Zoids Assault
Score: 43% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Atlus Developer: Tomy Ltd. Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Turn-Based Strategy/ RPG
Graphics & Sound: Zoids Assault is the second Atlus-published Strategy RPG I've reviewed this month, and their similarities go beyond just sharing a publisher and genre. Like Spectral Force 3, Zoids Assault is an incredibly bland game that lacks personality. But, while Spectral Force 3 has a few redeeming factors, Zoids Assault underachieves across the board and is a little worse off. Although the Zoids franchise has both an anime and manga to back it up, Zoids Assault takes a completely different approach. The story is told through a series of still images backed up by horribly stilted voice acting. Even looking at the stills, it is pretty clear that everything is being done to keep the game from having a face. This carries over into the gameplay; none of your pilots have names and their faces are hidden by masks at all times. I'm pretty sure this is by design and is meant to show the impersonal nature of modern war, but for a game, that really doesn't work well since it alienates the player. It is hard to complain about the visuals once you get past the sleepy political story and ugly U.I. The Zoids look great up close, but the animation is very stilted and lacks the type of fluid motion depicted in the anime. Evasion is nothing more than a simple, half-hearted lean to the side and movement is marked by hard right angles. Even during daytime missions, everything has a grey tone and, when taken with the grainy filter that covers the screen, it can be really hard to tell what is going on. It got so bad at one point that I chose the brightest, gaudiest color scheme for my team just so I could tell them apart from the enemies.
Gameplay: Zoids Assault is, for the most part, a straightforward Strategy RPG. You take command of a group of five Zoids, which are giant mechs designed to look like animals, and run them through the paces on the battlefield. The storyline surrounding their exploits is convoluted and extremely hard to follow and should be your first clue that something isn't quite right. Most of the story is told through the eyes of a woman addressing a group of what I assume are politicians, though every so often, you'll also read about things on the front page of a newspaper. The intent is to give the game an older, real-world military theme, but it creates an awkward disconnect. Rather than focusing on interesting characters, the game tries to convey a heavy-handed political drama that boils down to a Hatfield/ McCoy situation between two countries. Back on the battlefield, action is standard and doesn't attempt to throw many surprises your way. All of the usual mission objectives are around: survive for X number of turns, take out a certain target, kill everyone on the map... you get the picture. Even when there are attempts to shake things up, Zoids Assault can't seem to break away from predictability. You can always count on starting a mission in the worst possible position and enemy units will always get a fresh supply of troops at some point in the mission. Beyond the fourteen-mission campaign, Zoids Assault doesn't offer much else to do. Online multiplayer might be a little too much to ask for, but some sort of same room multiplayer would have been a nice addition. At the very least, a few random instant-action maps would have offered some sort of distraction.
Difficulty: Pacing and balance are two major sticking points for Zoids Assault. With only fourteen missions to play though, there isn't much room for a smooth difficulty curve, or even a chance to grind your character's levels to give you a boost during harder missions. After an easy introductory mission, Zoids Assault throws everything at you and is relentlessly tough. Sound strategy has its part in each mission, but most require a good amount of luck to get through. Enemies always manage to find just the right position and, when you do manage to zero in on an enemy, it will usually get an unusually high amount of "Glancing Blow" or "Evade" messages. By the third mission, you'll decide to either stick with the game or abandon it completely. Even if you do decide to see it through, you're in for a tough road. Things get easier once you get a handle on the battle mechanics, though you can expect lots of trial-and-error replays until then. After about the half-way point, I got so tired of the constant grind that I gave up.
Game Mechanics: The only interesting part of Zoids Assault is the "Scan" support mechanic. Placing units within each other's attack range allows them to contribute to each other's attacks. If you have two units in range of a single enemy, you can squeeze four attacks out of two combat turns. There are a few wrinkles in the system, so even if your Zoids are standing next to each other, they can't always help their teammates out. Each has a different scan range and you need to be facing in the enemy's direction. Additionally, all weapons have incredibly random targeting ranges, so the likelihood of getting more than two in a good position is tricky unless you're able to accurately predict the enemy's movements. Between missions, you can outfit your Zoids with new armor and weapons. Zoids Assault offers a decent amount of weapons and armor types, though it also misses a big opportunity. Why am I stuck using the same five Zoids when the license offers a wide-range of types? Allowing players to capture or unlock additional models would have gone a long way in building some sort of connection with the player. Instead, you're limited to a few bolt-on weapons, a few pre-determined paint schemes and a list of mostly-useless pilot skills. Zoids Assault isn't horrible; it is just hard to find something genuinely enjoyable about it. Gameplay is very paint-by-numbers and without a story or characters to connect you to the experience, it feels very impersonal. Even if this is by design, it doesn't work. Even for hardcore strategy players, Zoids Assault is a pass.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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