Zoids: Battle Legends

"So many flaws, but it's still damn fun for some reason."

Ah yes, ZOIDS. Remember the television show? Giant animal like mechs fought eachother over something or other. We didn't care what, we just cared about the fights, the mechs, the sweetness. Indeed it was sweet, but three years later and the show is gone. Are we said? Yes. But luckily, there is this game to keep ZOIDS fans happy. Before you even read the review, please if you liked ZOIDS and really miss it, go get this game now. It's only $20 new and even cheaper off ebay or in bargin bins. I got my copy for $6.00. You owe it to yourself as a fan to get it. This sequal to the Japanese hit is out in the states as ZOIDS: Battle Legends. But if you don't like ZOIDS, should you still get it?

Graphics - 6/10.
Well, you can tell that this game didn't have a huge budget. The environments are flat - out bad. Just terrible. Everything has a flat look, some levels are just flat to begin with- as in NO OBSTACLES AT ALL. The city level has about 80 buildings that all looks the same, only differ in height and width. The desert level is brown. Thats it. Just a Brown texture slapped on your screen. Stupid. Honostly, I actually HAVE seen better on N64. IN 1997. If you thought the levels looked bad, wait until you see the weather effects. Honostly I thought something was wrong with my TV but it was actually THE RAIN EFFECT. There is no excuse for this, GC is a powerful machine and is capable of much better. We know this because the ZOIDS themselves are very pretty to look at. They move pretty fluidly and almost animal-like rather than mech-like. Every ZOID looks unique and the attention to detail is them is amazing. Not to mention there is about 60 of them. All in all, the ZOIDS almost make up for eveything else.

Sound - 2/10
Oh my god. This is just bad. Sure there is voice acting, and I'll keep it from a "one" score but paaaaaaaleese! The voice acting is TERRIBLE. It's liked they picked some random non-actor off the street (because the people in the game sure as hell aren't from the show) and shoved him in the game! This is made worse by the fact that they repeat the SAME 2 or 3 DAMN LINES FOREVER ALMOST EVERY 5 SECONDS. This really shot my overall score down, this is bad. Bad like the music. A few generic rock tracks float around when you play. You don't notice them really, so they aren't that bad. But the voices are just stupid. C'mon, if it sounds bad Mr. Director, make them do another take! It's not that hard!

Gameplay - 7/10
Now here we go. If you get past the shortcomings, underneath all the crap is a decent mech combat game. It really feels like no other. The game divides itself into four modes:
Mission mode serves as a kind of story mode in which you choose a side (Imperial or Republic...not Star Wars..) and take a chacter through a series of missions as the war for planet Zi rages on. This is mode is DAMN hard. The game starts you off with two decent ZOIDS just to get the mode started. But by the 3rd mission, even though the game gave you some upgrades for the ZOIDS, it becomes stupidly difficult. But that is where an element of strategy comes in. Is Shadow Fox getting pwned because of his low defense? Switch out to Cannon Tortise, slap on some armor and tank it out. Need to escape from an enemy base? Whip out Lightning Saix and hitch on a booster. Carefully thinking out each mission WILL lead to success, despite the game seeming near impossible at times, the game always gives you enough resources to beat the mission.

Perhaps a just as meaty mode is ZOID: Battle. Here there is a tournement like setup in which you have a team mate and get money every victory. After you gain some cash, you can pawn off some of your initial ZOIDS to get better ones. This mode is my favorite, even though the strategy element gets smaller, it's fun to buy your favorite ZOID (any one of the 60) and soupe him up to take on your friend. Yes thats right, after beating an endless amout of tournements to get that Giga Gojulus, you can use it to smash your n00b friends Liger Zero. So that adds another element of fun. If you get destroyed in versus mode, head back to battle mode and buy what you need to win. The customazation is amazing. Plus, every ZOID feels different. And there is a nice balance too, No ZOID is so much stronger than everything else that it's unbeatable, though I imagine a Saber Cat to have some trouble with Liger Zero Phoenix.

The last mode is ZOID fist, which is an arena battle mode with the same type of stuff as VS. This mode is faster and the levels are cooler. Thats about it, but still fun as the arenas require more thinking than just circle and shoot.

As far as controls go, it feels different then any mech game. You can't walk backwards (gasp!) but it makes up for it with a jump backwards. Use the C stick to do a quick jump in any direction to dodge enemy attacks. A very nifty feature. The lock on system feels somewhat broken when face a lot of enemies, but once you grow to understand how it works you begin to work with it. As far as camera goes, when your locked on it tends to follow where your oppenent is going instead of you, so often times you'll be running without seeing whats in front of you. This isn't too much of a bad thing as the levels are pretty barren anyway. And if you're worried that you'll run into an enemy mech, don't worry- there is a helpful map in the right hand corner of the screen with enemy's shown as red dots. Which is good too, because even though the levels are bland, they are huge. Because they are huge, sometimes you'll have 10+ enemies floating around. Luckily the framerate always stays playable but you'll notice a slight dip now and then.

Replay - 8/10
The game is short, you'll beat both mission modes in under 10 hours. Luckily tournement mode will hold your interest for a long time. You'll want to start doing things like..."hmm I think I'll collect all the Ligers and see how they compare..." and stuff like that. Not to mention the game has TONS of unlockable ZOIDS, so I guarantee if you enjoy this game, you'll be playing mission mode at leat 3 times and tournement mode upwards a hundred.
If you find a buddy who starts a game, this game could never end as the multiplayer very addictive, despite only sporting two player. Once you and a friend start getting the expensive Zoids and equipment, it's gets interesting.

Rent or Buy?
Well, I bought mine for the price of a rental. I'm sure you could do close to the same on ebay or something. The game IS hard to find in stores though. I'm sure it's sitting in a couple EB games somewhere. If you like ZOIDS, you MUST get this. It's the best ZOIDS game to hit the states, hands down. If you can get past the somewhat shoddy controls and terrible presentation, you'll find a deep game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06