"The epitome of wash, rinse, repeat."

My Dreamcast collection really needed some spicing, that was for sure. My brother owed me a bit for a game I picked up for him. Instead of money, he offered some games that he brought to my house one day. Of the ones offered up like the sacrificial virgin, I took a couple of space shooters: Mars Matrix and this game, Armada (developed by Metro3D). My initial reaction to Armada was quite pleasant. Until now, I'd hardly ever played a game that blends space shooting with RPG elements. After a while, I began to refer to this game as ''Diablo in Space.'' That's basically what it was, minus the great customization. I played and continued to play Armada for quite some time. After a while, the game became an exercise in repetition. Destroy that thing. Go home and take another assignment. Now, go destroy that other thing. Go home and take another assignment. Drop this stuff off at [insert base name here]. Unlike games like Diablo, the game does not give you much variance in quests/missions. While Diablo gave you quests that helped establish more to the storyline and give the game some depth, Armada's missions held back the kind of depth the game could have had. With a game like this, you surely could have added a bit more depth to keep it interesting. Add in a running storyline. Give some special missions with special objectives. Instead, it's the same run of missions over and over again until, finally, you complete the last mission. This is fine for anyone who loves mindless shooting for an entire game and building up experience and money pointlessly (at least it seems pointless in the long run) until you've won the day.

Armada depicts a battle among the stars as many sentient races ban together for a common cause. You see, all the humans on Earth had to relocate due to an asteroid that was about to collide with the planet. Through tears and sadness, the Earthlings broke apart and made their homes on the many planets in the far reaches of space. Sometime after this, a deadly force known only as the Armada appeared. These cunning creatures took over whole worlds and destroyed all those who opposed them. All trembled in their wake... Except what remained of the human race. After years of evolution, humans became six different species. Armies of these species then came together to stop the force known as The Armada. Does that not sound like a B-movie, or what? Not that I have anything against B-movies; Most of my DVD collection consists of such. However, we are treated to a very basic plot. One that works well enough, but unfortunately doesn't seem to build much throughout the game.

You are one of the six species. Yes, you can pick which one you want to be. You start out on some planet with many others aiding you in a battle against Armada forces. Your first mission is to destroy the threat on that planet. This planet is actually your home base, where you will return every time you run out of lives or reload your game. Take in the beautiful graphics you see here while you can. The graphics actually go downhill from here. You won't see any such array of gorgeous coloring and detail anywhere else. You can speak with the inhabitants of the planet to get more insight on what is going on in the game. In a way, a bit of depth is given on the Armada from just speaking to these people and gaining their views on our war. In a sense, it's representative on the usual political views that seem to circulate any time there is a war. Some of the characters question as to whether or not our killing off the Armada is really just, as we are taking another life. Others say that the only good Armada being is a dead one.

The mechanics to the game can feel a bit awkward, but don't take too incredibly long to get used to. The game is an overhead view and you can use the controls to maneuver your ship. Hitting the R or L triggers allows you to speed up. This drains your energy, which can be refilled as you rest. You also have your array of weaponry for offense and defense: A regular blaster, some neutron bombs, and some shields to keep damage low and restore your energy. Don't worry, you are not confined to the planet. You actually have to leave it to do other missions. You will notice one thing about this game. What it lacks in color, it makes up for in animation. The framerates are very smooth (until you engage a huge group of enemies, then you get quite a bit of slowdown) and to add a little extra detail and atmosphere, you get some space fog. While flying around outside of the planet, you will be engaged by many Armada ships. The further you get away from your planet, the stronger they are and the more experience their worth (this means quicker death and quicker levels). After gaining a few levels, your ship gets an upgrade, which makes it much stronger and tougher.

As mentioned before, the game is mission-based. Unfortunately, you aren't given a whole lot in terms of missions. The missions that you will see pop up the most are destroy [insert creature here], invade [insert planet here], and deliver supplies to [insert base name here]. You'd think that the creature and invasion missions would be the best. When attacking a creature, you'd expect to see something really mean looking and original. Rather, you are treated to a larger version of one of the regular Armada creatures that you see floating around space. Big whoop. The least that Metro3D could have done in developing this game is create some original bosses. Instead, we are given inflated rehash. This is not to say that the enemy designs don't look incredibly horrible, but they are a far cry from marvelous. As far as invading planets goes, those happen to be the hardest missions. Not only did the developers really stiff us on the boss designs, but they also did so on the unbalanced difficulty. In one mission, you could totally whoop the stuffing out of a boss, then you get a mission to go to a planet and get the stuffing whooped out of you by a boss (and its bodyguards) that is way more powerful than the last.

