Sunday, May 17, 2009

Giant Fighting Robots Review

Laminar Research, creators of the X-plane series have just released their latest title "Giant Fighting Robots"; yes that's actually the name of the game. Being a fan of the x-plane games I picked this one up...and here we are now.


On to the review!!!!


STORY

Like the X-plane games, laminar's newest title has little to no story. the story(presented in black text on a white background=( )puts you in command of your very own ATAW(all terrain attack walker). apparently there's a race of aliens named Spiders who are invading earth and you have been ordered by the president to defend key locations and BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH....

the story is just horrible, not only does it make no sense whatsoever, but the game doesn't even make an effort to make things interesting, all you've got to keep you playing is a paragraph of text telling you either that your victory will be known across the world, or that you just plain suck. if your looking for a good story steer clear of this game.

Missions

The missions are just as uninteresting and repetitive as the story; it might as well be the same mission over and over again because the only thing that changes is the enemy (not by much) and the environment. Your one and only objective is to kill your enemy, its you vs. another mech with nothing else on the entire map.

By completing missions (i.e. killing mechs) you unlock better mechs and more weapons.

Overall the story is just weak, it feels like a last minute addition that barely made it into the final build, there's really no incentive to keep playing unless you absolutely must unlock every last thing.



PRESENTATION

Giant Fighting Robots is a decent looking game at its best, at its worst it’s a graphical catastrophe. The models for the robots look okay, but nothing amazing. The environments are extremely bland and just really bad to look at. Flying 5000 feet above the environments looked fine, but when you’re on the ground maybe 2 feet away you start to realize just how bad they really are. The texture mapping is terrible, and the colors don't really pop out. but there is a variety of environments from deserts to mountains to snow covered valleys

and it doesn't get any better from here, the special effects are equally as bad, the fire in this game looks like reddish orange cotton balls, if you don't believe me take a look at this:




there is one thing that stands out though, and that’s the hud interface itself, it flickers and stutters as you take hits and move around, and depending on where the projectiles strike your mech you'll get a different status report, such as right leg servo-1 or battery damaged!, if you take a hit to the windshield the glass will crack , sometimes obscuring your view of the enemy. The HUD interface really adds to the immersion and makes you feel like your piloting a real mech.


Overall, the realistic HUD effects are really cool and add to the immersion but they're not enough to make up for the terribly bland environments, special effects and textures.


SOUND AND GAMEPLAY

this is just about the only thing Giant Fighting Robots gets right, the game play is solid. At its heart this is a mech combat simulator, and boy does it feel like one. As you walk around in your towering behemoth you feel the power of the mech, your screen shakes as with every footstep and your heads up display is constantly feeding you data. The gameplay is very similar to the x-plane games, you aim and turn using the accelerometer, there’s a slider on the left of the screen for throttle, and one at the bottom to move the tow half of your mech allowing you to strafe and fire. Of course this is a mech combat game, so there is a fire button as well as a jet button that takes your mech to the skies.



The realism in this game is intense, and adds alot of strategy to each battle. Before you enter the combat zone you are given the option of customizing your load out. You have two weapon slots on most mechs, with some having more than two. You can place any combination of weapons in these slots. There are many types of weapons from seeker missiles (above) to flamethrowers, and even lasers. Each weapon has its own weight, damage per shot, reload time, energy consumption and range. You can also upgrade different parts of your mech such as the battery (energy supply), reactor (energy recharge), jet, and engine. Each mech has its own weight limit, which you must abide by in order to enter the combat zone. The customization allows you to play however you want, personally I like to get up close and personal, so I upgraded my jet and engine and strapped on 2 flamethrowers. But you have to be careful how you use your mech. if you run out of energy(indicated by the two bars on the screen) you will not be able to move at full speed, if your reserve reaches zero you wont be able to move at all.



Also it’s not just about taking damage or dishing it out; it’s about where you take damage. Take enough hits to the jet engine and you'll get a little prompt telling you your jets just failed. Taking out an enemy’s battery or reactor will make them a sitting duck. If you don’t cushion your landing after a long flight, then you'll get a message telling you that you just damaged your legs, and as a result you will move slower. There are two modes, campaign and multiplayer which allows you to play against other players on the same wifi network. I have not tested the network play yet but I imagine it would add a lot of replay value.

The sounds are also amazing, everything other than the engine sound which is the same as the one in x-plane extreme =(. the HUD monitors, jets, machineguns, they all sound great. The feeling you get when everything is going critical and your HUD is flickering and cutting out, while error messages and warning sounds are popping up everywhere is just amazing.



Overall the gameplay is solid, there’s really nothing wrong with it. If we had massive fighting robots I bet this is how it would feel to operate one.




CONCLUSION

Solid gameplay, immersive sound and amazing HUD effects, you feel like your operating a real live mech. But the terrible story and weak visuals really hold this game back. Maybe an upgrade would fix the visual issues, but for now I really cant recommend this for 4.99$


5/10

solid gameplay and hud effects but the rest of the game falls flat on its face =(


APPSTORE LINK


Thats it for the review don't forget to leave comments and subscribe, if you want me to review an app or game just post a comment or email me at somedude445@live.com. Devs i'm also accepting Beta and promo codes so send one over and ill review or beta test it. cya later!!!

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