One of the worst platformers I've ever played in my life. Fortunately, you only ever have to platform like, twice.
While I'm no fan of From Software's more popular works, I couldn't help but be suckered in to this thanks to the presence of mecha. I love me some giant robots, and this delivers without restraint. As a budget game on the PS1 that they were able to churn out yearly spinoffs and sequels to, it looks pretty good, with a lot of well made and recognisable models, and a ridiculous amount of ways to physically customise your mech.
As far as story is concerned, there's a fair few layers to it, but it's all mostly in the subtext of the mission briefings and mail you receive. Simply put, it's a post-apocalyptic setting where corporations control the world with their own private armies - stop me if you've heard it before. You're part of the Raven's Nest, a group of mechs-for-hire, mercenaries with no allegiance - not even to each other.
As you pick missions, you might notice some of them conflict with each other - you can choose to help multiple corporations, but depending on which ones you help more, you may stop recieving missions from others. This does lock you out of a lot of missions, but it's all good; once you clear the story, you can play and replay every mission in the game. It's pretty nicely made altogether, and the lack of direct story isn't really a big deal. You play as a mercenary who's doing dirty work for money and mech parts, why would they care about the finer details?
Concerning the gameplay - it definitely attempts to emulate the complicated process of handling a bigass robot. Of most contention, and the main thing that filters players from the offset, are the controls: D-pad moves you forwards and backwards, and turns you left and right (FromSoft wouldn't discover what an analog stick was for quite some time), while L1 and R1 strafe you left and right - very important for combat. The one that I think perplexes the most people are L2 and R2 for looking up and down. It really takes some getting used to, but mastering the controls halfway makes the game a breeze - the other half of that comes from optimising your build.
There's a lot of build options, holy crap. Heads can have different kinds of sensors and radar, even an automap (VERY helpful). There are all sorts of different arms - some are slender and weak, others are bulkier but inhibit the usage of certain weapons, some even have weapons built into them at the cost of equipping your own. Central cores can vary in attatchment spots for optional parts, and there are different targeting computers and generators for your AC's internals that determine how many lock-ons and the amount of power your weapons and booster can hold. Oh yeah, boosters - those things that make your AC fly all around the place because hell yeah, giant robots.
Most important of all, in my opinion, are the legs. There are 4 types: Bipedal, Reverse joint, 4-legged and Treaded. Bipedals are the most mobile but carry the least weight, and Treaded are the total opposite. The weight is the most important, as the legs can only support so much weight. For big guns, you'll need to sacrifice mobility and vice versa. It's ridiculously in-depth, and best of all - all parts you buy can be resold for full price, meaning there's no real risk in selling a part to try out a new one.
So where is the game lacking? Well, the missions themselves are a mixed bag. Some are short and simple and have lots of stuff to blow up, others are longer and a bit of a gauntlet to survive through, and a few are just...really long, slow and virtually empty, especially towards the end of the game. The final mission, in particular - I won't get into too much details for spoilers sake, but holy shit FromSoft, don't ever do that shit again.
Altogether, I enjoyed my time with this game and I think it's a pretty good, if not fantastic PS1 game....just as long as you're willing to learn a very irregular control scheme.
While I'm no fan of From Software's more popular works, I couldn't help but be suckered in to this thanks to the presence of mecha. I love me some giant robots, and this delivers without restraint. As a budget game on the PS1 that they were able to churn out yearly spinoffs and sequels to, it looks pretty good, with a lot of well made and recognisable models, and a ridiculous amount of ways to physically customise your mech.
As far as story is concerned, there's a fair few layers to it, but it's all mostly in the subtext of the mission briefings and mail you receive. Simply put, it's a post-apocalyptic setting where corporations control the world with their own private armies - stop me if you've heard it before. You're part of the Raven's Nest, a group of mechs-for-hire, mercenaries with no allegiance - not even to each other.
As you pick missions, you might notice some of them conflict with each other - you can choose to help multiple corporations, but depending on which ones you help more, you may stop recieving missions from others. This does lock you out of a lot of missions, but it's all good; once you clear the story, you can play and replay every mission in the game. It's pretty nicely made altogether, and the lack of direct story isn't really a big deal. You play as a mercenary who's doing dirty work for money and mech parts, why would they care about the finer details?
Concerning the gameplay - it definitely attempts to emulate the complicated process of handling a bigass robot. Of most contention, and the main thing that filters players from the offset, are the controls: D-pad moves you forwards and backwards, and turns you left and right (FromSoft wouldn't discover what an analog stick was for quite some time), while L1 and R1 strafe you left and right - very important for combat. The one that I think perplexes the most people are L2 and R2 for looking up and down. It really takes some getting used to, but mastering the controls halfway makes the game a breeze - the other half of that comes from optimising your build.
There's a lot of build options, holy crap. Heads can have different kinds of sensors and radar, even an automap (VERY helpful). There are all sorts of different arms - some are slender and weak, others are bulkier but inhibit the usage of certain weapons, some even have weapons built into them at the cost of equipping your own. Central cores can vary in attatchment spots for optional parts, and there are different targeting computers and generators for your AC's internals that determine how many lock-ons and the amount of power your weapons and booster can hold. Oh yeah, boosters - those things that make your AC fly all around the place because hell yeah, giant robots.
Most important of all, in my opinion, are the legs. There are 4 types: Bipedal, Reverse joint, 4-legged and Treaded. Bipedals are the most mobile but carry the least weight, and Treaded are the total opposite. The weight is the most important, as the legs can only support so much weight. For big guns, you'll need to sacrifice mobility and vice versa. It's ridiculously in-depth, and best of all - all parts you buy can be resold for full price, meaning there's no real risk in selling a part to try out a new one.
So where is the game lacking? Well, the missions themselves are a mixed bag. Some are short and simple and have lots of stuff to blow up, others are longer and a bit of a gauntlet to survive through, and a few are just...really long, slow and virtually empty, especially towards the end of the game. The final mission, in particular - I won't get into too much details for spoilers sake, but holy shit FromSoft, don't ever do that shit again.
Altogether, I enjoyed my time with this game and I think it's a pretty good, if not fantastic PS1 game....just as long as you're willing to learn a very irregular control scheme.