash. During his daily street cleaning routine, he encounters and saves a girl who is nearly shot by a man with a gun.
  • Shinya Kano (加納 慎也, Kanō Shin'ya)
A young detective from the Shibuya Police Department, Kano is one of the detectives assigned to a stakeout involving Hitomi, a young woman whose twin sister Maria was kidnapped for ransom. The kidnapper had specified Hitomi to bring the money to a handoff location outside of Shibuya Station. When the criminal shows up and runs off with the money, Kano takes chase.
  • Kenji Osawa (大沢 賢治, Ōsawa Kenji)
A virus expert and the father of Hitomi and Maria Osawa. As the lab director of Okoshi Pharmaceutical, Osawa leads a hermit-like life. A week after his US business trip, he receives a series of mysterious e-mails that indicate someone had conducted an unauthorized clinical trial of an antiviral drug he had been researching.
  • Minoru Minorikawa (御法川 実, Minorikawa Minoru)
A hot headed freelance writer, Minorikawa receives a desperate phone call from his former superior, Toyama. Toyama, now the president of a small publishing company, was swamped in debt and now forced to complete the latest issue of his magazine in a single day. Minorikawa offers to help finish the magazine.
  • Tama (タマ)
A mysterious person in a cat suit. Tama, a person of unknown identity, is working inside a cat suit as a by-the-day temp worker in order to buy a certain object she found at a general store. She begins her work of promoting a diet drink, "Burning Hammer."[13]
She plays herself, a musician named Aya Kamiki, who appears over the course of the game.

Release

The Wii version was later released under Nintendo's "Everyone’s Recommendation Selection" line of budget titles.[14]

The game was later ported to the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 and released in September 2009. A version for iOS was released in November 2011.

Spike Chunsoft released the game in English for the PlayStation 4 in North America on September 4, 2018 and worldwide for Microsoft Windows on the same day; Koch Media plan to release the PlayStation 4 version in Europe on September 21 in a partnership with Spike Chunsoft.[15] David Kracker, a localization director at Spike Chunsoft, "made it [his] mission" to localize the game when he joined the company.[16] Netherlands-based Abstraction Games handled the porting process. Kajiya Productions provided the localization script with Kevin Frane as translator and Alexander O. Smith as editor.[17][16]

Music

The singer Aya Kamiki is in charge of the theme song the game and it is entitled Sekai wa Sore Demo Kawari wa Shinai (世界はそれでも変わりはしない). The single is released on December 3, 2008. The music video features some scenes of the game.

Aya Kamiki participated in the promotion of the game at Shibuya where she performed the theme song on December 4, 2008.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic84/100[18]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Famitsu40/40[19]
GameSpot8/10[20]
IGN8/10[21]

428 was well received by critics.[18] Famitsu gave it a perfect 40/40 score, making it the ninth game to receive one since the magazine's inception in 1986. It is also the only visual novel to receive a perfect score, and the second of five Wii games to receive it, the others being Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Monster Hunter Tri, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. This is unprecedented in Famitsu history as it marks the first time that two games released on the same video game system received perfect scores within the same year. The game additionally won the publication's Dramatic Prize for its 2008 awards.[22]

The Wii version of 428 was the eighth best-selling game in Japan during its week of release, selling 34,000 units.[23] Year-end sales of the game totalled 53,315 units.[24]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de (428 〜封鎖された渋谷で〜, lit. 428: In a Blockaded Shibuya)

References

  1. 1 2 3 Spencer (July 1, 2009). "428 Breaks Wii Barricade, Escapes To PSP And PS3". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2009-07-05. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  2. ↑ Gifford, Kevin (April 11, 2009). "Kojima Reflects on Snatcher, Adventure Games: A look back at the wilder days of game development". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  3. ↑ jeriaska (March 21, 2009). "Sound Current: 'Traversing Castlevania's Musical Timeline with Noisycroak'". GameSetWatch. Archived from the original on 25 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
  4. ↑ Lada, Jenni. "Japan Import: An updated version of 428: Fusa Sareta Shibuya de headed to iOS". Technologytell.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "【TGS2008】「428 the animation」TYPE-MOON監修シナリオ、TVアニメに". 2008-10-12. Archived from the original on 26 January 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  6. ↑ Ishaan (August 23, 2009). "428 Getting the Novel Treatment". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  7. ↑ "SEGA/428 ～封鎖された渋谷で～" (in Japanese). Chunsoft. 2008. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  8. ↑ "428: Shibuya Scramble (PS4) Review". GamePitt. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  9. ↑ "428 - The greatest experiment in non-linear story telling". Destructoid. 2009-12-17. Archived from the original on 2012-11-06. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  10. ↑ Ray Barnholt. "The Weird World of Japanese "Novel" Games". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-20. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  11. ↑ Commodore Wheeler. "EVE Burst Error". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 2011-12-14. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  12. ↑ "Wii.com JP - 『428』とは？". Archived from the original on 29 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  13. ↑ "SEGA/428 ～封鎖された渋谷で～　登場人物". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  14. ↑ Spencer (January 20, 2010). "Nintendo Channel Voters Pick Budget Wii Games". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
  15. ↑ Romano, Sal (2018-08-06). "428: Shibuya Scramble launches September 21 in Europe, Fire Pro Wrestling World on September 28". Gematsu. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  16. 1 2 "{title}". Archived from the original on 2018-08-07. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  17. ↑ Lada, Jenni. "Spike Chunsoft Localizing 428: Shibuya Scramble". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2017-03-03. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  18. 1 2 https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/428-shibuya-scramble
  19. ↑ "New Games Cross Review". Weekly Famitsu (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Enterbrain, Inc.: 25 2008-11-26.
  20. ↑ Kemps, Heidi (September 12, 2018). "428: Shibuya Scramble Review - When Fates Collide". GameSpot.
  21. ↑ "428: Shibuya Scramble". IGN (in Italian). October 2, 2018.
  22. ↑ Graft, Kris (April 24, 2009). "Famitsu Awards Name Kojima 'Person of the Year'". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  23. ↑ Jenkins, David (December 11, 2008). "Japanese Charts: Layton Holds Onto Lead As Fallout 3 Hits". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  24. ↑ "GEIMIN.NET／2008年テレビゲームソフト売り上げTOP500（ファミ通版）". Geimin.net. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  • Official website (in Japanese)
  • "428: Shibuya Scramble". The Visual Novel Database.
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