Robotech: Battlecry

"An Impressive Game With a Few Flaws"

Last year in 2002 there was just a huge swarm of mech games like Gunmetal, Phantom Crash, and Steel Battalion just to name a few. A lot of them were really bad. There were also some good ones as well. Robotech: Battlecry was one of the more impressive ones last year.

STORY:7
If you don't like mechs and you don't like anime an, you probably won't enjoy any of this game's storyline. The game starts off by telling you about how some alien race has come and there is a big war between it and humanity. Wow, we haven't heard anything like that before(sarcasm). Anywho you play the role of some guy who is going to be humanity's savior. The game is based around anime so some of the story is really cheezy at times, but that doesn't mean that the story isn't enjoyable.

GRAPHICS:9
The graphics in Robotech: Battlecry are incredible! If you don't like cel-shading you will probably think differently. But as for me I love the unique visual style of the game. Everything in the game looks just as good or better as the anime. All of the mechs look great. There are also a wide variety to them. The anime clips in the game look better than the anime- No questions asked! There are no slowdowns in the game which is great even though there are always tons of things happening. Even though these graphics represent the anime, they aren't the best to be seen on the Xbox. The buildings in the game just look like big boxes. Overall, the graphics are really good.

SOUND:8
The audio quality of the game is great as well. All of the original anime voice actors got parts in the game. I thought that was cool. There is also some really nice battle music. The sound effects in the game are also well done. This games entire presentation just makes you feel that you are playing an interactive anime episode from Robotech. Even with all of this praise there are some negatives I have to mention about the sound. Some of the music can get really annoying. The lock-on noise just makes you want your ears to be torn off of your head.

GAMEPLAY:8
Believe it or not the game's story mode is quite linear. Even though your Veritech can switch between three different forms the gameplay can get boring at times. The missions range from escort missions to arial dog fights to stealth missions. That is not a lot of variety. Now I bet you are wondering why it got such a high score. Well then, I'll tell you. Unlockables. Yes, this game has tons and tons of unlockables. There are a bunch of different paint designs you can get done for your Veritech. There are also a lot of new heads you can get for your Veritech. Each one gives the mech its own strengths and weaknesses. They really keep the game from getting a low score. And there's also some wicked multiplayer. The bad thing about multiplayer is that there is only two-player split screen. Where the heck is four-player split screen and Xbox Live? There are also not enough weapons for your mech.

CONTROL:8
This game's controls aren't simple pick-up-and-play. You have to master knowing when to switch Veritech forms or you will end up getting killed over and over again. Other than that the controls are pretty simple to learn. The good thing is that the controls don't differ too much from each form so you don't have learn a bunch of whacked up control schemes. You just have to know when to switch forms, but after you master that the game is a piece of cake.

OVERALL:8
Robotech: Battlecry has its fair share of ups and downs, but overall the game is a blast to play. You have a fun and lengthy single player mode with bonuses and unlockables out the yin yang. Then you have some very addicting multiplayer. I just wish that there were some better multiplayer components.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/02/03, Updated 07/02/03