Obscusion B-Side: Cybernetic Empire: Wolf Team's Last Stand with Telenet

Founded in October of 1983, Telenet Japan was a Japanese video game developer that got its start on Japanese PCs of the time, but would become most well known from the late 80s up through the mid-90s, when it released a wide variety of games from its various subsidiaries, like Reno (which would be the namesake of its North American division, Renovation Products), its successor Riot, & Shin Nihon Laser Soft. This resulted in games like the Cosmic Fantasy Series, Last/Red Alert, the XZR/Exile Series, & the cult classic Gaiares, as well as ports of other companies' titles, like Ys III (Genesis version), the Xak Series (PC-Engine CD version), & even Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (PC version). Easily the most iconic subsidiary of Telenet, though, was the "Game Creative Staff" at Wolf Team, which was founded in 1986 before going independent in 1987 under Masahiro Akishino's leadership, only to then become a Telenet subsidiary again in 1990 after disputes with Akishino lead to him leaving & founding J-Force (which is its own story altogether). In 1993 Telenet merged all of its subsidiaries together into Wolf Team, which itself lead to staff leaving & founding Media.Vision (Wild Arms) & the now-defunct Neverland Company (Lufia & Rune Factory) and Media Entertainment (Strahl). While Wolf Team's games weren't always the most polished, much like most of Telenet's output, they were still filled with tons of personality & charm, not to mention excelleny music, which has allowed the likes of El Viento, Earnest Evans, Granada, Arcus Odyssey, & the Final Zone & Valis Series (which were both started by Wolf Team) to remain in people's minds to this very day.

However, things would change in late 1995 with a Super Famicom RPG called Tales of Phantasia...

Based on an unpublished novel titled Tale Phantasia that was written by Wolf Team's Yoshiharu Gotanda, the studio had grand ambitions with this RPG, so much so that the studio felt that Telenet itself wasn't the right choice for publisher, due to a mix of already rough relations with the company & the fact that Telenet wasn't the same, financially, by this point. In fact, following Tokyo Twilight Busters for the PC-98 earlier in mid-1995, Telenet would almost exclusively publish pachinko, pachislot, & mahjong games until the early 00s, when it'd then publish two golf games for GameCube & PS2, and then sully the Valis & Arcus names with porn spin-offs, before dying in 2007. Wolf Team would eventually find a publisher for its Super Famicom RPG in Namco, though conflicts both internally & with Namco would result in a bunch of staff, including Gotanda himself, leaving to found tri-Ace after Tales of Phantasia's release, leading to the creation of Star Ocean. Afterwards, Wolf Team would live out the rest of its life developing Tales games, before Namco would become majority owner of the studio in early 2003, renaming it Namco Tales Studio (which itself died in 2012, after merging with Bandai Namco Studios), with the last game to ever bear the Wolf Team name being Tales of Destiny 2 for the PS2 (i.e. the real ToD2, not Tales of Eternia) in late 2002. However, there is one non-gambling title from Telenet Japan from the late 90s... and it's also Wolf Team's last non-Tales video game.

On August 5, 1999, in between the releases of the PS1 remake of Tales of Phantasia in 1998 & Tales of Eternia (i.e. "Tales of Destiny II") in 2000, Wolf Team & Telenet teamed up one last time for Cybernetic Empire, a "3D Action Adventure" game for the PlayStation that featured character designs by Akihito Yoshitomi, who at the time was serializing the manga Eat-Man; Telenet often hired mangaka to do character designs for its games, like Nobuteru Yuki & Kazutoshi Yamane. Ironically, two months earlier, Konami's Gungage came out on PS1 in Japan, which also featured Yoshitomi designs, though Yoshitomi actually shares the copyright with Telenet's release. Cybernetic Empire would be the last game to feature the Wolf Team logo on the cover & during start-up, though modified from its original design, but is almost never brought up when the studio is discussed, with most talk of Wolf Team being split between its early 90s output & its pre-buyout Tales games. Is Cybernetic Empire any good, and is it truly representative, in any way, of the old Wolf Team/Telenet days of yore during a post-Tales time? Let's find out.

Maximilliano "Max" Brougham & Nina Lebedeva are two operatives for the counter-terrorist team UNSK (United Nations Security Keepers), who along with their partner Row Woodfield are being put on a series of missions involving EririSite, a conglomerate whose Dr. Haruka Toudou & Dr. Anna Jacobs have uncovered a device known only as "The Cube", which Max & Nina are put in charge of reclaiming & bringing back to UNSK HQ in Circle Tokyo. Also trying to get its hands on The Cube, though, is a terrorist organization lead by a man known only as "Black Mask", with his soldiers all seemingly being cyborg-like beings called "Amplitrons", which can only be killed at close range after being downed. What exactly is The Cube, and why does Black Mask want it so badly?

