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Drone Tactics Review for the Nintendo DS (NDS)

Drone Tactics Review for the Nintendo DS (NDS)

These Bugs Clank When You Squish Them

There are a number of excellent turn-based strategy titles (both current and soon to be released) on the handheld market, but the majority of them are skewed towards the tastes of hardcore players. They frequently feature more mature fantasy or military themes and a steep learning curve. Some younger players who might otherwise enjoy the genre may not possess the patience to dig into the complex systems in games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Front Mission, and Panzer Tactics.

Drone Tactics screenshot

For the kids who’ve missed out, Atlus’ Drone Tactics possesses just the right amount of wacky Saturday morning cartoon flair to hold their attention long enough to hook them with its sound strategic gameplay. The game’s outlandish story is certainly different from what you might expect in such a title. A bunch of bug-loving kids come across a pair of talking insects from another planet who whisk them away to their home world where an intense war is being waged between insect factions and humans who are controlling giant, robotic bug-mech things called Drones. Summoned for their abilities to use ancient “Master Card” technology, the kids help the bugs by turning them into their own army of giant Drones to mount a resistance. The premise itself is not quite as bad as the way it’s presented. Characters in the game are pretty shallow, and much of the dialogue falls into the “hey dude, let’s go kick some bad guy butt” category. This essentially amounts to a whole lot of obnoxious drivel. Not to insult the intelligence of younger players, but it’s the kind of story only an eight year-old kid would love.

Controlling a force of giant, robotic bugs on the battlefield is another matter altogether. Despite appearances, the turn-based strategy gameplay found in Drone Tactics is actually quite good. At its core, the game has many of the typical elements of others in the genre. You’ll take turns with the enemy moving a group of units around an isometric map grid, making use of terrain bonuses and special map features when planning your attacks. Most of the missions you’ll encounter are of the search and destroy variety, but they’re reasonably engaging nonetheless. Each level also introduces new gameplay elements and mechanics at a reasonable pace to coincide with progression in the story.

Drone Tactics screenshot

On the isometric strategic map, the colorful robo-bug armies are rather adorable, and they feature nice animations. Don’t be fooled; when you get up-close and personal in combat, these cute critters turn into brawling bug beasts armed with saw blades, battering rams, machine guns, cannons, missiles, and other damage dealing devices. The highly detailed, fully-3D animations during combat are really impressive, and they contrast sharply in nature with the cartoony feel of the rest of the game – in a good way. It’s great to see Atlus taking the high road by beefing up the visuals in this area, when so many other turn-based strategy titles don’t push the envelope graphically. Production-wise, these scenes make the game standout.

Drone Tactics screenshot

As you move through the main campaign, your small group of core Drone units will grow in number and ability. The developers chose to keep things simple by not making players manage resources and construct their own armies. New allies are garnered automatically at semi-regular intervals in the story. Every unit has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. They all gain experience individually, and each can be outfitted with new armaments made with parts collected from fallen adversaries. New weapon designs will be available frequently after battles, and it’s fun to construct something new to arm your bugs with the leftovers scrap from nasty creatures you just demolished.

Drone Tactics screenshot

Drone Tactics also throws a few extras gameplay elements into the package that will appeal to the target audience. Even so, they don’t feel tacked on. A fairly deep card collection system allows you to throw down cool bonuses, effects, and special abilities in combat and on the strategic map. Card effects are powered by a handful of different touch mini-games, and various cards can be combined to create more powerful effects. In the hangar players can give their Drones sweet custom paint jobs or adorn their army with a hand-drawn emblem using a decent built-in drawing program. When battles in the main game feel a tad too difficult, you can go back and fight in the badlands where there are up to 50 additional optional scenarios can be unlocked. This provides a good break from the story and helps you level up to get past occasional stumbling blocks with the difficulty. Wirelessly battling against pals or trading cards is also possible to extend the extracurricular activities.

Like in most other similar games on the DS, the stylus touch controls are a nice feature, but they’re more awkward than using the buttons. The latter allows you to issue commands and breeze through menus far more quickly than with the stylus, but there’s nothing otherwise wrong with using the touch method for control. However, stylus maneuvers do break down a bit during some of the card power initiation sequence mini-games. The worst one forces you to hammer on the touch screen by tapping it as fast as possible to charge up an engine piston for a more powerful attack. The others are just sort of awkward and unnecessary. It’s a neat idea that ends up poorly implemented.

Adult players may find the story a tad on the horrendous side, but Drone Tactics easily holds its own in the strategy and gameplay departments. It’s not quite as complex as other entries in the genre – a potentially positive criticism since the game aids younger players who want to give it a try or more experience players who need a break from constant micromanaging. Other than the slick battle animations, which are completely a step in the right direction for turn-based strategy games on the DS, the game doesn’t go above and beyond in most respects. However, it doesn’t really need to; to the kiddos who’ll get a kick out Drone Tactics, squishing bugs will be as gross as this title is engrossing.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.2 Graphics
Sturdy, colorful design enhanced by great 3-D battle scenes. 3.4 Control
Button controls are the way to go, but card attacks force you to play crappy stylus mini-games. 3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Decent soundtrack and effects, but there’s nothing particularly amazing about it. 3.8

Play Value
A lengthy quest and plenty of side-diversions keep the game entertaining

3.7 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Build and command your own Drone army in this intense strategy RPG
  • Choose from over 100 weapons, upgrades, and power-ups to optimize your forces.
  • Conquer dozens of operations and gain access to 50 additional maps.
  • Battle for domination in head-to-head combat using local wireless play.

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