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»Super Robot Wars Reversal
"Better than the last, but still not the best."
Admittedly, when I played this game’s “prequel”, Super Robot Wars Advance, I was a bit dissatisfied. Of course, considering my first taste of the series was Original Generation, the third Super Robot Wars game for the Game Boy Advance. So, this time around, I’m reviewing the second GBA game, Super Robot Wars R [Reversal].
A step forward from the first game, you can definitely see several
traces of OG showing up in this iteration, but there are still enough
traces of Advance to differentiate the two games.
The
year is S.C. (Space Century) 141. Humanity has projected to live at
space, created the space colonies, and the time since its mobilization
into the cosmos has exceeded an entire century. The discord that was
born between those who live on Earth and those who live in space caused
numerous conflicts, which culminated in the space colony known as Side
3 renaming themselves “The Principality of Zeon”, and declaring a war
for independence against the Earth Federation. After the end of a war
named One Year War, the arguments of the Earthnoids and Spacenoids
continued. As a result, both Earth and the colonies received damage,
causing a change in Earth’s environment. People tired of the long war
took the Total Pacifism as an ideal, and the Earth Sphere Nation rose,
and the war between humanity came to an end. Due to Earth’s exhaustion
of war, many invaders appeared from both inside and outside Earth. With
the Earth Sphere Nation’s reduction of military affairs in progress due
to the ideals of Total Pacifism, the ESN had no power to resist these
alien invaders, and the Earth’s only hope lied in numerous robots,
built by independent labs, that rose to resist them. Due to this
incident, the powerless Total Pacifism was criticized, and a coup d'état occurred,
causing the Earth Sphere Nation to fall and the Neo Earth Federation
government to rise, with Dekim Barton as its representative. The Neo
Earth Federation was able to counter the invaders, but its relation
with Neo Zeon, with Char Aznable as its supreme commander, were
failing, and the war between Earth and its space colonies began anew.
In Super Robot Wars R [Reversal],
you are given the choice of playing as a male pilot, Raul, and a
female, Fiona. Despite the choice of two pilots, the only real gameplay
difference lies in the character’s dialogue. Both pilots pilot a new
kind of transforming robot, known as the Excellence. This game also
introduces several new series to the game’s universe, much like in most
of the games. This edition’s additions include characters from The Prince of Darkness (the movie sequel to the Martian Successor Nadesico series), Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo (another chapter in the Getter Robo series) and GEAR Fighter Dendoh.
Once
again, the basic gameplay is typical for the series. It’s a strategy
game where you control your various mecha, sending them to various
areas on the battleground, encountering enemies, and fighting them in
small, one-turn battles, involving a single attack from each attacking
mech. After your turn, your opponents are afforded the same luxuries,
and when attacked, you’re allowed three options: counterattack, evade
(which decreases the hit rate of the attack by about half) or defend
(which dulls the attack’s damage). If one of your allies is in range,
they can provide you with back-up, either by attacking again after you
attack an enemy or by taking damage for you, if you’re being attacked.
Every time you perform an attack, the pilot that attacks gains Morale
points, which allow you to unlock the mecha’s full potential, with more
powerful attacks. You can also use your pilot’s SP to perform various
out-of-battle Spirit Techniques, that allow you to replenish health,
increase your hit/evade percentages and double your attack power.
Reversal
introduces a new system to the series: the “Ace Pilot” system.
Essentially, when a pilot kills a certain amount of enemies in battle,
he/she gains an “A” beside their portrait, which adds to their starting
Morale. Aside from that, the game resembles its predecessors.
This time around, the graphics have been upgraded quite a bit from Advance; in fact, they’re almost on par with Original Generation’s.
The artwork still maintains the colorful, anime-inspired style of SRWA,
but this time around, the battle animations are a lot more, well, animated.
In some cases, the battle animations are actually better than OG’s, in
a few minor ways. Though the mobility of the mechs is superior in OG,
there are a few special features that make Reversal’s graphics
look great. For example, each individual hit in the various combo
attacks, causes the attacked mecha’s HP to decrease more gradually, as
opposed to OG’s trend of forcing the entire bar down all at once, which
is a nice touch that shows up in most of the console games. Another
nice graphical touch is the appearance of pilots in various moves.
While OG simply used a still frame, separate from the battle to depict
various things, Reversal actually imposes the pilot’s image
onto the battlefield, with a nice transparency effect that looks a lot
more professional than the plain still images.
The same goes for the sound quality which is miles above that of Advance’s.
Everything sounds much clearer this time around and the music sounds
more advanced than its predecessor. Sound effects are still pretty
average, though.
When it comes to importing, this
game is a better choice than its predecessor. However, there are still
other superior iterations of the series, namely Super Robot Wars MX Portable for the PSP and Super Robot Wars J [Judgment] for the GBA. Above all, I suggest you play Original Generation
before committing to purchase any Japanese SRW game. Still, this is
probably the first SRW GBA game that I would fully recommend purchasing.
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Nov. 13th, 2006 |
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