P.N.03: Космический шутер от создателя Resident Evil

2003 science fiction third person shooter video game developed by Capcom

P. N.03 (ピーエヌ スリー, Pī Enu Surī) (Product Number Three) is a 2003 third person shooter developed and published by Capcom for the GameCube. Set in a space colony compound, the game follows a female mercenary fighting against berserk robots. It was directed by Shinji Mikami and produced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi. To avoid similarities with Devil May Cry and Resident Evil, the game designers emphasized defensive and rhythmic maneuvers and a "feminine" game world. The game was developed on a tight schedule in an attempt to offset Capcom's poor fiscal year. However, it received mixed reviews and failed commercially. Several critics found the game repetitive and unintuitive. They were divided on its gameplay mechanics: some disliked its controls—specifically the inability to move and shoot simultaneously—while others compared it favorably to the golden age of arcade games. Mikami repurposed ideas from P. N.03 for the game Vanquish.

The player controls Vanessa Z. Schneider, a freelance mercenary working on colonized planets. She is contracted by a mysterious client to destroy Computerized Armament Management System (CAMS) robots that have gone berserk. Robots of this type had been responsible for killing Vanessa's parents. To combat the CAMS, Vanessa wears "Aegis suits", powered exoskeletons that connect to her spine and allow her to fire energy beams from her palms and to perform powerful attacks called "energy drives". It depletes the energy meter, grants temporary invulnerability to Vanessa and damages multiple enemies. After destroying the CAMS central core, Vanessa encounters a digital projection of the client, whose appearance is identical to her own. She speculates that she is a clone of the client, but the client counters that none of their memories may be real. Vanessa debates whether to continue her work as a mercenary.

In November 2002, Capcom announced the Capcom Five, a group of video games developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and overseen by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. Among these titles was P. N.03, directed by Mikami. Capcom conceived the Capcom Five to bring new intellectual property to the industry, which the company viewed at the time as stagnant. According to Hiroyuki Kobayashi, the P. N.03 team's goal was to make a game both "fun to watch and fun to play". The team focused on the game's audiovisuals, action and speed, and they tried to balance the "tension experienced on the battlefield and the exhilaration of taking out the enemies". Mikami wanted P. N.03 to evoke the same feelings as classic Famicom games. During the planning stage, P. N.03 was originally a wargame referred to as the "robot war game". Five days into development, the staff created a preliminary demonstration of the graphics. Mikami was unsatisfied with this prototype and decided to rework the project as a third person shooting game. The director wanted to name the game Jaguar to reflect Vanessa's cat like agility. However, other staff members disliked the name: some claimed that it failed to describe the game, while others thought that White Jaguar was a better title. Mikami chose P. N.03 as a hint to the game's plot. Early coverage of P. N.03 by GameSpot and IGN highlighted the game's acrobatics and shooting. P. N.03s gameplay was initially similar to that of Devil May Cry: Vanessa attacked with two pistols and performed acrobatic moves like Dante. Feeling that it resembled Devil May Cry too closely, Mikami altered the game to reward players for performing defensive moves. Mikami wanted Vanessa to use guns, but the developers couldn't complete the animated graphics for weapons in time for release. The guns were replaced with energy bolts fired from the character. Many of Capcom's releases for the year had underperformed. Viewtiful Joe, another Capcom Five title, was delayed into the next fiscal year to decrease the possible sales that had to be offset. To maintain the game's "delicate image", the developers tried to make the visuals easy to view and understand. Mikami was indifferent to the main character's gender. During the early creation process, he left the decision to his staff, who ultimately chose a female character. Because P. N.03 takes place in a space colony, Mikami wanted Vanessa's country of origin to be ambiguous. To that end, she was given a combination of French, German, and English names. Vanessa's movements were animated freehand, without motion capture technology. The designers posed Vanessa crouched on her hands and knees to resemble a jaguar, as an homage to the Jaguar title.

The Capcom Five were first announced as games exclusive to the GameCube; however, Capcom later ported most of the titles to other consoles. At the end of 2002, the company confirmed that the game would be released in 2003 on GameCube. In January 2003, the company slated the game for a March release in Japan, but retracted the exclusivity announcement. At a press conference prior to the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo, however, Capcom reaffirmed that P. N.03 would be available only for the GameCube. In the end, P. N.03 was the only Capcom Five title to remain exclusive to the system. These low sales failed to help Capcom meet its yearly sales goals. Few aspects of the game were changed for the North American market. Promotional sunglasses modeled after Vanessa's were also released.