Vanguard Bandits

"A decent strategy RPG"

I was browsing the walls of Gamestop one day, when I came across this game for 14.99. It looked interesting, so I picked it up. When I popped it into my PSX, I was introduced to an impressive anime opening, similar to the one in Lunar. However, as I started playing the game, I really wasn't impressed. It's another strategy RPG to fill your collection, but it's got nothing that makes it spectacularly different than any other strategy game. Sure, it's got big robots, but so did Front Mission 3, which is a much better game. Overall, it's a good game, but it really doesn't have a reason to get bought.

The story is unoriginality at it's finest. You play as a boy who's father is murdered by a soldier from an evil empire. You then create a rebellion to fight the empire, and so on.

The story isn't very gripping, and won't hold your attention too long. Unlike the story in other strategy RPG's such as Vandal Hearts 2, this is just a humdinger. The characters are ok, but once again, just your standard characters in an RPG.

However, the turned-based gameplay is fun, like it should be in any RPG. The game has 56 missions, so it'll keep you busy for a while. The game basically puts your group of people fighting the enemy with about the same amount of people. You choose where they go, who to attack, etc. (jeez, this is like the fifth time I’ve explained how a strategy RPG works). It's fun, but still, I couldn't help to think of better games as I played through it. If you've played FFT, you'll be fine with this.

Ok, i'm being a bit harsh. The game is overall good. There are no real problems with it, except there are better strategy RPG's.

The story though is the main problem. Coming from Working Designs, I thought it was going to be awesome. However, it's just too bland and unoriginal. It's not very gripping either, it's just the same adventure that'll be all too familiar. However, if you just want to play it for the battles, then it might be more fun just for that. Still, there are better games out there. Even Working Designs has another strategy RPG that completely blows this out of the water. Anyone remember that really awesome game for Sega Saturn called Dragon Force?

This is a game that only fans of the genre should play. If your new to strategy RPG's, play Vandal Hearts 1, if you are a veteran and want to play a challenging, engrossing RPG, play Vandal Hearts 2. If you want to play a better strategy RPG with robots in it, play Front Mission 3.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/01, Updated 08/13/01