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A Solid 3D Shooter |  Arend D. Hart from MICHIGAN says (11/Oct/2002): | So, I've been looking at the reader reviews and it seems like the hardcore Robotechies aren't that impressed with Robotech:Battlecry. However, as a gamer who is devoid of any prior Robotech knowledge, I really had a good time with the game.
Again I stress - going in, I knew very little about Robotech, and as for prior mech gaming, a few hours of Zone of the Enders was the extent. So, I went into Battlecry with an open mind, and it worked out pretty well for me.
At its heart, Robotech is a straight-up shooter. There is a story, but its really just there to link the shooter’s dozens of different scenarios together. Make no mistake, Vicious Cycle took the old side scrolling shooter game and put it in 3D, and did a pretty darn good job of it, too. Maybe this concept isn’t something new to the shooter fans out there, but to an Action/Adventure, Survival Horror fan like myself, it’s a nice change of pace from the usual fare. Granted, there is an ongoing story, but the story really isn’t all that important to the action, and it doesn’t really need to be as the action has enough authority to carry the game.
Let’s talk about the obvious. This game looks incredible. I mean, I know we’re all tired of hearing about all the cel-shading taking over the gaming world, but when you see it done well, there’s no denying that it’s extremely cool. Well, it only takes about three minutes to see that Vicious Cycle did a great job with the cel-shading in Battlecry. This game looks exactly like a cartoon. From the missile trailings, to the explosions, to the mechs themselves, this game is pristine. I’d have to say that the only game (for the PS2) with better cel-shaded visuals would have to be Sly Cooper, but that’s a whole different ballgame. Regardless, Battlecry is a beautiful game in its own right, and the developers deserve credit for their hard work.
As for the controls, it took a while to get used to the button layout, but once I did, it all seemed fairly natural. In all honesty, I would have preferred a more FPS-type dual analog layout (movement on left, aiming on right), but when I finally got the hang of the default layout, I didn’t really have much to gripe about.
So did I have any real issues with Battlecry? Sure I did. Do these issues taint the game? No, not really. But I should mention them anyway.
I guess my main issue was that in the heat of the battle, I sometimes became hopelessly disoriented. With all the explosions and other screen debris, it was sometimes difficult to figure out what exactly was going on. I actually watched an interview on G4tv in which the one of the VC developers was discussing Battlecry’s aim to be true to the cartoon; he made a point of mentioning the masses of rockets and explosions filling the screen and it sounded like it would be cool, and it is...but then again, it's pretty overwhelming when you're caught in the middle of it.
Other gripes? As the readers say, the missions are all quite repetitive, and because of that the game does become somewhat of a button masher after a while. I will give the developers credit for trying to give us our money’s worth with a bizillion missions, but it does seem to lose some excitement after a while.
Final gripe – I had some serious issues with the sound in certain parts. It seemed like something in the programming was a bit sensitive to button presses, and often I would find that somehow I had triggered the game to skip the spoken word parts of the in-game instructions. It would force me to have to look up the instructions in the log, which was a real pain.
All in all though, I really enjoy this game for what it is. A solid 3D shooter you can have a lot of fun with. Give it a try, and you just might find that you like it, too.
| Missions are bloody annoying. | | Seat of Belt from Williams Bay, Wisconsin. USA. says (26/Mar/2003): | The game is not that horrid. The missions, however are lacking. I dont mind escorting things in a FPS/Flight Combat Sim. There are really only two types of missions fighter pilots have to deal with. They blow up enemy outposts/ships/ect (which you do) and guard things. As long as the thing your guarding either has strong armor or a self defense mechanisim of some kind its all good. The only two things that hurt the game really, are the lack of health powerups (you could have used the guardian mode to pick them up...)and the insane difficulty of certain missions. I'm stuck on the "defend the town center" mission. As far as I can see there is no real way to beat it unless you have exceptionally fast fingers. A skip feature would have been nice. Like in XWA.
The graphics are O.K. I would have liked some more detail in the mechs. But it dosent effect gameplay or anything. So its not critical. The cities do look kinda bland. But to be honest, when I'm being swarmed by vast numbers of enemy walker-robot-things I dont really care what my surroundings look like, as long as they stay out of my way. The lack of fighter variation is upsetting as well. Would have been nice to have some fighters better equiped for certain situations.
The Guardian mech is far to difficult to control. I hate all things that move by themselves. You should move/aim with the control stick and control altitude with the C-stick. Its not that hard. Anyone who enjoys controling the guided rockets in Night Fire could handle it.
Other control setups would have been nice to. I'm not really that happy with them.
As a final note, if you were expecting indepth story lines, and deep, addictive missions, go buy JK2 for PC. If you just want some time filler game with lots of shooting involved, buy this. Its not _that_ horrible.
| Faithful adaptation to the original | | Keanue Raine from Victoria, B.C. Canada says (19/Feb/2003): | I loved the original show passionately. Now many moons later I get to play around with a Veritech. Cell shadings great, very cartoon like. I had no sound problems at all in fact hearing that old Macross music made me smile. The fact that TDK actually went out and got original actors from the show was impressive as it showed their commitment to the game. Now missions are no original by any means but they are fun. Missions were plenty and difficult enough to keep me entertained. My only real gripe were the invisible barriers in space and the back drop Zentraedi cruisers could have been modeled and textured nicer. More active firepower from the cruisers would have been a nice touch. The female power armour behaves extremely Miriya-ish and is difficult to hit. The object gathering missions were a little tedious for my tastes and once done were quickly forgotten.
