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Steel Battalion is undoubtedly the most ambitious mech game in all of video gaming history. For $200, it damn well better be. And luckily it is, if you have the money & the patience for.
In this game you’ll pilot giant robots called vertical tanks which you’ll be piloting through 2 modes. Campaign, where you embark on a series of missions and the other mode is free mission, where you can replay your favorite boards once you beat them in Campaign. Of course campaign is the main focus; you’ll play over 20 missions, most of them though boil down to “destroy the enemy VT”. You’d think it’d get repetitive, but it never really does thanks to the games many features. If I do have one complaint, it’d have to be that the game gets too hard… too quickly. Yes, around the 2nd or 3rd mission, you’ll already be grinding your teeth. The strict limitations (fuel, ammo, time limit, etc.) & the overwhelming enemy at times can really be frustrating. But I guess that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, at $200 worth, there better be a good challenge. But some of this could’ve been prevented; some kind of in game training really would’ve helped out.
The game is famous for its controls (& price…) & for good reason; the game comes equipped with this 40 button beast of a controller. At first play, this seems over-daunting, ok, actually is over-daunting. The first level will take numerous tries of practice & repetition… just to pull out of the hanger. The game even comes with a manual on how to operate the thing although it really doesn’t help much, not as much as a tutorial would’ve. But after you die a few dozen times, you’ll start to grasp how the controller works; gradually you’ll learn more & more. After a while, it’ll become somewhat natural on how to steer, gas, shoot, etc. But since this is a simulator game, I wouldn’t expect anything less. The only real gripe I have is the some what cheap feel of the shifter & tune dialer. It has that feel of “O boy, some day I know this’ll break…” but the rest seems sturdily built, the 2 joy sticks are held firmly in place & the pedals contain some metal. Would I rate it in at the same price as an Xbox or PS2? Hard to say, the effort put in to creating this controller is well deserved & everything seems in place. The amount of attention it holds is cool to, each button lights up & is clearly labeled for those times of utter confusion (& there will be). In the end, I wouldn’t want to use any other kind of setup though, this one just seems right.
I’m a little disappointed in the graphics. Yes, they contain great detail; the war torn environments radiate that miserable war feel from it, each color is washed & worn with that war type theme. It simply heightens the realism. Also, the game takes place from a cockpit, so you’re shown these wonderfully presented gauges, dials & readouts, it all seems so fitting. If you don’t know what anything is, you bet you’ll be confused. Each dial has its specific purpose, its not just there for show. And the monitor gives out detail on the battle, if an enemy is locked on, if they mortared at you, shot missiles at you, you name it. The thing is, so much information can appear on screen, you’ll barely be able to see anything. The same goes for those gauges & dials, you’re in a small cockpit with dozens of gauges set up with just this tiny little monitor in front of you, which is hogged up by everything else. & that’s on a large TV; on a small one it’s nearly impossible to make anything out. It’d been nice if Capcom could’ve just left some things out so you could see the action better. But my real gripe is the popup, even in that compact, stuffy, crowded cockpit, you can see it. A few hundred yards of detailed scenery come to an abrupt end when it hits the horizon. This makes it kind of hard to clearly scout out for enemies that you don’t know that’s there till the missile warning comes on. I would’ve expected better from the Xbox.
Last is the sound, what can I say, its good! When I pilot some giant robot, I want to hear myself pilot it. Here, you literally do, you hear every thump from your vertical tank, every joint & every ricochet. Then, you can delight yourself by going trigger happy, the loud booms of the mortars & the “ra-ta-ta” of the chain guns really get you in the mood to create some scrap metal. Simply put, the mech sounds can’t get any better. On the other hand, you have everything else… The constant wailing of the alarms I really could’ve done without, the same old distress calls from you team mates is also another downer, more voiceovers could’ve helped. Some tense war music would’ve helped to. But other than those few annoyances, this game sounds like a 10 story mech.
I’m not going to tell you what you already know this game is expensive & should only be bought by hardcore mech fans. You won’t be disappointed & you’ll find that this is the only mech “fix” you’ll need for a long time to come. -- Anonym. Contributor, PGNx Media
---- Dec 27, 2002
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