I went into this game having mostly only heard of it offhandedly via a joke from the Starship Amazing crew, so I thought I might get some giggles out of it and maybe play it for like an hour. Eight straight hours later I was watching the credits back, holding back crying at the happy ending (and I'm very much a sucker for a happy ending).

On the technical side, the game isn't anything totally groundbreakingly amazing: It's a 3rd person cover shooter. Though it mixes things up with upgradable guns, and passives you can buy to toggle in and out of your various squad members, those don't really add too much. There's a kind of squad maneuvering system where you actually talk into your microphone to issue commands to your squad to give them instructions beyond their AI, but I felt way too embarrassed to really give it any decent attempt, and there are hotkeys you can use by holding TAB anyway, so it's really just a novelty. I personally never used the squad system much, but maybe it's one of those things that's only necessary on harder difficulties.

The one bit I did think was pretty cool was, because most all the enemies you fight are (at least vaguely) humanoid robots, you can shoot off their limbs, and their combat tactics will shift accordingly. Lose their gun holding arm? They'll pick it up in their other one and keep firing at you. Lose their legs? They'll crawl at you, "Aliens"-style, graspin' at ya, and you'll have to shoot them off your leg if they get'cha. And, if you shoot off their head without damaging them too much before hand, they'll start firing on their robo-comrades, giving you an incentive to be accurate.

The game also has tons of really big and varied boss battles, most of which I can't imagine doing on a controller because your shots would need to be so precise, but damn, that final boss was a tough bastard.

The combat was fun and fast-paced enough that it let me really enjoy the story. The story is almost a BattleStar Galactica-type deal, but before any of the actual show. It's 2080, and robots have become a big deal in replacing humans in the workforce after climate change-induced flooding kills 75% of the world's population. Although, recently robots completely indistinguishable from humans have shown up, so good they don't even know they're robots, and humans are understandably upset about this. Your mission is to break into a fascist-run isolationist Japan and find the robot-producing company owner you think is responsible.

The main character doesn't seem like he has too much personality at first, especially with how you, the player, are kind of intended to provide his voice usually during the game-play's banter, but he starts talking a lot more after the first chapter. Your squad mates though, they're where all the great stuff is. I found just about everyone from pig-headed, one-liner quipping Big Bo, to the no nonsence Faye all very griping, and it really had me by the throat to see the conclusion.

Conclusion: This is another little single-player (though it does have online) gem that really flew under the radar of most everyone last gen, it seems. It's nothing incredible in terms of innovative gameplay, but it tells a great and compelling story, and considering it's on PS3, 360, and PC and routinely goes for under a fiver for each, it's a great way to spend half of a day.

Uma gema esquecida pelo tempo e abandonada pelo povo. Um dos melhores jogos que eu já joguei em minha vida.
TODO persinagem nesse jogo é perfeitamente montado a mão, desde sua aparência até cada centímetro de sua personalidade, e até mesmo suas rotinas completamente únicas e individualizadas, além disso, 175 de todos os 300 personagens são recrutaveis pro seu grupo, com seu próprio estilo de luta e comportamento. São mais de 100 personagens únicos que podem caminhar e lutar ao seu lado.
O jogo continua lindo até hoje, sua trilha sonora é extremamente única e marcante, e a história é boa o suficiente pra te prender por horas, incluindo uma bifurcação no meio da narrativa que leva por dois caminhos completamente diferentes um do outro.
É uma pena que esse jogo tenha sido esquecido pela indústria e pelos fãs, Radiata Stories é algo completamente único e que nunca foi, e possivelmente nunca será replicado ou superado desde seu lançamento em 2007.