crufty
Arcane
Based on the strength of the comments here on Rebelstar Tatical Command, I went out and picked it up. In case anybody else cares, I figured I'd post my experiences. There is some end-game spoilage, but nothing related to the meat of the story.
Cost: Great
MSRP is $19.99. $20 is still $20, so I went out and exchanged a bunch of older PS2 games for this budget title. Wow! What a pot o' gold I had stored away. $0.07 for madden 2001, $0.35 for Gran Turismo. At the end of the day, all in all, the intial out of pocket expense was only $8. Can't beat that!
Story: Good enough
The story was entertaining. Maybe I was tired, but I actually chuckled here and there. About half the usual cliches were avoided--no love interest, no idiot bickering team members. Maybe it's a console requirement, but there were still a few in there. Oh well. The story itself seemed like it wanted to go deeper and darker, but was sliced up to make production deadlines. Or maybe it was just my particular play thru. The opening was very strong, but then it really didn't finish very well at all in the end. Additionally, there were some plot points which didn't really seem to fit when the story was viewed as a whole. Certainly, I enjoyed it a lot more than the other strategic/tactical GBA fare. The net sum: more than I expected, but in the end, dissappointing.
Gameplay: Pretty Good
The gameplay is pretty good for the tatically starved gaming audience. It's a slimmed down version of x-com, which means action point, turn-based I go-u go, with overwatch capability and multiple fire modes. The game requires thought, and you will have to spend some time adjusting your equipment and deployment options, which I thought was a nice change of pace. Smoke, troop speed, enemy morale and LOS are all critical aspects to consider--unusual for a GBA game. Overrall, this one is a tough title to put down once you start.
Like the story, you do see signs that there was a larger design that was perhaps trimmed...when your troops get wounded, they kneel. There are a variety of LOS hinderances that cry out for kneeling...but, kneeling as a defensive posture simply isn't an option. You can get access to hover packs, but battlefields are strictly 2D--there are objects that block LOS, but nothing really worth hovering over in my experience. About the only other thing really missing (besides the rest of the xcom base meta-game) was lighting...perhaps due to system limitations? Not a big deal really. Maybe next time!
Character development was good, as was the tie between stat and skill. Stealth as a skill seemed to be a bit game breaking. Perhaps it was me, but I found that I had a few core useful characters and the rest were minor distractions. Still, it was fun to get into massive combats, even if the underdeveloped characters were pretty useless.
The game permits a wide variety of play styles, which I liked as well. Some people found hand-to-hand combat pointless--I found it to be a game saver on more than one occasion. There is no character death, which is both good and bad. This is good for the casual gamer--no reason to save and reload after each move. But it does remove the tension and makes the game a little too easy. Unconcious characters do lose equipment, but I'd rather have dead troopers that get replaced by new troopers instead.
Hmm...some other items: There is a loading screen (odd for a cartridge game), but I didn't find this to be a problem.
There is also multiplayer, which I haven't tried, and a skirmish mode, which I have enjoyed.
Graphics: Well done
The graphics were clear and bright. I thought they were really well done. They could have used a few extra fps in the animation department, but its not a real bother. The anime style is a hold-over from the original X-COM game, and suits it perfectly. As usual, some variation with the various screens would have been nice, but as it stands, I thought the art was very well done all things considered. There are lots of nice little touches, involving furniture and the paper-dolled troopers.
Sound: Muted
After a few battles, I quickly muted the sound. Repetitve tunes, marignal sound effects, and at the end of the day, sound is not really required. Which, I might add, I did not mind in the slightest.
Bugs: Ah, tis a shame
It could very well be that many of the games "odder" features are due to a rushed delivery, and a difficulty in nailing down bugs. There are a variety of graphic glitches in the deployment phase, with troopers being deployed as dead, or in the wrong armor, etc. Once the game starts, I didn't notice any errors though, though I'm sure there are more. The biggest bug has to do with the ending--at the conclusion of the game, you are thrust into one final level, that apparently, is uncompletable. What was Namco thinking? Everything else seemed to work. Still, surprising to see that sort of thing in a console title.
Conclusion: Worth $8, but not much more.
The game is fun, and *most* of the various bugs and graphical glitches are easily overlooked. "The Sand Pit" ending really detracted from the overall experience. Up to that point it was a very enjoyable romp, with nice casual tatical gampelay. The pacing is spot on--if you're a busy gamer, this is a game you can open up, play 10/15 minutes, save, and then shut down. The challenge is more or less even, though as time goes on, odds are decidedly in your favor. As said in other threads, any fan of xcom owe it to themselves to pick this up. Worth $20? Probably not. Definitely worth $10 though.
The net-net of it all, is that you should have a good deal of challenging fun in a package that you won't be able to put down. But when you do, you'll feel kind of cheated--there could have been SO much more. Beyond the ending, which was pretty miserable--"that's it?", you'll start thinking of additional gameplay possiblities. Where are the ambushes? Where is the terror?
The science fiction is done better than most GBA titles, and the ending leaves little doubt that there could be a sequel. Hopefully, if done, the art direction will remain the same, as well as the core gameplay; leave well enough alone, and include more classic xcom experience. Gameplay additions aside, I really do get the feeling that with a little more poilsh on the story (or the original story) and we would have gotten a much better game.
