Vanguard Bandits

"A strategy RPG that is BETTER than FF Tactics!"

God bless Working Designs, the small organization from Redding, CA... ever so dedicated to releasing decent RPGs from Japan over here, fixing them up a little, adding hilarious translations, and making the overall appearance of the product make you feel as if you've met a gaming company that really cares about you. Thanks to them, I have experienced the magic of Lunar: Silver Star Story, as well as the equally beautiful Strategy RPG known as Epica Stella, Detonator Gauntlet, or most commonly, Vanguard Bandits, the game of war between ATACS, which are huge humanoid combat robots (kind of like in Vasteel, a really old WD game).

From the moment I picked up this one, I knew I was in for a treat. The cover is nice and shiny, the instruction booklet is long and a lot of fun to read (funny as well!), and there was a nice little surprise tucked in the back: A Lunar 2: Eternal Blue demo disc, courtesy from our buddies at WD. The game was a refreshing change as well: a Strategy RPG that isn't too complex, but very, very, VERY addictive (imagine that, eh?). Throw in beautiful music (the opening song especially), a wonderful story which can lead to 3 radically different paths, great graphics, and an excellent anime intro, and you have Vanguard Bandits.

Gameplay: 10/10

Much like FF Tactics, you battle on a 3D plane. Each time one of your characters ''turns'' comes up, you can move him, attack an enemy, and providing you have enough stamina and FP, attack or move again! Then, you wait for your next turn, and attack again! Most strategy RPGS are like that, right?

Well, Vanguard is different. When an enemy attack you, a menu comes up. You can (get this!) attack him back, dodge his attack, block, or attempt to interrupt his attack with a friendly little ''tap'' which sends him to the ground! Too funny, indeed! Being able to fight back during an attack is an incredible feature, in my opinion.

But that's not all. No matter what route you take, you get 20 wonderful missions (there are 56 total in the game!), a TON of team members, 5 different routes through the game (replay, anyone?), and an easy to learn and understand combat system that makes this game easy to get into and play. You can customize your characters (even switch what ATAC they are using), talk to them to boost morale, and then send them out on a suicide mission (Mission 19 comes to mind here), and it's so much fun!

Story: 10/10

With two full pages of backstory in the instruction manual, one might think that the story is going to get long and VERY complicated, much like Xenogears. But this is not the truth. This mainly states the past (which has little significance to the game). Anyway, the story goes something like this.

The continent of Eptina is in chaos. The Empire of Degalle is expanding it's territory, and fighting against the Pharastia Kingdom for absolute domination of the continent (as well as a certain person who I will not reveal). Young Bastion, the moss haired youth, is a traveller who wanders the continent with his friends (a loveable bunch they are), fighting the Empire. They run in with the Empire, and get caught up in the war. Simple, but good. VERY good. The characters are very likeable, the dialogue is very well done (very humourous, hinting that the game never takes itself too seriously), and the multiple branches through the game are very different and fun.

Graphics: 8/10

Yes, perhaps the in-battle graphics could be done better, but they are good enough. The game moves nice and smooth, the loading time is almost non-existent, and the battle animations are in full 3D and very fun to watch (if you get sick of em, you can turn em off!). The anime intro contains excellent animation, and really adds to the atmosphere of the game.

Control: 10/10

Not much to say here. Everything works, and there are a lot of cool ''shortcut buttons'', such as pressing the Control Stick.

Audio: 8/10

The music is well done (especially the intro song), but some of the sound effects sound like loud screeching, which can hurt the ears.

Replay: 10/10

Well, even if you finish every branch of the game, it's so much fun that you'll do it again!

Overall, an absolutely beautiful game. Thank you very, very, very, very, very, VERY much, Working Designs, for sucking away what was left of my social life in order to play this game. I salute you.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/16/02, Updated 08/16/02