Drone Tactics

"Fun SRPG that will last for a little...."

I sat in the mall waiting patiently for the others to get done with their shopping. I decided I would head over to Game Stop and check out the DS games. I saw this one and looked at the back. It looked like my kind of game. I love turn based SRPGs like Fire Emblem or Luminous Arc. This was no different I loved it. It wasn't the greatest. I mean it wasn't even close to being perfect in every aspect but it was an entertaining game that lasted me for a little bit. It was only slightly difficult until I got the hang of it and was still difficult after that on specific levels. Overall it was difficult enough to be entertaining but not difficult enough to make me frustrated and have to repeat levels.

The story was decent. I felt it was slightly childish at times but still held a little drama in it. It starred a head strong boy that wanted to jump into the action and a girl who likes to think every decision through. Of course with these two very different personalities as main characters there were many funny dialogues where these personalities clashed. They were thrown into the middle of a war in a foreign world where bugs that talk live. They would help battle the Black Storm and run into human allies and human enemies along the way. All of these characters had unique personalities that you would learn to love whether it was the sweet little girl that wanted to help out the bugs or the loud, over confident boy that just wants to look after his sister. The story was a fairly unique concept and could have been really good if it wasn't so cheesy at some points but what can you expect in a game where you battle with bugs. Overall the story had a good main plot with good characters yet it had a bad delivery.

The game play was fairly good. The main part of it was your basic turn based strategy game style. You took turns using your units to plot a course to attack the enemy units. I would probably say this game was most like Fire Emblem or Advance Wars. In the battle you got to choose whether to use a gun, the melee attack, or shoot cannons from a far. Each Drone has it's unique stats and will be better in a specific area like the butterfly's gun was better than it's melee weapon. You have to learn what your Drone's strong points are and use these to your advantage. Another thing to use to your advantage is the terrain. You will get better defense if you are in a forest or mountain then if you are in the plains. There are also spots on the map where you can wait and repair your Drones. There is a Drone that is a base. The base will deploy your units and be able to dock your units again to repair them. You have to take care of the base because if it dies then you lose. Another unique concept this game uses is the cards. You can use different cards that have a large range of effects from helping you attack to recovering your HP. You will soon become used to all of these concepts and find the perfect way to exploit them to your advantage,

The graphics of the game are great. The sprites and map are only decent but the battle animations are amazing. You get to watch your Drones use their moves and fight the other Drones in a stunning 3d battle. You can customize your Drones in between battles by adding parts to make them stronger and painting them a different color. This all shows up in the battle animations. You add a drill to your butterfly and it will have a huge drill attached to its nose and will hammer away at the enemy with it. You can paint the Drones using a huge range of various colors. Make your Drones your own by painting them uniquely. The music is not that great. It is your upbeat music you would expect in a war game. It quickly becomes boring and you will be happy your DS volume can be turned off as you turn on something else. Why can't they make some better music for these SRPG?

Overall this is an okay SRPG. It will entertain you for a while but it will never be a classic like some of the others. It's story is far to cheesy and music too bland for it to be one of the all time greats. It will still entertain you for a few hours. It is one of the better SRPG's out for the DS other than Rondo of Swords and soon Final Fantasy Tactics A2. I think you should get it if SRPGs are your thing but if not then pass. There will be better strategy games but this will last me until they come out.

Story: 7/10
Game Play: 9/10
Difficulty: 7/10
Graphics: 10/10
Music: 3/10
Overall: 7.2/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/08

Game Release: Drone Tactics (US, 05/12/08)