Super Robot Taisen D – Review
Game Boy Advance
Review by DracoLord
Reviewed: 12/23/2003
So close to being perfect, yet not perfect
Another game, another review, and this is a game in a Genre I truly enjoy, so hopefully it will not disappoint. In short, this game is a combination of a variety of different 'Giant Robot' or 'Mecha' Series's put together to make a game. With countless units, characters, weapons and abilities, this game should offer everything for the fans of this Genre, and of Mecha in general.
STORY: 10/10
The story of this game follows many different plots, lines of thinking, and ideas of multiple Mecha Series's, ranging from the popular Gundam series, to Macross and many others. The danger of threading multiple story-lines together is that it must be tweaked, and be made accurate, so that it 'flows' properly; and thankfully, this game has accomplished this, almost flawlessly.
GRAPHICS: 9/10
The sprites of the units are excellent, the portraits of the characters are accurate and refreshingly refined, so why didn't I give this section a 10? Well, the Icons, which represent the units on the Map are too small and are relatively simple, making it hard to distinguish between units at a glance. This is not the only reason, although the sprites are detailed, accurate and are integrated well into the game, they are too 'static', in the sense that weapons suddenly appear, rather than them reaching for them, or pulling them out from a compartment etc.
BATTLE ANIMATIONS: 10/10
Due to the true splender of these Animations, I had to separate them from the Graphics' 9/10 section. These truly set this game apart from all others, they are simply breath-taking, with their range from the simple Machine Gun, to massive Double and Triple Team Attacks, resulting in sequences lasting almost 30 Seconds! They are so good, that you can't wait to watch them again, and again (but there is always an option to skip the sequences if you are getting sick of seeing the same one(s) over and over.)
SOUND: 10/10
Another key-element of any game is the Music and Sound FX, and this game does not disappoint. The Music changes flawlessly between sequences, representing the Character's particular series (Rhythm of Emotion for Gundam Wing etc.)
The Sound Effects for the weaponry and actions are true to form, and help to enhance this amazing game even further, providing accurate re-creations of the original Weapons from the respective series.
DIFFICULTY: 8/10
(As this is not generally used to consider buying/renting a game, this section will not effective the Overall score.)
With the addition of Team Attacks, Allied Covering, Double and Triple Attacks, this game has added a whole new level of strategy in deciding the moves and actions of your units. The units and characters themselves also add to the strategy, as they have their strengths, weaknesses and limitations, forcing the player to really Think before acting. In addition to these features, the sheer numbers of enemies within each mission presents a challenge in itself, with odds of 2-1, or even greater, making each move truly count towards the completion or failure of the entire mission.
REPLAY: 10/10
This game not only can be played multiple times, but it makes the player WANT to play it multiple times, a true achievement for any game. With Two Characters to choose from at the start, with a further Four Original Mobile Suits to vary the selection even further, there are already so many options and variations you can follow. Not content on letting the player down, there are multiple routes through the game, with the choices made earlier in the game making a direct impact on the next set of choices, which are further affected by other choices and so on. Short of adding a Multi-Player mode, you could not make this game any more re-playable.
OVERALL: 9/10
This game is a MUST-HAVE for Turn-Based strategy fans and Mecha Fans alike, with the Huge selection of MSs and Characters, this game will keep even the biggest Mecha fans happy for a great deal of time. Like all games, this is not perfect; not far from it; but still flawed in some small details which prevent me from giving this stunning game a 10/10 rating.....nearly, very nearly.
STORY: 10/10
The story of this game follows many different plots, lines of thinking, and ideas of multiple Mecha Series's, ranging from the popular Gundam series, to Macross and many others. The danger of threading multiple story-lines together is that it must be tweaked, and be made accurate, so that it 'flows' properly; and thankfully, this game has accomplished this, almost flawlessly.
GRAPHICS: 9/10
The sprites of the units are excellent, the portraits of the characters are accurate and refreshingly refined, so why didn't I give this section a 10? Well, the Icons, which represent the units on the Map are too small and are relatively simple, making it hard to distinguish between units at a glance. This is not the only reason, although the sprites are detailed, accurate and are integrated well into the game, they are too 'static', in the sense that weapons suddenly appear, rather than them reaching for them, or pulling them out from a compartment etc.
BATTLE ANIMATIONS: 10/10
Due to the true splender of these Animations, I had to separate them from the Graphics' 9/10 section. These truly set this game apart from all others, they are simply breath-taking, with their range from the simple Machine Gun, to massive Double and Triple Team Attacks, resulting in sequences lasting almost 30 Seconds! They are so good, that you can't wait to watch them again, and again (but there is always an option to skip the sequences if you are getting sick of seeing the same one(s) over and over.)
SOUND: 10/10
Another key-element of any game is the Music and Sound FX, and this game does not disappoint. The Music changes flawlessly between sequences, representing the Character's particular series (Rhythm of Emotion for Gundam Wing etc.)
The Sound Effects for the weaponry and actions are true to form, and help to enhance this amazing game even further, providing accurate re-creations of the original Weapons from the respective series.
DIFFICULTY: 8/10
(As this is not generally used to consider buying/renting a game, this section will not effective the Overall score.)
With the addition of Team Attacks, Allied Covering, Double and Triple Attacks, this game has added a whole new level of strategy in deciding the moves and actions of your units. The units and characters themselves also add to the strategy, as they have their strengths, weaknesses and limitations, forcing the player to really Think before acting. In addition to these features, the sheer numbers of enemies within each mission presents a challenge in itself, with odds of 2-1, or even greater, making each move truly count towards the completion or failure of the entire mission.
REPLAY: 10/10
This game not only can be played multiple times, but it makes the player WANT to play it multiple times, a true achievement for any game. With Two Characters to choose from at the start, with a further Four Original Mobile Suits to vary the selection even further, there are already so many options and variations you can follow. Not content on letting the player down, there are multiple routes through the game, with the choices made earlier in the game making a direct impact on the next set of choices, which are further affected by other choices and so on. Short of adding a Multi-Player mode, you could not make this game any more re-playable.
OVERALL: 9/10
This game is a MUST-HAVE for Turn-Based strategy fans and Mecha Fans alike, with the Huge selection of MSs and Characters, this game will keep even the biggest Mecha fans happy for a great deal of time. Like all games, this is not perfect; not far from it; but still flawed in some small details which prevent me from giving this stunning game a 10/10 rating.....nearly, very nearly.
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Rating:
9
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