In a few ways, Cybernetic Empire can feel like a game stuck between two eras of 3D action/platforming games, and one of the biggest is in its controls. For example, you have two types of movement options to use: Type A & Type B. Type A utilizes "tank controls", ala Resident Evil, only without fixed camera angles, so the camera will spin around with you to try to stay behind Max & Nina; it sounds awkward, but it really isn't. Type B, though, utilizes a more "modern" control scheme in which your character will in whatever direction you press. As for the face buttons, both  &  let Max & Nina run when held, while  also acts as a general interaction button (activating consoles, picking up items, etc.),  is for jumping & climbing up ledges (though you have be up against a wall first to climb, so no grabbing a ledge after a running leap, unfortunately), while  puts you into an attack stance, and holding  while in that stance fires your currently equipped weapon. You are allowed to equip two weapons at once, with Select swapping between them, while Start brings up your menu, where you can pick which weapons are equipped, use consumable items (like health packs & dummies for distracting foes), check the map for guidance, & save at any point, which is handy. Meanwhile, pressing L2 does an instant 180° turn (only with Type A, though), while L1 allows you lock on to foes while in attack mode, as well as adjust the camera while holding it down. Cybernetic Empire does also support the Dual Shock controller, so you get vibration & analog control, though the left analog stick isn't ideal for movement, as it doesn't take much to go straight into running (and making anything other than sharp turns is tricky), while the right stuck only allows for up & down camera angling, regardless of movement type. Remember, despite Sony offering two analog sticks on the PS1, the idea of modern camera control on an analog stick wouldn't really become standardized until the following generation. Because of those, I honestly wound up using just the D-pad & preferring Type A, as the tank controls really do feel like what the game was designed around, while Type B was included simply because games of this ilk started using that scheme more, even if it doesn't exactly feel like the intended scheme here.

The "main attraction", however, comes in the form of R1 & R2, which controls the game's primary gimmick: "Tractor Action" (as the back cover calls it). By holding R2 you can aim to shoot out an anchor point, within a certain range, to pretty much any surface, & letting go shoots it. With an anchor point in place, holding R1 activates the tractor tether, which will pull you towards the anchor, and upon touching the point it disappears. However, the anchor point & tractor tether also follow some sense of physics & momentum, which is where the real fun comes into play. For example, you can resist some of the magnetic pull of the tether by holding back, and by doing that with a lateral direction you can wrap your way around something, like a wall that divides a room or section into two parts, via centripetal force, and since you gain momentum through this you also continue moving for a little bit after you disengage the tether. Likewise, you can jump just before activating the tether, and by timing it correctly you can launch yourself up to ledges you normally wouldn't be able to jump or climb up to. There's definitely a learning curve in figuring out how to properly use Cybernetic Empire's gimmick, and the inability to grab ledges unless you're already up against a wall does limit things, but this is seriously an outstanding little gimmick that the game gives you rather early into the story, and it's a shame that few really know of this fun little mechanic. Unfortunately, the game doesn't always allow you to take advantage of this mechanic, as some locations are way too enclosed for it to even be used in any way. Also, more annoyingly, the anchor point dissipating upon touch is way too harsh of a punishment, so if you mess up you risk falling down far, which causes damage & can kill you, unless you manage to find a suit that negates falls damage, but that's not for a while. Still, this is a concept that absolutely feels very Wolf Team in both concept & execution.

Moving on to the overall game flow, Cybernetic Empire is meant to flow sort of like a TV anime series, so after clearing a stage you get an eyecatch-like image before moving on to the next stage, and most stages have their own self-contained part of the story, at least for the first half. The in-game timer even stopped just shy of 6 hours for my full playthrough, i.e. roughly the total time for a 12-episode TV series, so I'd argue that Wolf Team nailed that concept perfectly. This results in stuff like Max & Nina making their way through a Russian base, Max needing make his way to the front a train that's under attack by Black Mask's forces (including getting across flatbed cars while a helicopter is shooting at him!), Nina disarming bombs in a mansion (& then fighting the bomber himself, as a boss fight), rescuing soldiers at a factory, protecting The Cube when it's on a freighter that's attacked by terrorists, etc.. The end result, then, are stages that are a mix of slower-paced exploring & platforming sections & areas where you have to take on enemies, though the only time combat is essential is during the occasional boss fight (which doesn't even happen in every stage). Speaking of combat, while there are smaller foes that can be simply shot to death (bats, dogs, etc.), the majority of enemies you fight actually require some strategy & planning, at least in the sense of "You need to know what to do to defeat them".

