What else is there to say about Pragmata? We recently had the opportunity to play an extended gameplay demo of the upcoming Capcom shooter, and we still think it’s D’s knees. (D for Diana, the little android girl who’s on your back. Geddit?! Whatever.)
The point is this is probably the most unique third-person shooter we’ve played since Vanquish – certainly at least Binary Domain.
We’d really encourage you to read our previous preview, but just to recap: you’re Hugh, a hulking yet surprisingly nimble spaceman, who’s revived by the aforementioned Diana. The AI infant, who’s inexplicably barefooted, turns out to be a competent hacker, and so shootouts mix all-out attack with Pipe Mania-style mini-puzzles.
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We can’t emphasise enough how much we love this loop, even after playing much of the same demo a second time.
So what about the new bits, then? Well, we got to fight a boss: a lumping hunk of a mech that wouldn’t look out of place in an anime like Gundam.
With tools like the stasis net unlocked at this point – a kind of orb that stuns enemies to the spot – we were able to launch numerous hack attacks on the mechanical monster, shredding its defences and opening it up to shotgun blasts.
About halfway through the battle, the game decides to embrace every ounce of its anime inspiration, as the foe fires off about 15 heat-seeking missiles into the air and Hugh leaps into the screen calling it a “b*stard”.
So we hacked it a bit more, fired off a few more shots, and watched it explode. Brilliant. We can’t wait to play it again.
No, but seriously, we really do think Pragmata is a lot of fun. Did we learn a whole lot more about the game from this expanded hands-on? No, not really – but we will say we’re not tired of the loop yet, and we hold this game in very high regard. We’re really looking forward to the full campaign.