Over all I really enjoyed this game and at its new low price there is no reason whatsoever that a gamer who likes Mechs, shooters and Robotech not to buy.
| Robotech: Battle | | GuardianD from Baltimore, MD, USA says (5/Jan/2003): | I had high hopes for this game, as many other hardcore Robotech fans surely did. Now, as a game in general goes, this game isn't half bad. However, I did say isn't "half" bad. Now, even if you aren't a huge fan of the show, who grew up running home from school to catch it, there are things that will bother you. First off, the fighter mode is way to "sluggish". This frequently makes the ariel battles slow and drawn out, rather than fast paced and hectic. (The way they were in the show.) Next, the Guardian mode, is just poorly done. There are no retro-thrust options? Come on now, that's one of the main high-points of that configuration! The Battleoid mode is the most "true to series" in the game, and the most fun to play in. Sadly, using the "Battleoid" isn't what "Robotechnology" is about. If I wanted to simply stomp around in a Mech, I'd play a Gundam game, or Armored Core. No, using the Battleoid only won't get you through the game, but it's the best "fun" in it.
Now, as for comparing it to the show? Honestly, I'm not even going to start on that. Robotech is THE anime that made millions of American kids embrace that style of cartoon... and it deserves a MUCH BETTER showing than this in the game scene. The cell shading was nice, and fits the game well. It doesn't, however, make up for the short-comings of blowing the story off. If you are a "shooter fan", you might like this game. It's got some "decent" action, and as I've said above, isn't half bad. If you are a Robotech fan, take solace in knowing you aren't the only one out there that was let down by this release... and let's hope they get it right by the time they reach "The New Generation"... I've been waiting to play around on a Cyclone for many years now, I don't want that screwed up too! ;)
| Robotech lives up to its name!!!!! | | Manny from Honolulu, Hi USA says (23/Nov/2002): | As an old schools robotech buff, I recently bought Battlecry and since then I can't put the controller down. The game play is better than I expected. All the moves and actions that you see in the cartoon can be done in this game. I love the fact that I could also be my favorite Robotech character, Max; however, I wish he could have been in the tory line. The graphics are great with the exceptions of a few bugs. Caution to those Robotech fans out here, if you have not played this game yet, you will be addicted from the time you pick it up! To the makers of Battlecry, a job well done. I look forward to future sequals!!!
| Good to ride a Veritech, but Camera work is problematic. | | Johnny from Los Angeles, CA says (11/Nov/2002): | Getting to ride a veritech, smashing alien invaders with it, and having the ability to even destroy buildings around you was definately a worthwhile experience that this game provides. The art is good, animation is pretty fluid and involving, and voice work was done well.
There are a few quirks though. My biggest problem with the game was the slow camera work. Specifically, when you fly as a fighter or guardian, turn into a battloid to shoot at the pod that just whizzed by you, your battloid turns, but the camera is really slow to follow, leaving you shooting blindly for a few seconds.
Something else with the camera: it seems to have a "horizontal tendancy" meaning, it forces you to a horizontal stance when your turn guardian or battloid even when you're in outer space where the concept of horizons SHOULD be subjective and should not be imposed on a player since there really isn't a gravity pull out there (although the game plays like there is).
My last complaint is: I found that most enemies can go far beyond mission borders (limits of space that a player can go) when you're chasing them.
Although the complaints of redundance of missions seem justifiable, I think the designers were quite accurate. I mean, yeah, it does seem all similar, but if you think about how the story runs, the duties assigned to the player are probably appropriate. I mean, Jack (the lead character) is designated as Wolf 10 throughout the game, and not Wolf leader, so escort/infiltration missions seem right (though not necessarily as interesting as they could've been). Oh well, at least we get to fight some one-on-ones with top Zendrati fighters.
| i've seen better nintendo 64 games have much better gameplay | | Robotech Man from miami,FL USA says (10/Oct/2002): | dont get me wrong i've seen worse! see the bugs in the game and all that switching makes it kinda fustrating. how can you shoot all those missle like 50 times and still the opponents life isnt even half way yet? konami why did YOU take care of this game. the action?? it was kinda tight i will admit that much and only becuase i like robotech i decided to keep playing but if it wasnt for that name...trust me i wouldnt have gotten it at all. i guess i must be one out of the many robotech fans that were dissapointed.and its sucks that you can regain any life you know...(powereups). sometimes i look at that game and ask myself ...why did i waist almost 50 bucks for this?!?! and the graphics?? hahahaha lets not even go there. well all in all it sucks...but at least i've seen worse.
