Steel Battalion: Line of Contact

"The best game to play at a LAN Party"

Steel Battalion: Line of Contact is the online only game for Xbox live, that uses the 40+ button VT controller.

I've been playing the online version since the middle of March of this year, and I play regularly. Onto the review.

Please note as well, this is a post-campaign review. The campaign services for this game have been deactivated. Sad. :(

Game play 7/10

This game offers the same gameplay as Steel Battalion does only, you play with other humans, across the globe. The matches are setup as

Conquest: Radarless combat against the opposing team. The object is to capture bases from each other, or destroy/defend map objectives such as buildings, aircrafts, battleships, and cities.

Battle Royale: Uses radar. This is Deathmatch. Nothing more.

Capture the Container: Same as conquest, only rather then capture bases, one of your team mates must capture the enemies supply container with their Manipulator, and take it back to their own base.

The problem with the gameplay is, the netcode is garbage. Rarely will you play anything beyond a 3v3 match. Even then, if everyone doesn't have a tip-top connection, the match will lag, have latency (delayed response with the controller), and people may even drop. It is very irritating.

Also, Campaign mode has ended, leaving Free Mission only. With that went some of the players of the game. Free mission itself isn't too bad, and there is usually a decent handful of people on where matches can run solidly for hours.

Connections/Participants aside, this game plays great. Sniping actually utilizes a special scope, some weaponry is far more effective than the original Steel Battalion, and playing with real people, communicating with the headsets, is a very fun experience.

For anyone not familiar with the original Steel Battalion, you pilot towering Vertical Tanks, with a 40 button joystick, The features are very indepth, and it is probably the best simulation game you will ever play. The weaponry is realistic enough, and the gameplay, once you get the hang of all of the controls, is beyond fun.

Theres plenty of maps to play matches on as well, ranging from flat maps, to indoor factory maps. Each map also has plenty of ways to go about business. Very fun.

The choice of VTs is better than the original game as well. Theres even a handful of new VT choices. Each VT can be custom painted, and you can also have a custom insignia. Very fun. I have a purple/red Maelstrom support class VT. Howitzer use in this game, is an art not to be taken lightly!

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics in this game are great. Very detailed, GREAT draw distances, and the bullet/explosion effects are nicely done. The detail when you battle face to face with the enemy is extremely good as well. Sometimes you'll find yourself watching replays just to look at the graphics and effects of the battle. Nicely done.

Sound: 10/10

You can load a custom soundtrack up which makes it fun to pilot your VT. The sound effects are great. Realistic war effects, terrifying flyby bullet sounds, the VT bootup noises are great as well. The best of noises is the easily identifiable noise of someone getting skewered by one of the various melee weapons in the game. Metal grinding, spark flying action. Wonderful.

Replay Value: 10/10

Of course you'll replay it! It's an online game! You'll always have friendly faces to battle with, and there's always fresh rules and things to setup.

Buy/Rent? Buy it of course. No fun to only be able to play online for a few days before you have to return it!

I hope to see some of the readers of this review online some day! Adios!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/04/06