giant robots

Ok I know many out there what the guts of a review spelled out in plain english so here goes;

Pros: If you are a robotech fan you will love this game. You are able to use all functions for the veritech (battliod, guardian, and fighter) no matter what map you are on. Graphics and the feeling of finally getting to fly a Veritech make it a must for any robotech fan. You get to even fly missions with Rick hunter and Roy Folker. All the main characters in the Macross saga make some showing, although their voices sound like they are 20 years older (which they are). Fighting terrain includes space, cities, and sky of earth. You can even fight one on one with a friend to test your skills on a human opponent.

Cons: Voices of your character in the game (Jack) and other becoming annoying quickly. Versus mode limits you to Veritech and if you were hoping to climb into a officer pod or a zentradi jet you are out of luck. City buildings look cheesy. Map boundaries limit you from going over many buildings when in a city map. If this game was a little more expanded in a few option areas it would get 5 stars. Nonetheless a great game for the first Robotech crossover.

Once I saw this game, I could not resist buying it. I grew up watching the cartoons, and I even own 4 of the box sets; so to say I am a geek would be entirely superfluous. The game it's self is a lot of fun, and there looks to be a good deal of replayability. The controls are pretty straight forward, although the superimposed physics can be annoying, they too seem pretty realistic. The game follows the first chapter of the Robotech saga faithfully, and all the units look like the cartoon. The Veritech fighter can be easily changed to the 3 different modes simply by pushing the directional pad up, left, or right. There seem to be approx. 25-30 missions, all of which can be replayed, and several of which you have to replay to get the Medal, and thus unlock goodies. There is a multiplayer feature as well, but I've not yet checked it out. Overall this game is pretty good, and I would definitely suggest it to all Robotech fans. Those who don't know the Robotech saga may not enjoy it as much, especially if you weren't like 9 or so back in 1985. Good game.

Ordinarily I do computer game reviews, but I picked this up for my brother for Christmas so I figured I'd give this a whirl. "Robotech" was a 3-part anime feature from the mid-eighties that chronicled the events of the Robotech Wars. This game covers the area of Book One, or the Macross Saga. The show itself was patched together from 3 different Japanese cartoons that had nothing in common, other than they were the product of the same Japanese publishing house. The producer Carl Macek, out of desperation (and what turned out to be an act of brilliance) changed the storyline dramatically so that the 3 cartoons became one epic saga about Earth and it's discovery of Robotech, and it's defense against the Zentraedi, Robotech Masters, and the Invid.

But let's do a quick review of the game here. This game is going to appeal strongly to anime' afficianados and fans of the original series, the latter group comprised mostly of 30+ males who were in thier teens during the mid eighties. This is a game that is focused on a very specific segment of gamers and as such is probably not going to get a warm welcome from the average 15 year old dumping thier cash on a game with pretty packaging. To further compound this the storyline allows you to take part in several big battles from Book One episodes, but it does so in a *really* disjointed manner. A person who has no knowledge of the Robotech storyline is liable to get really lost in no time flat as the story will make absolutely no sense. The storyline jumps from the Episode "Boobytrap" all the way to the episode in which the surface of the Earth is destroyed by the enormous Zentraedi armada, and then further jumps to the period during the reconstruction. Essentially about 30+ episodes squeezed into the first 5 missions alone!

I particularly enjoyed the mission of taking on the Zentraedi in space as the SDF-1 was about to make it's climactic assault on Dolza's flagship. The scenery is simply beautiful! I was a little let down by not getting to see the Grand Cannon fire, but that's a small thing. Again, this will appeal strongly to a Robotech purist, and to a lesser degree anime fans, but to anyone else they probably won't get much from the plot other than confusion.

How does the game handle? Fluid as a dream! If ever you wanted to *be* in Robotech I can't think of a better way to do so than Robotech: Battlecry. Battloids skid left and right, stop on a dime, and shoot missiles out of the sky. The cel shading effect simply puts you in a live action anime cartoon. I cannot get over how beautiful this game is...it is literally like being at the controls of a Veritech. Fighter mode in my opinion is the easiest to control overall and I spent a good portion of my time fighting in that configuration. On the whole I have seldom seen a prettier game than this one.

Sound is a mixed bag. The sound effects don't irk me much but the one gripe I do have is the music. I wanted to hear the classic Robotech score as I flew in combat, it would have added to the tension and feel of the moment *just right*, whereas the synthesized almost-midi tracks overall will detract a bit from the experience for a Robotech fan like myself. There were only a few missions where the original score was allowed in and when it was it truly added to the experience.

Likewise the control is a little complicated and confusing (especially to a 31 year old like myself who's reflexes aren't as catlike as they were even 10 years ago), but after a few missions you'll find yourself able to do amazing things with a few presses of the button. Give it some time, older folks...it will come to you! :)

Overall I cannot help but be pleased with the game. The look and feel of it is pure Robotech and it is a thing of great beauty. Bring on the next game and include Hovertanks and Cyclones! Please!