The Amplitrons that act as Black Mask's general forces, for example, actually require you to first take them down to one knee by hurting them enough, followed by you walking right up next to them, upon which your character will then aim down, & only then can you actually finish them off; they also come in human size (who only need one or two shots to finish) & giants (who need many more shots). Thankfully, checking Amplitrons with  after killing them will always gives you some ammo & recovers 20% health, which is nice. Meanwhile, there's a turtle-like robot that first requires flipping over with an explosive, upon which you can shoot their exposed belly to blow up, four-legged sentry bots that can't be shot & need explosions to destroy, mini drones that can be shot but will make a beeline for you before exploding, & flying drones that have shields around them & can only be defeated from above or below (or an explosion), among just general stage hazards (usually bombs) & various one-off enemies, which results in you actually needing to use your entire arsenal at some point or another, and it's a rather extensive one; your handgun, machine gun, or shotgun can handle most foes, but they can't do everything on their own. As for bosses, it does feel a little like Wolf Team took some slight inspiration from Metal Gear Solid, as they can be a bit of a kooky bunch. There's Amos, a bomb fanatic who you first fight in a small room as he lobs grenades at you, and then in a second fight later on pilots a giant loader mech, almost like a mini Metal Gear Rex (though all his offense is physical)! Then there's Adder, a sort-of-psychic who can shoot out energy blasts of various types, controls a quartet of floating drones, & usually has an energy shield around him, resulting in you only having short periods where you can actually shoot him; he definitely feels like a slight Psycho Mantis knock-off. Third is Archer, a femme fatale who dual wields a machine gun & grenade launcher; you fight her in an enclosed area with a fountain in the middle. Finally, there's Black Mask himself, who pulls out a freaking beam sword to fight you. Also, as an aside, Nina's final fight is with a helicopter decked out with chainguns, flamethrowers, & rocket launchers that you slowly take out one at a time, before you can finally shoot the hull to death; you can also do all of this with just a handgun, so take that, Solid Snake!

As for the plot of Cybernetic Empire, it's honestly a tale of two discs. Disc 1, which contains the first six stages (of roughly 10 or 11), is admittedly kind of standard fare for the genre. Max, Nina, & Row deal with various missions, occasionally take on Black Mask's lackeys, protect The Cube & meet the supporting cast (Dr. Anna, Dr. Haruka, etc.), who honestly don't play much of a role other than helping explain certain things or needing to be rescued. However, Disc 2 is where things get absolutely bonkers. After the 8th stage, which is easily the longest one of them all (& admittedly a bit of a slog), you get a cutscene where Nina touches The Cube's container, out of curiosity, where she sees images of planets & even what's essentially an equivalent to The Star Child from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Afterwards, we finally get an explanation for what The Cube is, though without any English translation I can only understand so much of it, but from what I could tell it's essentially an object from outer space that's so utterly powerful that it could literally destroy the world if put in the wrong hands. Also, after beating Stage 9, where you activate an emergency exit for the populace when Black Mask's forces make a final attack on Circle Tokyo, there's a cutscene where Row sees his own boss & the Leader of Circle Tokyo just straight up gun down fleeing citizens... only to then have themselves gunned down by a helicopter piloted by Black Mask's forces; also, one of the supporting cast betrays everyone right before the final battle, if you want more twists. Yeah, from somewhat out of nowhere the plot goes from "UN special agents taking on an evil terrorist organization" to "The fate of the world is at stake, because of an interstellar weapon that humanity only barely understands", and the story just kind of gets even more bonkers for the finale; I'm sure if this game had a proper translation I'd understand things better. That said, however, some Wolf Team games have had that kind of drastic escalation & downright madness in their plots, like El Viento seeing Al Capone get involved in resurrecting an evil god, or pretty much any entry in the Tales Series, which mostly start off simple & wind up escalating wildly.

I mean, the final boss of Cybernatic Empire is literally a giant, bleeding heart representing Black Mask's darkness, brought to form by The Cube, that Max shoots to death... That is 150%, Grade A Wolf Team bonkers, and I absolutely love it.

