A Phoenix for those who don't know (or don't read Harry Potter) is a legendary bird, why exactly it is dead is another question altogether. In fact all you guys really need to know is whether or not Dead Phoenix is worth shelling £40 out for.

Dead Phoenix is one of the legendary Capcom 5, those 5 massively impressive games that made us forget all about Rare (whoever they are). Well I say 5 but one of them was a little less than impressive. You see Dead Phoenix didn't boast the impressive stylized or gorgeously realistic graphics of the other games; nevertheless it is still a visual treat and it looks set to be deeply original. The director of the game Hiroki Katou (he did Resident Evil: Code Veronica) claimed his team is putting every effort into making this feel like you are flying as a bird. So freedom is essential, one of the essences of flying and if he can successfully implement this without confusion then perhaps we could have our Pilotwings beater and maybe if he is going all out we will see some Zelda style wind effects.

It is sadly all speculation at the moment, the only concrete information we have so far is that the game centers around Phoenix, a warrior of the winged clan, as he fights against monsters and other such evil creatures. Strangely Phoenix isn't himself a bird, but instead some guy with wings, a bit like the long lost Nintendo character Kid Icarus.

Like many a game it is set in a time zone of its own in an alternative dimension and revolves around a floating city (or island depending on which source you get your information from)! Confused? Well the game is due out Summer 2003 in Japan so expect some more details storyline wise to surface promptly.

The game is a shooter of sorts and involves dragons, so it already has a cool concept and like most of the Capcom 5 appears adult orientated. The early video footage of the game features a few dragons and quiet a bit of fire so expect the two to feature heavily in the game, lets hope its more successful than Reign of Fire at least. One screenshot shows a clan of birds flying and the level of detail is enormous, one shot also shows a Lylat Wars style boss fight particular attention has been made towards the character models. Katou stressed the game will appear lighter than those shown in the screenshots and that the final version will have allies fighting along side you. Increasing the amount of gameplay ideas gives the impression that the game is running rather smoothly and has the time to include new segments.

Another thing evident from the screenshots is the scale of it all, the world, enemies and bosses are incredibly huge and playing seems a truly daunting affair. Dead Phoenix looks like a gameplay mix of Kid Icarus, Reign of Fire, Pilot Wings and Lylat Wars, combined with an epic storyline and RPG style graphics, if anyone can pull it of other than Nintendo then it would have to be Capcom's Production Studio 4…