Isometric assassin thriller Tokyo 42 still looks sharper than most of what followed it

Tokyo 42 puts you in an ultra futuristic version of Tokyo as an assassin, and it asks you to shoot your way out from a bird’s eye view. Smac Games developed it and Mode 7 Games published it. It came out on Microsoft Windows and Xbox One on May 31, 2017, with a PlayStation 4 release on August 15, 2017. Beat Vince supplied a two part official soundtrack. Its genres are shooter, adventure and indie, and its IGDB critic aggregate sits at 6.8 out of 10 across 10 outlets.

Trailer, via Mode 7.

A Framed Killer in Future Tokyo

The premise is simple. You play an inhabitant of the city who gets framed for murder. The tutorial is a police chase, and you escape it. From that point you are a wanted criminal on the run.

Your friend then offers a way to get even with the assassin who set you up. The plan is to become an assassin yourself and climb the ranks until you can take that person down. That is the spine of Tokyo 42: revenge by promotion, one contract at a time.

The game is presented in a minimalist, low-poly, isometric perspective, and the story runs on that scale.

Bullets From Every Direction

The gameplay sits close to a shoot ’em up. Enemy bullets come in from multiple angles, so the player has to stay aware of the surroundings at all times.

The arsenal is broad. Sniper rifles, grenades and melee weapons including katanas all fit into the same loadout. The source lists the game’s themes as action, science fiction and stealth, and the player pursues targets using attacks, dodges and stealth.

The camera can be rotated clockwise or counter clockwise by pressing “E” and “Q” respectively. That is the detail worth naming first when you describe Tokyo 42 to someone who has not played it.

Rotating the World With E and Q

An isometric view usually hides things, and Tokyo 42 hands you a way around that. The camera spins on command, and the spin is the thing the game does that most isometric shooters do not.

It also suits the art. The minimalist, low-poly look is not decoration here; it is the style the game was built in, and it is the one the screenshots lead with.

That is the best idea in the game.

What the 6.8 Says

A 6.8 out of 10 is a specific kind of score. It is not a rejection and it is not a recommendation you make without a caveat. The IGDB critic aggregate puts Tokyo 42 at 6.8/10 across 10 outlets.

Here is how the pieces rank, from the parts that hold up to the parts that do not:

1. The camera rotation on E and Q, which turns a fixed angle into a tool.
2. The weapon spread, from sniper rifles to grenades to katanas.
3. The low-poly isometric look, which is the game’s whole face.
4. The revenge premise, which is thin but gets you moving.
5. The shoot ’em up pacing, which keeps you watching the edges.

The list is not a ranking of quality so much as a ranking of what Tokyo 42 gets mileage out of.

Single Player, Multiplayer, and the Mode Split

Tokyo 42 ships with both single player and multiplayer. The campaign gives you the framed-for-murder story and the climb through the assassin ranks. Multiplayer is the other half of the package.

The game carries three genre labels at once: shooter, adventure and indie. Those labels come from the source’s own listing, not from a reading of the game.

The Verdict on Tokyo 42

Tokyo 42 is a good game with a great camera. The rotation on E and Q is the detail that separates it from other isometric shooters, and the low-poly Tokyo is the reason it looks like itself.

The revenge story is serviceable. You get framed, you run, your friend points you at the ranks, and you climb. It does not need to be more than that, and it mostly is not.

What holds Tokyo 42 back is that the pieces do not all pull at the same strength. The arsenal is wide, and a wide arsenal in a game this fast spreads the player’s attention across a lot of tools.

The 6.8 reads to this paper as fair. Tokyo 42 is worth playing for the camera alone, and the two part soundtrack from Beat Vince is part of the package. It is a game that rewards the player who already likes this genre.

game review · Indie Games · isometric shooter · Mode 7 Games · Smac Games · Tokyo 42