Retro Game Friday: Front Mission

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a game that was hugely popular back in it’s day. It’s Front Mission!

Plot: I forgot how sad this story is, honestly after looking up the story for a refresher I was tempted to not bother covering this game due to how freaking depressing the story is. The story is good, but damn is it dark and depressing.

Gameplay: This was a pure tactical RPG and boy did it do it well for it’s time and helped paved the way for games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Advance Wars in the future. You could customize the Wanzers to a pretty deep degree given the tech limitations and the standard of quality at the time. That being said it’s a nearly a pure single player game and while you could play with another it’s hard to do that when you shared a screen.

Art: The art was pretty great for it’s time, and it’s aged fairly well. It’s not the best of it’s era, but it holds up pretty well.

Music: I don’t remember it much at all, sorry.

Overall: A great game, but if you don’t like bawling your eyes out you might want to skip it due to the dark nature of the story.

For those who like: Mechas, Tactical RPGs, Drama, Good Story, Great Gameplay.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Anime Sunday: Big O Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering another old series. It’s my Big 0 Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: Roger Smith, top negotiator of Paradigm City, is hired to oversee the retrieval of R. Dorothy Wayneright, the kidnapped daughter of the wealthy scientist Miguel Soldano….

Plot: The plot is okay, but also a big stereotypical. Honestly it reminds me a bit of Metropolis. That being said I remember not really understanding the plot of this series when I was younger.

Characters: Roger is an okay main character, but he’s not all that interesting either. At least not in this first episode. Dorothy on the other hand was fairly interesting. The rest of the cast is okay, but nothing special either.

Art: The art is okay, but nothing noteworthy.

Music: Like the art, it’s okay but not noteworthy.

Overall: A skippable series, at least from what I remember of the rest of the episodes and my impressions after this first episode.

For those who like: Sci-Fi, Mecha, Drama, Action.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Anime Sunday: Dragonaut Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering the first episode in an old series. It’s my Dragonaut Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: Two years ago Kamishina Jin survived a shuttle accident that killed the rest of his family, causing in him to live out the rest of his life alone. Meanwhile Earth faces possible destruction from an asteroid, and thus the ISDA works on “D-Project” to stop it. In a facility Tachibana Kazuki, Jin’s old friend, is tested for his compatibility with a Dragon, which is a success.

Plot: The plot is pretty mediocre, honestly this first episode isn’t that great. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s nothing spectacular.

Characters: Honestly the cast in this first episode is really poor. I didn’t like any of the characters to be honest, except for maybe Toa. Still it’s nothing special and pretty mediocre.

Art: The art is also fairly generic as well. Honestly I wasn’t impressed with this series.

Music: And to keep up the standard of mediocrity the music was nothing special either.

Overall: An easily skippable series.

For those who like: Sci-Fi, Romance (Apparently), Drama, Mecha, Mediocrity.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: MechWarrior

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a real oldie. It’s MechWarrior, the original 1989 game!

Plot Synopsis: The story follows a mechwarrior by the name of Gideon Braver Vandenburg. His family has been murdered and the chalice that proves he is heir to the throne of his planet, Ander’s Moon, has been stolen. Without the chalice he is exiled. Gideon must develop a force of mechwarriors and battlemechs, find those who committed the acts against his family, and take his revenge within five years or all is lost…

Plot: The plot is okay, but not super amazing either. That being said that wasn’t really the point of the game.

Gameplay: Honestly it played a bit like Battlezone, just a bit more complicated with various classes of mechs ranging from quick types to hard hitting types with tons of weaponry . There was also a sim portion to it that revolved around purchasing and repairing your Mechs as well as negotiating contracts with various factions. It was pretty fun, but it was heavily limited by the hardware.

Art: It’s aged really poorly, but that’s to be expected from a game made in 1989.

Music: I don’t remember any of it, if it even had music.

Overall: A fun game, but later entries in the series would probably be more appealing to more modern gamers.

For those who like: Sci-Fi, Military Games, Mecha, Action, Drama.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Anime Sunday: Darling Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’ve got another series from the latest season. It’s my Darling Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic future where humanity has been driven to extinction by giant beasts known as klaxosaurs. The remainder of humanity soon establishes a military city known as Plantation, where children are bred to be partnered in boy-girl pairs called Parasites and pilot giant mecha known as Franxx.  One of these children, Hiro, is initially viewed as a prodigy, but after failing one of his test leaves him unable to pilot a Franxx, making him lose any desire he had in life. While skipping out on his class’s graduation ceremony, Hiro encounters Zero Two who has red horns on her head…

Plot: Let me get this out straight away, this deals with some heavy subjects. Children probably shouldn’t watch this, as it deals with many mature themes including but not limited to sexuality. Now, as for the actual plot it’s fairly decent and didn’t make me want to stop watching immediately as most Studio Trigger series tend to do for me. I will say that while most of this is pretty good, there are some very obvious stereotypes that occur and they are a bit grating.

Characters: Hiro is an okay main character, although this first episode leaves a ton of his background really lacking. As for the rest of the cast, they are overall pretty good although there are a couple characters who are the typical bullies you find in series dealing with teenagers.

Art: The artwork is pretty great, and while this is a co-production between Studio Trigger and A-1 Pictures, I will say that it has elements of both their styles.

Music: The score is very fitting for this first episode, although not nearly as enthralling like other series can be.

Overall: I may or may not continue watching the series, it depends on how much angst occurs in later episodes, I find such plots grating most of the time and while the story is interesting it might not be interesting enough for me. As for my recommendation, if you can deal with the heavier topics I’d say give it a shot, you may or may not find it to your liking.

For those who like: Sci-Fi, Mecha, Action, Drama, Intriguing Plot, Good Cast of Characters, Fantastic Artwork, Awesome Musical Scores.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or some really emotionally heavy topics.