Robotech: Battlecry
For starters, the most important innovation in Robotech: Battlecry is the use of cel-shaded graphics. The fully 3D environment has been given a super-saturated, animated look so it more closely resembles the show than the realism that games are rapidly moving towards. Despite what other reviews may say, however, this doesn't mimic the ink and paint look of Robotech so much as the clean look of Futurama. Still, it helps set the tone of the game. Also effective in that sense is the use of the show's original music for the opening and the return of many of the original voice actors.
Gameplay:
The game arms the player with a Veritech, a transforming warcraft that has three modes: the battloid is a giant robot, the fighter is a sleek jet, and the guardian is sort of a hybrid. Often an agile player will utilize these different forms in multiple ways. For instance, racing through low canyons as a fighter then quickly changing into a guardian to quickly spin 180-degrees. There is definitely a best form for each level but it helps to have one finger near the D-pad at all times for a quick switch.
There are also benefits to each form. The fighter and guardian fire impressive batches of missles that leave nice white smoke trails, something that should look familir to fans of the show. The missles are more powerful in the fighter while the Veritech's other weapon, a machine gun, tracks targets better in the guardian. The battloid doesn't have missles but the machine gun tracks much better. The battloid is most easily maneuvered in small spaces and has a sniper feature (although that doesn't come in handy too often.) One problem with the guardian is that it defaults to a slow, clumsy forward crawl that's not easy to stop (down on the D-pad, but for some reason not that responsive.) This causes some awkwardness at times but even so there's an appropriate sense that these are huge machines, not nimble little toy robots. Turning on a dime should be tough for a megaton machine and the game replicates that, even if it makes gameplay a bit sluggish at times.
Graphics:
By far the most fun parts are any battles that take place in space. One sequence features millions of enemy ships cluttering up the universe while your little fighter swoops in and out of range, picking off baddies one at a time. Even though many of the larger enemy ships are just decoration and can't be reached they still add a great sense of urgency and beauty to the sequence. Besides, you'll be way too busy diving towards the one or two reachable motherships to noice that the rest are out of range.
The game switches between these exciting flying missions (some in space, some in the sky and some in groovy canyons) and city-based missions. The city missions are slower and messier as you are supposed to try to do as little damage to the city as possible. Like in the show, however, a lot of buildings get wrecked in the process. This can be pain especially in missions like the one where your only goal is to protect a huge civic center. no matter what you do, it seems, the baddies will blow that sucker up, usually with inadvertant help from your own missles. This sort of trial-and-error gameplay does get frustrating but luckily the game is set up so that you can always go back and replay previous missions at any time, giving you a high-speed break from the drudgery of playing at street level.
Audio:
One disappointing thing about both of these types of missions is the limits set on altitude. Gamers used to the freedom of games like Grand Theft Auto III (not that there are many other games like GTAIII) will definitely feel cheated when they realize the fighter can't dip down to Earth from the sky or that the guardian can't fly over many of the taller buildings in the city. Having an invisible ceiling that's lower than the skyline is a big mistake.
The story of the game, as far as I can tell, is just to go into each battle and kick some enemy butt. There doesn't seem to be a thread holding it together other than "aliens are invading and we have to defend oureselves." This creates a disjointed atmosphere with little to grip the player. unlike more plot heavy games like the Metal Gear Solid series or Max Payne, players are unlikely to be hooked simply to see how things turn out.
Conclusion:
There is also a two-player battle mode that can result in some fun dueling but it's mostly a matter of who can fire the most rockets. Since the different Veritechs available are all pretty similar in specs (some are weighted a little more towards weapons, some to speed, some to defense) this isn't much more than a shooting match. Also the screen splits in half horizontally so each player has their own view of the action. This is a reasonable solution but it limits the view for each player to half the screen size and makes the squat playing area a bit awkward. Still, it's cool to see how long it take for the missles to reach their destinations.
For fans of the series, Robotech: Battlecry should have some very fun sequences. Certainly the flying sequences are teriffic and exciting with some high-paced dogfights and nifty effects. Real big fans of the show will probably even enjoy the city levels, even though they get a bit old after a while. TDK will undoubtedly make more Robotech games in the future and if they expand on the successes of this one and work out the kinks they should be able to make some pretty great games.