Visually, Cybernetic Empire is honestly a pretty damn ambitious game for the PS1, to the point where it sometimes feels like the game can barely keep it all together intact. There's a focus on giving some really nice detail (for the time & hardware, at least), whether it's in character models or just in the environments themselves, helping make each character or location feel more fleshed out, though Wolf Team stopped shy of going for actual lip flaps while talking; for the best, I feel. In-game cutscenes happen more often than you'd expect, complete with pre-set camera movements to help go for a more cinematic feel, too. Even the frame rate is relatively stable, no doubt helped by relying on segmented rooms to reduce processing strain; that said, it likely only maxes out at 30 fps, & probably for the best. Unfortunately, the PS1's notorious texture warping can result in the environments looking a little wonky at points, moving the camera in certain ways against walls can let you see spots you normally shouldn't, & Wolf Team went with a heavy dithering effect over everything, likely in an attempt to fake some extra detail; it likely works on a CRT, as intended, but on a modern display results in something you just get used to. Still, you can definitely see Wolf Team trying to do stuff visually in-engine that Hideo Kojima & his team at Konami almost made look easy with MGS, and I'd argue that Wolf Team honestly succeeded more than failed here; also take into consideration that all Tales games were still 2D-only affairs at this point. As for the CG cutscenes, they're actually a mixed bag. When in motion they look decent enough for their time (i.e. think something along the lines of Reboot), but they're actually rather rare, as most cutscenes of this type actually rely on stills, which is disappointing. Still, there's no doubt that Wolf Team tried their hardest to push the PS1, visually, similar to what they sometimes tried doing on something like the Sega Genesis.

In terms of audio, we have a soundtrack composed by the team of legendary duo of Shinji Tamura & Motoi Sakuraba, with help by Atsushi Horiguchi, who quickly made names for themselves with Wolf Team's output, and continuing on even after the change to Namco Tales Studio. While Sakuraba is the more well known of the duo, mainly because of his penchant for exciting & fast-paced music that fits things like battles & drama, Tamura always tended to handle things like music for certain events, town maps, mini-games, & the like. If I had to guess, I imagine the same is true with this game, with Tamura likely handling the more downbeat & moody tracks for the likes of cutscenes & initial exploring of stages, while Sakuraba composed the more intense & exciting tracks for when the situation becomes more hectic & immediate. The end result is honestly a really damn good score, with both the slow & fast tracks doing a hell of a job in giving you the proper mood for each moment, and there were definitely some tracks that stuck in my head; if there's anything negative, it's that there are only so many songs, so stages share tracks. As mentioned before, Cybernetic Empire is meant to feel as though you're playing a TV anime series, and that's pushed immediately with the intro sequence that plays before the title screen. Comprised mostly of scenes from the various CG cutscenes (the ones that fully animate), it's set to the song "Freeze" by Wands, one of the very last songs by the legendary J-Rock band before they reunited in 2019, and it absolutely gives you that "late 90s anime OP" vibe. As for the voice work, it's a very solid cast that overall pulls their weight, with Takumi Yamazaki especially working really well as Max, Tomo Sakurai doing a good job with Nina, Hikaru Hanada as Row, & Takehito Koyasu as Black Mask, who definitely hams it up excellently in the end game as only he can. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Atsuko Yuya, Kumiko Watanabe, Ryuzaburo Otomo, Toshiya Mori, & Akio Ohtsuka.

At the start I wondered if Cybernetic Empire was "truly representative, in any way, of the old Wolf Team/Telenet days of yore", which would be kind of tricky, as by 1999 a lot of the main forces behind those old games had left & found work elsewhere, including at studios formed by ex-Wolf Team staff; in fact, the only major name to be involved here was producer Eiji Kikuchi & the music staff. Despite that, however, I absolutely feel that this game truly does act as a fitting final farewell for Wolf Team, at least the way that people knew the studio during its heyday. Wolf Team games were by no means perfect, but they were rarely unmemorable & always felt like they were made by people who had little to no hesitation to either push the limits of the hardware they were developing on, or just decided to go bonkers for the fun & hell of it. Cybernetic Empire fits that ethos perfectly, as the visuals honestly do push what I thought I knew the PS1 was capable of at points, the anchor & tether mechanic is really cool (& I wish was actually pushed even more so), the combat is fast & frenetic, the music is awesome, & the plot absolutely threw me for a loop once things moved over to Disc 2. In fact, I do feel that the story going so utterly bonkers in its final 2-3 hours is the single thing that made me go from "This is a neat game to try out" to "This game seriously needs to be more well known!", because it is just that wild.

Unfortunately, Cybernetic Empire has never seen any sort of re-release since its original 1999 release, though I imagine Edia currently owns the rights to it, as that company owns the vast majority of Telenet & Wolf Team's catalog; that being said, Akihito Yoshitomi is listed under the copyright, so I imagine he'd need to be involved, too. While it's obviously not a priority compared to Wolf Team's earlier output, as seen with stuff like the Valis collections & the Renovation cartridge for the Evercade, I do hope that Edia one day gives Cybernetic Empire a second chance to find an audience, because I really do believe that fans of Wolf Team would definitely have some good fun with the studio's "final" release, at least from a certain perspective.

*Screenshots sourced from Emuparadise & PSX Data Center*

Game © Akihito Yoshitomi/Edia 1999