Those Sony Europe guys sure do like to take their time with their games. The Getaway was a four year labor of love and SCEE Cambridge (the same folks behind the MediEvil games) has likewise toiled long and hard on Primal, a game focused around the universe of Oblivion, or more to the point a girl name Jen, who's stumbled into this world and quickly discovers that she has far more in common with the demonic denizens of Oblivion and it's four realms than she was probably hoping for.



"Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Cambridge Studio's first PlayStation 2 title has successfully combined a truly compelling storyline with the right amount of exciting combat, puzzle solving and exploration to raise the bar for the action-adventure genre," boasted SCEA Director of Product Marketing and all-around cornucopia of quotes, Ami Blaire. "Offering incredible graphical detail in a dark world that feels familiar and closely linked to our own, Primal is deep enough to satisfy both the hardcore and the casual gamer."



In a trend that seems to be gaining ground (RLH anyone?), Primal features extensive musical contributions from LA rockers 16 Volt, who donated nine tracks to the game, three created exclusively for the game. The music is integrated into the story-driven adventure game's fights in a very soundtrack-like way (which makes sense; 16 Volt will be complementing upcoming episodes of Road Rules on MTV and fittingly LA-based vampire uberdrama Angel on The WB).



"As gamers ourselves, we were excited to have our music featured in Primal," beamed 16 Volt lead vocalist and founder Eric Powell. "With such intense combat sequences, we wanted to create specific songs for Primal that would keep the gamers engaged and on the edge of their seats."



If you haven't heard of Primal yet, there's a good chance you will, with Sony pouring a considerable amount of effort into making the game a little more well-known, including:



-NATIONAL PRINT/ONLINE ADVERTISING-

To support Primal, the print advertising campaign based on the tagline "Civilization is Only Skin Deep" will reach millions of readers nationwide through a wide variety of national consumer, gaming, music and comic book publications, beginning in January and continuing through early May. Four different two-page consecutive advertisements will run in publications such as Electronic Gaming Monthly, Official PlayStation Magazine, Game Informer, Playboy Magazine, FHM, Maxim, Spin, D.C. Comics, Marvel Comics, and many more.



-NATIONAL BROADCAST/CABLE ADVERTISING-

The television campaign targeting ages 17 and older for Primal will kick off this month and run in various time slots on major network, cable and syndicated programming continuing through April 2003. One 30-second commercial will air through the launch period.



-NATIONAL RETAIL SUPPORT-

Key merchandising support for Primal at all national retailers includes a dedicated point of purchase campaign with a direct mail tie in and dedicated strategy guide. Demo discs are available as part of the direct marketing campaign in addition to a dedicated online campaign and official game Web site, http://www.primalgame.com .



-VIRAL MARKETING SUPPORT-

Consumers were encouraged to tap into their Primal being at Maxim Valentine's Day party with featured kiosks at San Francisco's hot nightclub, Ruby Skye and the street team of GoGorilla were in full force at the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration, distributing branded Primal beads.



With Primal on shelves today, you can run out and pick up a copy if you don't want to wait for our verdict, which should be up in a couple days.