Hello, it’s ChrisX and welcome to another entry SRW Season–(cough!) Crap! It looks like I’ve been infected with a severe case of dengue! SRW Season will be right back once I made full recovery…

1 week later…

MUCH better. Now where were we? (ding dong) Oh, what now? Hm?

Oh. Ooooh.

(Several weeks later)

Ah, crap! I have a blog season to attend! Hm… well, I was planning for a countdown. But now that I got this baby running… Welp, might as well!

Hello, it’s ChrisX and welcome to another entry of the SRW Season.

Well, if you’ve been following me, especially on Twitter… You know that fateful day. The moment Bandai Namco announced their 2019 entry of Super Robot Wars game… Super Robot Wars T. The hypest SRW game at least in my eyes. I jumped around, grinning and yelling like a madman as a result of the ultimate hype that came with a SRW close enough to be the SRW of my dreams. I tweeted things about SRW T and made a comeback to its fanbase (at least on parts I know). It made me remember how much I was an SRW nut beforehand.

And at March 20th, the game finally arrives at my doorstep. And… uh, that’s why there were no blog posts, I was too busy playing. (Sorry!)

But then comes the question. Is the game GOOD? Personally I haven’t really finished the game. I’m about halfway or sorts… but I guess it won’t hurt to give a review of this game. I shall review this as someone who was absent from normal SRW games (the last mainline SRW I was active was at Z2.1) and would like to see how much it was presented right now. I will also point out any flaws that this game had. Mind you, this is not a perfect game, but let me try to be fair.

This review are subjective and based on my opinion alone. If you do not agree with it… let’s agree to disagree.

Well, without further ado, let’s see how this game stands up!



What is Super Robot Wars?

Actually, my editorial post in the past got you covered. But if you don’t want to click on the link…

Super Robot Wars is a game series that crosses over various giant robot anime series together, and putting them in one combined narrative. And not just any ‘just there’ narrative like some anime fighters do, they create a new continuity where all the plots mostly proceed in the same time, intertwining together and making crazy combinations. All of it are encapsulated within visual novel-style cutscenes, a turn based strategy gameplay where you can pick your favorite robots to wipe out the enemy swarms, which is filled with gorgeous animations of your unit attacking the enemy with their signature attacks.

Following these licensed characters are a group of original characters, both good guys and bad guys. In a fashion of ‘heroes react to the villains’ actions’, the bad guys cause the mess behind the crossover, and they were somehow linked with the good guys, therefore prompting the good guys to eventually confront the bad guys… but after participating in the various events within the anime as it played out in this continuity, helping the licensed heroes to the point that the heroes wholeheartedly backed up the original heroes as they lay the most epic beatdown to their personal bad guys.



Whether you just like the anime series involved, or you somehow grew to like the original characters within, it doesn’t matter. Super Robot Wars is a series where humongous mechas from various sources duke it out while following their storyline and fixing what went wrong. Which would be great, except for the fact that a majority of their games were in Japanese only, unless it only consisted the original characters, the Original Generation series.

But that changed since the release of the first PS4 game, Super Robot Wars V. The game was translated officially, and the trend continues to the next game… and now this game as well.

All right, I’ve spoken enough. You got all that, right? Let’s focus on Super Robot Wars T.

Roster

Of course, when it comes to a traditional Super Robot Wars game, one of the first things you’ll get offered is the roster. This is where they make their first impression, and trust me, it’s very important.

Specifically for this series, producer Takanobu Terada stated that they’re aiming for a more international appeal. And from the roster, we already know this would be the case. A majority of the roster have already been dubbed into English and held a good place in the hearts of many.











First, let’s go over the returning series. The Brave Express Might Gaine, Crossbone Gundam and the usual trio of UC Gundam Trinity, Zeta Gundam, Gundam ZZ and Char’s Counterattack make a return, so they are staples of the PS4 era games.

While people may be sick of some of them appearing three times in a row (except the UC Gundam Trinity, that was kind of expected), I am personally fine with them. Remember that I came back to SRW right in T without experiencing V and X, therefore I came with a fresh perspective. Especially The Brave Express Might Gaine that became one of my main focuses for favorites.









