Yeah, it's very funny, but I just can't play any more of this.
If I wasn't already aware that this was an original Xbox game, featuring a legendary voice over, and was exclusive to Japan, I could be mistaken for thinking this was some kind of modern day parody of games like Metal Gear Rising.
The story which can be boiled down to "The US President fights the Vice President in a mech suit" is so off the charts bonkers that its charms are immediately apparent. There was a lot of bad voice acting/direction in this era, and that was just the standard for most games. But this is very clearly knowingly awful, and I'm sure it was a blast to record. "SUCK ON MY MISSILE PUNCH!" Unfortunately though, the game suffers from being really basic and repetitive, and if it wasn't for some pretty impressive destruction, its design seems firmly rooted in the prior console era. There's just a few too many rough edges with ridiculous game over states and an emphasis on grinding out better weapons to replace your immediately redundant weapons after every couple of missions. It's very clearly an old game with old design, and I would have welcomed a couple of quality of life options in this rerelease as it would have unquestionably made this a better game.
I made my way through most of the game if the trophies are to be believed, but it became clear after a few hours that the best parts are the briefings and the cutscenes, and it's not worth suffering through some of the difficulty bullshit... And before you ask, this isn't some "git gud" From difficulty, this is some old ass game design difficulty. When looking something up about the game I came across a Steam thread for this game, where a bunch of dudes are all posturing about their Souls skills and gitting gudder. Honestly, that shit is almost as funny as this game... or it would be if it wasn't so sad.
Thankful that Devolver put this out, and it easily available, but it's pretty apparent that there was probably a good reason the West never saw this.
If I wasn't already aware that this was an original Xbox game, featuring a legendary voice over, and was exclusive to Japan, I could be mistaken for thinking this was some kind of modern day parody of games like Metal Gear Rising.
The story which can be boiled down to "The US President fights the Vice President in a mech suit" is so off the charts bonkers that its charms are immediately apparent. There was a lot of bad voice acting/direction in this era, and that was just the standard for most games. But this is very clearly knowingly awful, and I'm sure it was a blast to record. "SUCK ON MY MISSILE PUNCH!" Unfortunately though, the game suffers from being really basic and repetitive, and if it wasn't for some pretty impressive destruction, its design seems firmly rooted in the prior console era. There's just a few too many rough edges with ridiculous game over states and an emphasis on grinding out better weapons to replace your immediately redundant weapons after every couple of missions. It's very clearly an old game with old design, and I would have welcomed a couple of quality of life options in this rerelease as it would have unquestionably made this a better game.
I made my way through most of the game if the trophies are to be believed, but it became clear after a few hours that the best parts are the briefings and the cutscenes, and it's not worth suffering through some of the difficulty bullshit... And before you ask, this isn't some "git gud" From difficulty, this is some old ass game design difficulty. When looking something up about the game I came across a Steam thread for this game, where a bunch of dudes are all posturing about their Souls skills and gitting gudder. Honestly, that shit is almost as funny as this game... or it would be if it wasn't so sad.
Thankful that Devolver put this out, and it easily available, but it's pretty apparent that there was probably a good reason the West never saw this.