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»Super Robot Wars Destiny
"An awesome addition to the series."
The Super Robot Wars series has a few actual series housed within it (the original series, the Alpha series, and the Original Generation
series). However, at the same time, there are several games that don’t
fit into any continuity. Rather, these games create a unique storyline
based on the numerous anime series that each of the robots originate
from. All four of the SRW games for the Game Boy Advance adhere to this, creating its own original story, much like the majority of the Final Fantasy games. For example, the prologue in this game is based on Shin [True] Getter Robo (known as Getter Robo: Armageddon
in the US), in which you take control of the classic Getter Robo to
combat the threats of the recently revived Dr. Saotome, the Getter’s
creator. Other newcomers to the series include The Big O, Macross 7 (a sequel to the original series that Robotech was based on), Megazone 23, and Future God Daltanius. These new mechs join other old classics, from the Gundam series and various other mecha anime.
In SRWD, you take on the role of either Joshua Radcliff
(the male protagonist) or Cliana Rimskaya (the female protagonist).
After choosing your pilot, you then choose between four mecha - the
Aile Chevalier, the Blanche Diege, the Ganador, and the Strega. The
first two are real types, which are eventually upgraded, while the
other two are super types that eventually combine to form the powerful
Forte Gigas.
Throughout the first century of the Space
Era, many life-changing events have occurred. During the 109th year of
the Space Era, the Zentradi war happened, giving humanity its first
contact with an alien race. It ended with peace between the two races,
thanks to Lynn Minmei's song and the SDF Skull Squadron pilot Ichijo
Hikaru that led a small group of Zentadi to declare peace. These
Zentradi would later help rebuild the Earth, but it was still
devastated by the War. Many people went out into Space Colonies
afterward and plans were made for Voyage Ship carrying a city of people
to new planets to colonize. During Space Year 123, the Invaders first
appeared on the moon. Getter Robo was created by Professor Saotome to
fight this new threat, and was successful in doing so - the Invaders
were wiped out by Getter Robo and its fantastic Getter Energy. In Space
Year 129, the space colonies that were devastated by the Zentradi war
and the Invader attacks and were not cared for by the Federation began
a revolt against Earth Government lead by the Principality of Zeon, in
what became known as the One Year War, which the Federation won partly
due to Amuro Rei and the RX-78 Gundam.
In the next year, Space Year 130, Dr. Saotome supposedly died at the
hands of his close friend, Ryouma Nagare (the former Getter Team
leader). This occurred only shortly after his daughter Michelle died
during a Getter Robo G Combination practice. three years later,
Professor Saotome turned up alive; however, he was insane and attempted
to destroy the Earth using a legion of mass produced Getter Robo G.
Though he failed, the battle resulted in an Earth permeated with Getter
Radiation that would take years to settle.Other wars soon engulfed the
Earth, including the Grips War against the Titans and several others
throughout Space Years 137 and 138. During Space Year 145, OZ, a force
much like the Titans, staged a successful coup de tat and assumed power
in the Federation. Meanwhile, Neo Zeon, under the leadership of Char
Aznable, prepared to send Axis hurtling towards Earth.
The basic gameplay structure in SRWD
is the same as the rest of the series. Your troops and the enemy’s
troops are scattered across the battlefield, and you are allowed to
move your troops a particular number of spaces during your turn. If you
are in range of an enemy soldier, you can then choose to attack one of
them once per turn. After you perform an attack, they are then able to
do a counterattack (assuming that they survive). Your attacks vary
depending on which mech you are using, and certain attacks can only be
used at certain points due to a lack of range, EN (the equivalent of
MP), or Morale, among other factors. You can also use Seishin
techniques which drain your pilot’s SP when used, but allow a specific
effect to happen (such as a 100% hit rate or double damage). Once you
end your turn, the enemy will then take their turn. They can do
everything that you can, generally opting to attack you instead of
avoid you. When attacked by an enemy, you can choose to either
counterattack, attempt to evade the attack, or defend from the attack.
However, there are also new features added to the gameplay. First off
are two small systems, that are only used for mechs from certain
series, the Godmars and Song Systems (relating to Godmars and Macross 7
respectively). The Godmars system allows the mech (specifically a Gaia
piloted by either Takeru or Margue) the ability to transform into a
Godmars after having completed a certain objective (such as losing a
certain amount of health or gaining a set amount of morale). The Song
system disables the Macross 7 team’s ability to use actual attacks,
substituting them for songs, which are used to boost friendly pilots’
abilities and can affect certain enemies. Next, there’s the combo
system, a new addition to Destiny, which allows you to attack
several enemies at once if they are lined up in a certain fashion. In
order to perform these, you need to use a certain attack (marked with a
©) and you must have the combo skill. Likewise, the combo attack is not
guaranteed to hit all enemies, it may hit a few, or it may miss all of
them entirely. There are a few other systems, such as the Status
Weapons system (which allows certain default weapons to cause effects),
the Shop system (which allows you to sell extra items), and the ability
to rename Weapons, which is a nifty (albeit useless) ability.
The graphics are a step up from Reversal’s, lying somewhere in between it and those of Original Generation 2.
The anime colors of the past two non-OG games shows up again. But this
time, they look somewhat more professional, mostly due to the advances
made in battle animations, menus (the glowing blue grid in the
background is a nice touch), and even battle maps. The profile shots
are still a bit too small and not quite as detailed as those of the Original Generation games, but they still look nice. Also, the battle animations aren’t quite up to par with OG2’s, but they’re getting closer and have improved vastly over the original OG's. The sound, on the other hand, is pretty much at the same level that it was in Reversal - not all that impressive, but it’s still pretty good nonetheless.
If you're thinking of importing, I would have to say go for it; it's a
pretty great game. It features a few series that are new to the games,
it’s got a great engine, and needless to say, it’s fun. If you like the
Original Generation games, don’t mind too much about playing a game in Japanese, and prefer the choice of series in this game over MX Portable’s and Judgment’s, then Super Robot Wars Destiny is the game for you.
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Dec. 20th, 2006 |
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