06-26-2021, 04:58 AM
Here's one off the cuff.
Front Mission: Gun Hazard (SNES, SquareSoft/Omiya, 1996)
This game only came out in Japan originally, but has become available thanks to ROM translators and emulators. But it's one of those numerous "how the crap was this not released in North America?" type games, and honestly, it's among the best. It's a different sort of action-RPG, with most of these being based on the same sorts of fantasy, sword combat, and magic themes that your average turn-based RPG is. Not this one. It's basically Cybernator (or Assault Suits Valken if you prefer) with much deeper gameplay, and much of the development team that worked on the Konami mech-platformer classic also worked on this. While named Front Mission and using most of the terminology from the original, which came out a year earlier, it is actually set in a completely different timeline.
Let's start with the play control, shall we? Since you're piloting giant robots, you would expect a little clunkiness, right? Mercifully, a little is all you get. That aside, your "Wanzer" (a portmanteau of "walking Panzer") is quite easy to control, and the controls are intuitive. You can dash with a dash unit, jump relatively high, and hover/rocket-boost for brief periods of time thanks to what's called a "Vernier Unit." It should go without saying that the higher your unit number is, the more effective it is. Each element - including your actual Wanzer model - has five levels.
The graphics are pretty mind-blowing. For anyone who thought Cybernator had good graphics, this game blows those out of the water. The world map is in Mode 7 and each regional map is isometric with some very well-done graphics, while the stages themselves, especially the military bases and certain other stages, are more or less flawless. The character graphics are just as good and sometimes even add to the "keep you on your toes" factor. I'll talk more about that when we come to the story.
The music... oh that MUSIC! You can't go wrong with a team of the legendary Nobuo Uematsu, chief composer of the Final Fantasy series, and Yasunori Mitsuda, who was responsible for most of Chrono Trigger's soundtrack! What you get is an eclectic mix of classical and electronic that I absolutely love. And they have a Hammond Organ sound in one specific theme, but unlike that used in the original Bubsy, it actually sounds authentic and isn't overused. But never once is the music unsuitable. There are tracks for every emotion in the book in this bad boy! And the sound effects are very well done as well!
Level design is where one of the few gripes I have with this game appears. In some cave levels, they made passageways too small for your wanzer to fit through but large enough that enemies could, and when you leave your Wanzer in these contexts you are really taking a risk. But beyond that and a couple justifiably maze-like levels, the levels are never too confusing.
Balance of challenge could be called a "serrated curve" because of spikes in difficulty at major bosses. There is also a degree of randomness in the difficulty of certain stages, which makes for a not-so-smooth curve. But it is never too easy and never unbeatably hard even when it gets challenging.
The story is the best part of the game. You start out as a soldier in Northern Europe by the name of Albert Grabner, working for the country of Bergen. When Bergen is overthrown in a coup d'état staged by a colonel, he and the president try to flee together but the latter is kidnapped and the former bailed out by a mercenary who was originally in the colonel's employ; Albert becomes a part of the mercenary guild called the Kernelight Association, but the more assignments he takes on, the more he realises that the wars he is being hired to fight in are related to each other and to his homeland's downfall. The number of twists and turns in this story would give the Hope-Princeton Highway a run for its money! Runins with the Crimson Blow mercenaries and a shadowy "deep-state" organisation, and the inner workings of an abandoned solar-energy platform punctuate this novel-worthy story. Another thing - don't think you can necessarily judge the intentions of the characters by their looks. There are a couple of times where the game throws you a curveball - you think someone looks a little sketch and they turn out to be decent, or they look like they're alright but end up being total smegheads.
Fun factor - what can I say? If you like mech games, this is for you. There are, as I said, five different Wanzer models for Albert, and you can buy three primary weapons and nine or ten different secondary weapons. You also gain a new party member with each new mission as part of the storyline, starting out with Albert and adding mercenary Brenda, soldier Clark, rescued child Wanzer pilot Emil, spy and demolitions expert Luven, former army Wanzer pilot Axel (he's my personal favourite), shield-obsessed scientist Dr. Sakara, Crimson Blow reject Rook, and freedom fighter Anita. The dialogue ranges from dealing with very serious topics such as revenge, child labour, resource depletion, and the general horrors of war, to downright hilarious exchanges between members of your party and occasionally NPCs, especially Luven's flirting with any woman.
This quite easily rivals Star Ocean and Terranigma as the best game to never be released in North America.
