by Ack Sun Feb 15, 2015 9:17 pm
1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
And another NTSC-U SNES RPG bites the dust. I have mixed feelings on this one. I like the game overall, but it has some problems that I feel can be really detrimental.
First, the sound and music are wonderful. It's bright, it's colorful, it sounds great, and it looks wonderful. The overworld theme stood out as being particularly appealing here, and there is a heavy reliance on sound effects to inform the player exactly what has just happened in the game. Unfortunately a few of the songs are on the short side, and the battle theme is highly repetitive even when not considering how often you'll listen to it. But when the soundtrack shines, it shines.
The downside is that all of these bright colors contribute to an issue I found with the game: its kiddie attitude. With the lead character being only a child, cartoonish characters, bright colors, a simple world map, and what appears to be a somewhat straightforward combat system and item creation system, the game just doesn't feel like it has the weight and impact of the heavyweight RPGs on the console. Between the talking crabs, the evil pumpkin-headed boss who ultimately gets forced to clean toilets, the simpleton characters who seem completely oblivious of their surroundings...this is not a game to take seriously. This issue is further magnified by the translation too, which is serviceable at times but often ventures into the horrendous.
And then you discover the depth to it all. There is a massive item creation system, there are a variety of attack arrangements which change based on what equipment you wield, there are bosses which are supremely difficult when compared to their surroundings in the game, certain weapons offer entirely unique attributes and combat styles, there are hidden advantages on the grid-like battle system related to positioning, etc. And the game explains almost none of this to the player. I'm told that the instruction manual included a list of what items could be created. If you have any interest in playing the game, I definitely recommend tracking this list down. In fact, I recommend using a guide to tell you where to go, as the often lacking translation does a terrible job of conveying what to do.
But despite all of these complexities, it doesn't really add much to the game, because so much of it can be completely ignored. The final boss fight, I walked up and hit him in the face. Over and over again. That was all it took. I actually felt let down by the game due to just how easy the battle went. It required only the barest of strategies, while certain previous bosses had required more patience in positioning my robot and bating the AI into a trap(though again, doing this completely ruined the challenge. I 2-shotted the 3rd to last boss with a proper strategy and managed to do max damage in the process). Once you have your grasp on the combat system, most battles require almost no strategy. Learning the intricacies of the item creation system allows the player to create powerful weapons early on that completely break the challenge. I had an Axe 3, the most powerful melee weapon in the game, by the time I had beaten the second dungeon. And that same Axe 3 is what I used to bash in the final boss' face.
Yet I don't dislike the game. Despite its problems, Robotrek has a scrappy charm that I enjoy, and a happy-go-lucky veneer that hides a deeper system which can be easily be broken. I wish I had gotten into this when I was younger, as I think this is just the kind of game for people who have started to analyze RPGs and understand them but are not yet near ready for the complexity of something like 7th Saga.