If you're an x-com fan: must buy
Otherwise: C+
Cost: Great
MSRP is $19.99. $20 is still $20, so I went out and exchanged a bunch of older PS2 games for this budget title. Wow! What a pot o' gold I had stored away. $0.07 for madden 2001, $0.35 for Gran Turismo. At the end of the day, all in all, the intial out of pocket expense was only $8. Can't beat that!
Story: Good enough
The story was entertaining. Maybe I was tired, but I actually chuckled here and there. About half the usual cliches were avoided--no love interest, no idiot bickering team members. Maybe it's a console requirement, but there were still a few in there. Oh well. The story itself seemed like it wanted to go deeper and darker, but was sliced up to make production deadlines. Or maybe it was just my particular play thru. The opening was very strong, but then it really didn't finish very well at all in the end. Additionally, there were some plot points which didn't really seem to fit when the story was viewed as a whole. Certainly, I enjoyed it a lot more than the other strategic/tactical GBA fare. The net sum: more than I expected, but in the end, dissappointing.
Gameplay: Pretty Good
The gameplay is pretty good for the tatically starved gaming audience. It's a slimmed down version of x-com, which means action point, turn-based I go-u go, with overwatch capability and multiple fire modes. The game requires thought, and you will have to spend some time adjusting your equipment and deployment options, which I thought was a nice change of pace. Smoke, troop speed, enemy morale and LOS are all critical aspects to consider--unusual for a GBA game. Overrall, this one is a tough title to put down once you start.
Like the story, you do see signs that there was a larger design that was perhaps trimmed...when your troops get wounded, they kneel. There are a variety of LOS hinderances that cry out for kneeling...but, kneeling as a defensive posture simply isn't an option. You can get access to hover packs, but battlefields are strictly 2D--there are objects that block LOS, but nothing really worth hovering over in my experience. About the only other thing really missing (besides the rest of the xcom base meta-game) was lighting...perhaps due to system limitations? Not a big deal really. Maybe next time!
Character development was good, as was the tie between stat and skill. Stealth as a skill seemed to be a bit game breaking. Perhaps it was me, but I found that I had a few core useful characters and the rest were minor distractions. Still, it was fun to get into massive combats, even if the underdeveloped characters were pretty useless.
The game permits a wide variety of play styles, which I liked as well. Some people found hand-to-hand combat pointless--I found it to be a game saver on more than one occasion. There is no character death, which is both good and bad. This is good for the casual gamer--no reason to save and reload after each move. But it does remove the tension and makes the game a little too easy. Unconcious characters do lose equipment, but I'd rather have dead troopers that get replaced by new troopers instead.
Hmm...some other items: There is a loading screen (odd for a cartridge game), but I didn't find this to be a problem.
There is also multiplayer, which I haven't tried, and a skirmish mode, which I have enjoyed.
Graphics: Well done
The graphics were clear and bright. I thought they were really well done. They could have used a few extra fps in the animation department, but its not a real bother. The anime style is a hold-over from the original X-COM game, and suits it perfectly. As usual, some variation with the various screens would have been nice, but as it stands, I thought the art was very well done all things considered. There are lots of nice little touches, involving furniture and the paper-dolled troopers.
Sound: Muted
After a few battles, I quickly muted the sound. Repetitve tunes, marignal sound effects, and at the end of the day, sound is not really required. Which, I might add, I did not mind in the slightest.
Bugs: Ah, tis a shame
It could very well be that many of the games "odder" features are due to a rushed delivery, and a difficulty in nailing down bugs. There are a variety of graphic glitches in the deployment phase, with troopers being deployed as dead, or in the wrong armor, etc. Once the game starts, I didn't notice any errors though, though I'm sure there are more. The biggest bug has to do with the ending--at the conclusion of the game, you are thrust into one final level, that apparently, is uncompletable. What was Namco thinking? Everything else seemed to work. Still, surprising to see that sort of thing in a console title.
Conclusion: Worth $8, but not much more.
The game is fun, and *most* of the various bugs and graphical glitches are easily overlooked. "The Sand Pit" ending really detracted from the overall experience. Up to that point it was a very enjoyable romp, with nice casual tatical gampelay. The pacing is spot on--if you're a busy gamer, this is a game you can open up, play 10/15 minutes, save, and then shut down. The challenge is more or less even, though as time goes on, odds are decidedly in your favor. As said in other threads, any fan of xcom owe it to themselves to pick this up. Worth $20? Probably not. Definitely worth $10 though.
The net-net of it all, is that you should have a good deal of challenging fun in a package that you won't be able to put down. But when you do, you'll feel kind of cheated--there could have been SO much more. Beyond the ending, which was pretty miserable--"that's it?", you'll start thinking of additional gameplay possiblities. Where are the ambushes? Where is the terror?
The science fiction is done better than most GBA titles, and the ending leaves little doubt that there could be a sequel. Hopefully, if done, the art direction will remain the same, as well as the core gameplay; leave well enough alone, and include more classic xcom experience. Gameplay additions aside, I really do get the feeling that with a little more poilsh on the story (or the original story) and we would have gotten a much better game.
If you're an x-com fan: must buy
Otherwise: C+
