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There was a single image that summed up this year's E3 perfectly, and with a little alteration it pretty much does the trick for Tokyo Game Show 2012 too. Whereas western developers seem transfixed with Naughty Dog's semi-interactive model, in Japan there's still a rush to emulate Monster Hunter's unending success. Every game announced at Sony's conference seemed to be about tackling huge beasts in expansive environments - a theme that carried through to many parts of the show floor itself. It wasn't the most spectacular of starts to the show's 17th year, and in truth it wasn't the most spectacular of shows. There's a sense that everyone's stuck in a generational limbo right now, and while it's untrue to say that Japan's games industry is in crisis (we'll have more on that in a future report), it's certainly as muted as anywhere else.
But away from the influx of card-battling games and the growing presence of mobile outfits (Gree took up a sizeable chunk of one of the halls, dwarfing Square Enix's booth, which somewhat miserably comprised of four large screens playing trailers on a loop while a large inflatable Chocobo floated idly above) there were still a selection of fascinating games. Some we knew about, some were fresh discoveries but most, sadly, may never make it outside of Japan. Still, here's a selection of some of the finest games to be found at this year's Tokyo Game Show.
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