Wartech: Senko no Ronde: Revival of a Classic
June 6, 2007 – If you don’t understand what Senko no Ronde means, you have nothing to fear, for there is very little about this game you WILL understand. Though I can’t say that the graphics are bad, I can say that this game has nothing new to show you. WarTech is actually a game based off of a game, the latest in the mech-shooter/brawler. For those of you that are professional button mashers, this is the game for you. You’ll find this game has very good graphics, great game control, and the usual amount of reading for a Japanese game.
The opening sequence of what sounds like the usual 12-year-old Japanese girl’s voice kicks in and allows those of us who speak English to begin reading, but don’t worry, the only thing the slow readers are missing is a lot of still images without faces. After a very short intro, our main screen comes into view and offers us the usual: story, versus, training, arcade, score attack, and online options.
Feel free to open the training module, choose one of eight fighters and beat on a dummy mech-bot, but don’t expect to actually learn anything. You can use the usual motions of any similar fighting game to get a few different moves from each character. When you feel like going a few rounds with a live character, exit training and proceed to arcade mode. You’ll find that you may stumble upon your BOSS mode accidentally (and very easily), however, even though your character now likely takes up most of the screen and is probably firing like something out of ‘Total Carnage,’ don’t expect to do too much damage. You’ll quickly notice that it is very easy to maneuver out of harm’s way as the controls are perfect for this type of game. You’ll also find that you cannot move in on your opponent while in BOSS mode and can only fire like a maniac from a distance. No need to worry if your opponent enters BOSS mode either; you’ll see that with good maneuvering and your shield, they’re unlikely to do much damage to even any player.
If you feel you’re now ready to go to the story mode and haven’t yet returned the game, please proceed. As you’ve likely noticed from previous gameplay, there are sidebars on both sides of the screen offering to show you a whole lot of useless information that not only will make no sense to you, but you won’t have time to read it. You’ll also find that even though the characters are fierce in battle, they’ll be talking quite calmly generally to the music of choice – jazz. You’ll not be able to find time to read what they’re saying, but judging by the tone of their voices, I’d say it was nothing interesting. WarTech offers online play where you can battle the worlds best according to the Xbox Live Ranking system, though this may not do you much good as it would be more difficult to find another player online than it would be to beat the world’s best WarTech player. If you do enjoy the game, you’re better off to find a friend that will play locally with you.
The 3-D graphics are very well done. If you are able to see through all the grids, talking, and items on screen, you’ll notice that the land below looks very appealing. Unfortunately, since free-roam isn’t an option and you’ll be fighting in a mostly-aerial view above the ground, this does the game no good. The game is unable to compare to similar mech-bot games, and is further grounded from its aerial pursuit by the enormous price being asked for such a so-so game.
Overall, I was happy with the controls, the graphics, and the ease of learning a new game, but it has to be said that the revival of a game of this nature is not likely to launch as easily as the characters. Very few saw this game coming, most game stores were even surprised that it showed up one day with the lack of advertisement. Likewise, very few will see it go or know it existed. If you do purchase the game, don’t expect to get a good trade in value or replay value. You may be better off waiting for someone who traded it in.
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