Play control: 19/20
Graphics: 15/15
Music: 15/15
Sound effects: 10/10
Level design: 9/10
Balance of challenge: 8/10
Story: 10/10
Fun factor: 10/10
Final score: 96/100 A+
Front Mission: Gun Hazard (SNES, SquareSoft/Omiya, 1996)
This game only came out in Japan originally, but has become available thanks to ROM translators and emulators. But it's one of those numerous "how the crap was this not released in North America?" type games, and honestly, it's among the best. It's a different sort of action-RPG, with most of these being based on the same sorts of fantasy, sword combat, and magic themes that your average turn-based RPG is. Not this one. It's basically Cybernator (or Assault Suits Valken if you prefer) with much deeper gameplay, and much of the development team that worked on the Konami mech-platformer classic also worked on this. While named Front Mission and using most of the terminology from the original, which came out a year earlier, it is actually set in a completely different timeline.
Let's start with the play control, shall we? Since you're piloting giant robots, you would expect a little clunkiness, right? Mercifully, a little is all you get. That aside, your "Wanzer" (a portmanteau of "walking Panzer") is quite easy to control, and the controls are intuitive. You can dash with a dash unit, jump relatively high, and hover/rocket-boost for brief periods of time thanks to what's called a "Vernier Unit." It should go without saying that the higher your unit number is, the more effective it is. Each element - including your actual Wanzer model - has five levels.
The graphics are pretty mind-blowing. For anyone who thought Cybernator had good graphics, this game blows those out of the water. The world map is in Mode 7 and each regional map is isometric with some very well-done graphics, while the stages themselves, especially the military bases and certain other stages, are more or less flawless. The character graphics are just as good and sometimes even add to the "keep you on your toes" factor. I'll talk more about that when we come to the story.
The music... oh that MUSIC! You can't go wrong with a team of the legendary Nobuo Uematsu, chief composer of the Final Fantasy series, and Yasunori Mitsuda, who was responsible for most of Chrono Trigger's soundtrack! What you get is an eclectic mix of classical and electronic that I absolutely love. And they have a Hammond Organ sound in one specific theme, but unlike that used in the original Bubsy, it actually sounds authentic and isn't overused. But never once is the music unsuitable. There are tracks for every emotion in the book in this bad boy! And the sound effects are very well done as well!
Level design is where one of the few gripes I have with this game appears. In some cave levels, they made passageways too small for your wanzer to fit through but large enough that enemies could, and when you leave your Wanzer in these contexts you are really taking a risk. But beyond that and a couple justifiably maze-like levels, the levels are never too confusing.
Balance of challenge could be called a "serrated curve" because of spikes in difficulty at major bosses. There is also a degree of randomness in the difficulty of certain stages, which makes for a not-so-smooth curve. But it is never too easy and never unbeatably hard even when it gets challenging.
The story is the best part of the game. You start out as a soldier in Northern Europe by the name of Albert Grabner, working for the country of Bergen. When Bergen is overthrown in a coup d'état staged by a colonel, he and the president try to flee together but the latter is kidnapped and the former bailed out by a mercenary who was originally in the colonel's employ; Albert becomes a part of the mercenary guild called the Kernelight Association, but the more assignments he takes on, the more he realises that the wars he is being hired to fight in are related to each other and to his homeland's downfall. The number of twists and turns in this story would give the Hope-Princeton Highway a run for its money! Runins with the Crimson Blow mercenaries and a shadowy "deep-state" organisation, and the inner workings of an abandoned solar-energy platform punctuate this novel-worthy story. Another thing - don't think you can necessarily judge the intentions of the characters by their looks. There are a couple of times where the game throws you a curveball - you think someone looks a little sketch and they turn out to be decent, or they look like they're alright but end up being total smegheads.
Fun factor - what can I say? If you like mech games, this is for you. There are, as I said, five different Wanzer models for Albert, and you can buy three primary weapons and nine or ten different secondary weapons. You also gain a new party member with each new mission as part of the storyline, starting out with Albert and adding mercenary Brenda, soldier Clark, rescued child Wanzer pilot Emil, spy and demolitions expert Luven, former army Wanzer pilot Axel (he's my personal favourite), shield-obsessed scientist Dr. Sakara, Crimson Blow reject Rook, and freedom fighter Anita. The dialogue ranges from dealing with very serious topics such as revenge, child labour, resource depletion, and the general horrors of war, to downright hilarious exchanges between members of your party and occasionally NPCs, especially Luven's flirting with any woman.
This quite easily rivals Star Ocean and Terranigma as the best game to never be released in North America.
Play control: 19/20
Graphics: 15/15
Music: 15/15
Sound effects: 10/10
Level design: 9/10
Balance of challenge: 8/10
Story: 10/10
Fun factor: 10/10
Final score: 96/100 A+
Spammers Beware! I will destroy you by the POWAH of the JARK SIDE! ALL SPAMMERS WILL BE EXTERMINATED ON SIGHT.
Spammers EXTERMINATED: 120
(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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