Steel Battalion

"So much money, so much game! Near perfection..."

Just think for a moment. Have you actually seen Steel Battalion promoted in your local Game store? have you seen an advert on TV or in the magazines/paper? I havent.
This is because you cant buy it.
Not unless you were lucky enough to hold down a pre-order that is...
With the addition of a new peripheral into the admittedly fickle add-on market, you could forgive capcom for being so cautious with unit numbers. (reportedly only 2000 units entered the UK market). Heralded as the boldest experience in player-game interaction, SB has had a frenzy of net interest and gamers chomping at their respective bits to obtain one.
Coming in at surely one of the most hefty release price tags since Starfox or the SF2Turbo Tin Edition, the lucky owners paid £130 for their wares...

Ah, the wares... for your bucks you get the most mammoth controller ever, even dwarfing the Virtual On twin stick controller, SB comes with an assembly required Twin Stick 40 button gear shift 3 pedal radio dialled fully lit Vertical Tank Control!
With this beast you have complete control over your VT, and this is where the game really shines..

Much has been made of the ignition/start up sequence which is quite lengthy, but not intrusive. However, once youve got your VT moving, the wealth of features accessible to you is incredible. The screen is framed with a huge dashboard, only allowing about half of the actual screen for viewing area. (enlarges with future generation VT's). Dials, pedals, gears, three analogue controllers and the famous eject button mean you are completely responsible for every facet of VT piloting. If you trip your VT over, it was human error. If you lose a battle because you couldnt manouvre out of reverse to 5th gear skillfully enough, it was human error. By giving over utter control of your avatar, the game takes away any argument over ''is the control good enough'' away. Many a game has been spoilt by shoddy controls, or even just a few tweaks not being done to ruin what could have been great. SB eliminated this occurance. You can zoom your main view, you secondary screen, and even your map screen. You can apply overdrive

Now onto the gameplay. You could drive a real Ferrari F355 in the DC incarnation, but if the games code wasnt so good, no-one would buy it. Does SB fall victim to this curse? If you think about it, so much of the research and development must have gone into the controller, you could worry the actual game was an afterthought. Luckily though the games engine is robust enough to throw your VT around at will, and the execution is pretty fair. Spanning over 12 missions, in which each landscape could range from close to pretty damn huge is the main story mode. The usual mech requirements are all here, from clearing tanks, turrets and other small army away for your following troops to engaging in full combat with other, more deadly VT's and even the odd battleship all make an appearance. You get nice animated mission briefings and a detailed ''what ya killed'' roster after.

Weapon and VT selection is pretty expansive, with bucketloads of each being delivered on a drip as you go along, some of these really take your breath away.. The napalm is a nice touch..
You can outfilt your VT how you like as weight allows giving some player individuality to the game which is also pretty nice. The ranged weapons are where the game really goes although you do have some mean hand to hand ones too. Its all there.

Sound is all pretty appropriate, with some very nice detail as well. Explosions shudder, ejecting ordnance thuds, your VT's hydraulics whine, radio chatter fills your headphones.. Its all good. You can have a selection of background tunes to drive you along, shame theres no ''Valkyries'' though, and also its a real shame you cant have your own ripped MP3's either...

The graphical quality isnt up to the likes of Battle Engine Aquila or Robotech but are more ''realistic'' with some older mechs actually having black and white HUDs! Try distinguishing small troops from trees in that baby! There IS a small amount of draw distance annoyance but you attribute this to range distinguishment and soon forget about it. The replays are sufficient but strangely you can never see your actual VT in 3rd person... hmm...

So all in all, if youve got £130 to spend and youre pretty hardcore, you will have this by now.. if ya dont, well, theres always hope for a second run or $300 on eBay!!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/03, Updated 04/10/03