| I'm not very happy with this game myself | | John Chen from USA says (8/Oct/2002): | I agree with Nar on this one. The game has very little value other than it's namesake. Why didn't Konami or Capcom make this game instead? Vicous Cycle needs to study a little more on game developement. I'm sorry Robotech fans, but like Nar said,this game would not be able to stand on it's own withought the name "Robotech" in it. Theres way too many babysitting missions. Waaaay too many. If I had known this, I would not have bought this game and instead rented it. This game also has a bunch of bugs in it. I'm so not happy with this developement. Something about it feels kinda nerdy too. My hands are sore from all the shifting and turning and missle launching ten times per second. Note to developers, don't make this mistake ever again. I'm avoiding any Vicious Cycle games from now on. Sorry, bye.
| My score just went down two notches <: / | | Nar from Los Angeles, California says (7/Oct/2002): | No way am I going to pretend this is a good game just because it's called Robotech. I don't think I should learn to take any of this with a grain of salt. A game is a game, and if it can't stand on it's own two feet without franchise power, then it's no good to me. Robotech Battlecry has proven to me that the programmers weren't experienced enough game makers like those of Konami or Capcom to hit the charts. This may sound unfair but just so many of you know, this is coming from one of many big time Macross fans. (Macross) The game play could have been good if the veritech fighters could actually do more damage to the baddies rather then just scratching them. The action is tight and tough but It get's extremely frustrating and loses it's point after a couple of hours when you realize all your doing babysitting the extra help. No powerups? And someone said it right, the various types of Valkyries don't do it justice to go all happy dappy over. Oh sure. your a big time fan so you fathomed the thought of piloting a valkyrie so long, that you thank the heavens this company made the game a reality. But keep in mind again, a game, is a game. It may look and sound nice but deep inside, this game has issues. Take away the name Robotech and slap something like "robo-wars" and you'd all spit on it for sure. Don't kid yourselves because you spent 50 bucks on it or got it as a gift. If you really like this game for what it is and not for what its called, then your a happy camper that likes to see the "loading" screen every five minutes. You all deserve better and you'll realize it when the concept of transforming into 3 modes of fighters, wither away from your robo-bliss. This is Nar of the comic underworld saying, take care and goodluck on your next mission escorting the pizza delivery guy in chapter 5 of Battlecry.
| almost a 10 | | txiabxyooj from salt lake city, utah says (3/Oct/2002): | this game is almost perfect. the graphics are a good imitation of the orginal art work in the animated series. thus, any comments regarding the graphics need to take into account the intent of the programmers; from this perspective the graphics are an accomplishment that TDK can be proud of. however, if you are expecting anything else you will most certainly be disappointed. the game play is good and the transitions between the verious mech forms are smooth and well done. however, the ability to quickly transition between the various mech forms is the highlight of the game--it doesn't get any better as the game progresses. as you complete missions new fighters become available & they do make some difference in game play. but, there isn't enough variation between one veritech and another to make your new fighter really worth getting excited over. also, the missions lack variety: once you have escorted one vehicle you have escorted them all (whether it is helicopters, mecha, or just a caravan of trucks). the boards are good & have an outstanding look to them, but are too small. there is little opportunity to explore or move about in environments and they have a tendency to look the same. for example all the cities in robotech: battlecry look the same as do the canyon boards or the space battles (i can forgive them for the lack of variety in the space missions, after all it is space. but there needs to be more variety in the cities). i will give the programmers credit for keeping you too busy to bother with exploring the levels--it is non-stop action from start to finish. robotech: battlecry is more concerned with raw action than mech construction or progression. it is a shooter with a twist and nothing more. however, robotech: battlecry is a must have for robotech fans. for everyone else, before buying a copy it is probably worth a rental.
| Robotech: Battlecry | | A gamer from USA says (3/Oct/2002): | The game is very well designed and very well put with difficulty and realism of flight and ground combat. For being such a robotech fan as I am, I give this game a Nuclear 10.
| Great game | | RJae from San Fransico, USA says (1/Oct/2002): | This game by far is the best action game I've ever played. I normally play RPG games. Yea the graphics seem like they came out of the 80's series but what do you expect. They weren't doing "Macross Plus" They were doing Robotech the original series. It takes some time getting use to the controls. You know if you are a huge robotech fan like I am. You'll love the fact that you can do almost exactly the same moves as the characters did in the series. I can't wait til they have tournaments for this game in my community.
| It's ok but not great | | Nar Comix from Los Angeles, California says (27/Sep/2002): | Well, I can't say I was taken by this game. It's a bit dry and incomplete. It's been reported that many gamers (including me) complained that the game had a defect in a specific level. Turns out the game makers forgot to add an on screen timer that let's gamers know they're put on a time limit. I was about to return my game until I figured it out on my own and beat the level. Even though i beat the game, i find it quite dissapointing for something that should've been huge. I say rent it before you buy it. Even if your a huge fan of Macross. I give this game a 6. :/
| Living the cartoon | | Spectrum3 from USA says (25/Sep/2002): | This game is very well done. It seems a bit dated because of the cell shading graphics but so does the cartoon if you watch it. The game does a very good job of recreating the feel of the cartoon but can become a bit repetitive. Definately a must if you're a robotech fan (i'd give it a 10 on this count) but as a game with no robotech licence, it's a solid 7
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