Running roughly 8 minutes in length, this revealing trailer removes any doubt of the strong relationship between Xenosaga and Xenogears. Many of the scenes in the clip are rather reminiscent of the PlayStation masterpiece, starting from the opening scene involving a large space ship and the ensuing chaos. The crew of this ship are attacked by alien creatures, which outgun everything thrown at them. It is not until one of the main characters, KOS-MOS, exits her stasis capsule that the humans stand any chance at all--in fact, KOS-MOS looks to be the only effective method of offensive for the humans during many parts of the trailer.

After this space battle, the trailer becomes much more disjointed in the scenes it shows. It is very clear from the graphical style employed that no attempt to cover up Xenosaga's roots has been made. (Despite the currently unannounced resolution to the fact that Squaresoft likely still owns to rights to Xenogears.) Many characters are similar to existing series players, such as KOS-MOS/Elly and M.O.M.O./Maria. Existing themes of mech battles and genetic engineering appear to be as, if not more, prevalent than in Xenosaga's predecessor. To top it off, the trailer ends in a two-man sword fight which mirrors a few of Citan's sword techniques found later in Xenogears.

While no gameplay footage was shown, it is becoming more apparent that series fans will probably not be disappointed with the next installment of the Xenogears storyline. Monolithsoft's team has managed to capture much of the feel of Xenogears in this demo alone, so it will be exciting to see if the story and gameplay can match the expectations gamers are placing on it.

• GameSpot