Many of the titles at the Tokyo Game Show are definitely destined to make their way to Western shores, but more than a few are Japan-only and likely to stay that way, at least for a while. One such game is Fragile, a promising role-playing game for the Wii developed internally at Namco Bandai.

Fragile is a 3D action RPG set in a dark but intriguing universe filled with what we're assuming are ghosts or demons. Forgive me for not being able to elaborate further, but the demo of Fragile we played at TGS was entirely in Japanese, as was the stirring trailer shown at the Namco booth.

The demo takes place in and around a run-down old mansion that has clearly fallen into disrepair. For a 3D action game on the Wii, Fragile looks quite impressive, and there's a good amount of detail in the external environments (gardens, trees, foliage, etc.) and the interior of the building we made our way inside. The wallpaper curls on the walls, the floors are cracked with age and the dusty surfaces give off a distinctly creepy vibe.

Lining up to play Fragile, I watched the game's trailer loop above the booth, and I have to say it gave me a chill. I watched the two main characters, a blonde girl and a brunette girl, looking mournful and lost in a dark, frightening world as a lilting pop piano ballad played in the background. Also, there were friendly-looking housecats padding around near the characters in the trailer, which led me to believe the felines would accompany our heroines on their journey. Nice. The anime cutscenes were quite stirring, and I must say I was intrigued as I stepped up to play.

Once I stepped into the shoes of the main character, I found the Wii controls to be fairly intuitive. Movement is controlled with the analog stick, and her flashlight is moved with the Wii-mote. The A button attacks (the character we played fights with a golf club), and beyond that there's not much more to the controls. I'm assuming there's much more below the surface of the Japanese-language demo that I didn't have access to, but those are the basics.

Exploring the old creepy house was easy enough, but once combat ensued things got a bit hairy. In the upstairs portion of the mansion I ran into a pack of evil hellbeasts that proceeded to tear me limb-from-limb. Not being used to the control scheme, I found it difficult to both train my flashlight on the enemies (it was pitch black) and attack accurately at the same time. As with many Wii games, I found myself wishing for something other than motion controls as the slavering hounds were devouring me.

The demo was brief, so I didn't get the opportunity to see if the controls would become second-nature given more time. But my initial impression was that the control scheme could use a bit more fine-tuning if it's to become silky smooth.

Will Fragile ever make its way to the West? Only time will tell. But doe-eyed girls and their faithful feline friends having adventures together in a dark and threatening world? Sign me up.

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