Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor

"A disappointment to a true fan"

When I got this game, I was expecting something a lot different. It basically turns out to be a turn based RPG. You pilot the Ingram model (the same one Alphonse is) and battle various construction labors. Since this game is in Japanese and I don't read Japanese, I can only give information from playing. The various attacks you can do is punching, baton swinging, shooting your pistol and a few others. Special moves can be used by building up your Battle Power. This game is different from most RPGs, in the way that you don't just select one attack, you select a combo of 5 at once. Depending on your speed and the success of the last hit, you may hit twice in the row (but then again, your Ingram could also be pounded twice). Now that all of you fans know the basic gameplay (but don't know how to play) let's get down to the ratings.

Gameplay 8/10 - You walk around on the streets of Tokyo with a bird eye's view. If you walk into an enemies area, you are forced to fight. Go to the garage to heal or buy special attacks, go to HQ to quit, or go to the apartments to get a short passcode to start up the same game with later. Enemies aren't impossible if you play your cards right. Select 5 moves and let the bashing begin.

Storyline ?/?
I really can't grade on storyline. I know it's accurate to the fact that you are fighting criminals in construction labors...but that's Patlabor in a nutshell. I am going to leave this out of scoring. I'm fairly certain it would follow Patlabor's normal storyline.

Controls 9/10
Since they aren't in English, the Battle System takes a little trial and error to figure out what attack does what and how much Battle Power this attack uses. Moving is not a problem and would be a bit easier to figure out if one learned Japanese. But assuming the language barrier is not a problem, the controls are fairly easy.

Game Play 7/10
Taking an RPG style to Patlabor you can choose from clubbing your enemy to using a patented pistol. The stronger attacks you Battle Points (BP) and it is limited for each battle. You gain money from each enemy and can also use this money to buy new weapons. You can heal up at the garage for free, taking some of the challange out. The reason I gave it a 7 is because after defeating all enemies, seen and unseen, I don't know how to continue to the next level.

Difficulty 1/10
This game is amazingly easy difficulty wise. Fight a battle and win it almost everytime. Then you can repair back at the garage as often as you'd like and this makes it even easier. Almost no difficulty in this game. In fact, the hardest part is figuring out how to get to that **** level 2.

Sound 7/10
It's not too bad. I recognized some of the music from the television show, but poorly ported ( hey it's made for the original gameboy, what do we expect? ). I have heard a lot worse music though.

Graphics 10/10
Captain Goto and the others couldn't look better on a gameboy screen. Your Ingram and the enemy labors look true to life also. The battle map of Tokyo was designed perfectly and attack animations actually allows you to see what the attack is!

Overall 7/10
I found this to be a very good game for the Gameboy. Since there was no Patlabor fan base here, I am not surprised that it wasn't released in the U.S. Although this is a good game, most true Patlabor fans may be disappointed. I do suggest renting it or borrowing it though, assuming you can still find it somewhere.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/03, Updated 08/06/03