You are probably thinking, ''No problem! I'll just level up and get new equipment like any other RPG!'' If only it were that easy... You see, building levels takes a long, long time of repetitive killing. Sure, most every RPG has ''repetitive killing.'' This game, however, takes that to the next level. There have been times where I've had to kill enemies for what seemed like an hour before I gained a level. As it turns out, that one level didn't do much. In order to get strong enough, you seem to have to gain many levels, which takes even more time to do. In the time it takes one to build up those levels, the players could eventually lose interest. As far as new equipment goes, none of it really seems that helpful. You can only equip a few items. What advantages they do give you do not amount to enough to fight off the Armada. In order to get the really good stuff, you have to build up to a high enough level. Then, the bases will have those special pieces of equipment in stock... For more than an arm and a leg. Hell, speaking in terms of limbs, you'd have to pay and arm and a leg from half of the people in the state of Washington. So, there's more repetitive killing you have to do just to get your mitts on enough cash to hold in your grasp an item that can (hopefully) finish off the Armada. Needless to say, this gets old very fast.

You've heard enough of my bickering. You probably want to hear something good about this game. Yes, there are some handy upsides. The gameplay actually is not all that bad. The mechanics work well and the game is actually fun and addictive for the first hour or so. In other words, if you really want to enjoy this game, it's probably best you don't devote hours to it every week, but maybe a few at a time. Either that or find a character you can download onto your VMU that can waste the Armada at the drop of a dime. Does this game give you any side missions? Well, yes it does, actually... Sort of. Every now and then you will get a transmission for help. This will be a ship that needs you to help guide it to the coordinates it is headed for. Should you help out and destroy all Armada ships along the way, you will be rewarded with some bonus money. It may not be much (depends on where in the galaxy you are), but it is a bit that you can use. Thankfully, you can keep your character when you're done with the game. It can constantly be exported and imported into new games. As it turns out, you can gain quite a bit of experiences this way. It is actually recommended that one way to break the tedium of the game is to export and import the character. Metro3D also decided to have a feature to let three other friends in on the battle. You can have up to four players in the game at once. It is a bit more fun to have other people roaming around with you. Not only are you looking out for your own butt, but everyone else's as well. This adds just a smidgeon of depth that keeps the game away from a worse grade.

I've said it in many of my reviews; What are two things that can add to the atmosphere of a game? The graphics of a game is one, and we've pretty much already covered that. It does add a sparse amount to the atmosphere, but not nearly as much as the sound. We aren't given much in terms of music, unfortunately. It seems almost essential for shooters to have some great, exciting music to pump you up in the heat of battle. It seems the game does fall short there. However, the sound effects add a gracious amount to the atmosphere. It actually gives one the feeling of watching a sci-fi space battle film. The blasters and explosions just have that campy, yet authentic sound. This is especially replicated when in a major battle with a menagerie of ships around.

Armada is sadly a good game wrapped in redundant missions. Such redundancy has unfortunately marred the game to the point that the game becomes uninteresting fast. Sure, there is a breath-taking shock from the whole idea of this being a space shooter and an RPG rolled into one game, but that wears off quick once many of the missions are done. If anything can ruin a game these days, it would certainly be boring and repetitive actions. Not only did the developers shaft us on the gameplay and depth, but on quite a few of the other smaller elements like boss designs.

As of right the creation of this review, Armada 2 is in the works for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The original was a good first attempt, make no mistake. However, perhaps I won't be as forgiving the second turns out just as bad. First of all, let's maintain a good engine and keep the feeling of campy sci-fi battle. Let's do away with redundancy. Let's have a running storyline, missions that matter, and end to the repetitive wash, rinse, repeat cycle... Yes, we can keep the voice acting. That did give more to the authentic, campy feel. Assuming that Armada 2 ever makes it out, let's hope that we will be treated to a bigger improvement and a much more solid game. Not every developer can improve on the previous installment. It's something that comes with retracing your footsteps and seeing where you original flaws lie.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Not the greatest. Decent enemy designs, but better bosses were needed. The homeworld is beautiful, but the rest of the worlds are ho-hum. 6/10
Sounds: Add the best part to the atmosphere. Needs more music, though. 7/10
Controls: Work wonderfully. Great response, but a little complex. It should not take a willing gamer very long to get the hang of them, though 8/10
Plot/Storyline: Very basic and doesn't even build throughout the game. It is nice to hear your allies' thoughts though. 5/10
Gameplay: Very, very repetitive, but not totally bad to start 5/10
All Together: 6/10

Perks
*Good game mechanics
*Decent sounds
*Decent atmosphere
*Nice RPG blend
*Lots of missions

Downers
*Lots of boring missions
*Repetitive
*Redundant level building and money-grabbing
*Needs better boss designs
*Needs more plot

Recommended
Strictly for those who love mindless shooting. Anyone who cannot stand a game without depth for more than a few hours should probably stay clear of this fading Dreamcast memory.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/25/03, Updated 03/25/03