Next, still on returning series, we also have series that only appeared once before in V and X, including Aura Battler Dunbine (X), Getter Robo Armageddon and Martian Successor Nadesico: Prince of Darkness (V). Nadesico is once again, another take on the movie that killed the franchise while fixing the reviled storyline into something respectable and heartwarming. Getter Robo Armageddon is a somewhat new take on the Armageddon story, some characters may be missing, but in their place, Bandai Namco provided us a new toy to play with, a version of the Shin Getter Dragon from the PS1 game Getter Robo Daikessen. Aura Battler Dunbine is accompanied with New Story of Aura Battler Dunbine… well, except that rather than a guest appearance by the latter’s main fairy Silkie Mau (like in X), the plot here revolve around mainly New Story, with the protagonist Shion Zaba taking center stage of its plot, and for the first time, he gets to meet the guy he officially descended from, Show Zama.

These are all new experiences and takes of the older series, and honestly I’m very much welcoming it with open arms. Overall, the titles shown so far have been quite pleasing, but of course we’re not done.







After this, we get titles that were absent in both games, but also appeared in the Z games, where the PS4 games’ engines are heavily based on. These include Gunbuster, Armored Trooper VOTOMS and Invincible Robo Tryder G7. VOTOMS seems to have reached memetic status for the jarring difference between the over the top setting of Super Robot Wars and the mundane mechas of the series kicking ass all the same, but honestly I didn’t really follow that meme, because I never watched the series.

I didn’t watch Tryder G7 either, but I think of it a little more highly in context because after people had to contend with Daitarn 3 always appearing in other Super Robot Wars, it’s refreshing to see Tryder represent the Invincible Trilogy alone while Daitarn takes a well-deserved break. Unfortunately, Tryder also works like Daitarn, it’s just kind of an extra, with none of the plot being involved. But hey, I’m a guy who likes’em Super than Real more, and more to that later on Tryder.

Let’s move on to the next one. Gunbuster is a pretty big name amongst Super Robot fans and from the look of it, it came back with full force. Last time in Z, you are not seeing a certain Jung Freud. Aaand here she is. The plot is also taken from the beginning as well and overall, it’s a treat, even if one character and unit are written out due to the recent death of his voice actor. Unlike many others, my hype on Gunbuster wasn’t that big, but it’s still pretty big so I welcome it amongst the cast.

If this so far is just ‘okay, pretty cool, I guess’, the next entries blew the hell out of me and made me really like the roster.







Next comes the series that has been missing from both the PS4 games and the Z games. These include… Gun X Sword… Mobile Fighter G Gundam… and GaoGaiGar.

MUST. RESIST. TEMPTATION. TO. SCREAM. IN. PURE. HYPE.

First off, my history with Gun X Sword was a rather unique one. I first came to know it from its only entry in Super Robot Wars series, Super Robot Wars K. And it was a controversial title. But that Gun X Sword continued to be the lynchpin of my playthrough as I enjoyed the Dann of Thursday’s design, and just how badass the protagonist Van make it fight. I ended up watching the anime, enjoying it as it explores the theme ‘revenge’ in a more unique way. And it became one of my personal favorite mecha anime that only appeared once in SRW… until this title. So of course my hype was reaching the roof at this point…

And the combination of Mobile Fighter G Gundam and GaoGaiGar make the hype go up to the skies, smashing the roof to pieces. G Gundam hasn’t been in a proper SRW for a long time. Its last two appearances only had the main protagonist Domon and treated like a cameo, much like Tryder G7 in here. As a fan of one of the most hot blooded mecha anime ever, of course that treatment disappoints me, but it’s back here with the majority of its cast, and it comes pair to pair with GaoGaiGar, the other most hot blooded mecha anime. This a special case, despite them not using the more intense GaoGaiGar: FINAL, because first, this will be the first time that GaoGaiGar is paired together with G Gundam, so it’s the first time that these two top hot blooded anime will team up together… and also making this scene from a certain butler anime look prophetically hilarious. Second, this will be the first time that we have two Brave Series robots in one SRW, the other Brave robot being Might Gaine. Sure acts like a good save for seeing Might Gaine thrice in a row!

Gun X Sword, Mobile Fighter G Gundam and GaoGaiGar. These three are already top tier mecha anime I loved, and of course the levels of my hype is already pretty high. But it’s the newcomers that will steal the show.

But before we get to the newcomers, there is one series that is included as well. It’s pretty much a tradition that each SRW needs to have a Mazinger entry, and this game got Mazinger Z Infinity. It’s like a debut in a proper SRW, but actually it made its debut in the mobile SRW X-Omega, so it wasn’t categorized as such. It’s a continuation of the original continuity of Mazinger Z, so a lot of the over the top attacks from Shin Mazinger are gone, it’s like the Mazinger continuity goes for a ‘back to basics’ approach. But hey, basics aren’t always bad. The good ol’ Mazinger Z is always there to make me feel happy and hyped on crushing evil.

Okay, now onto the newcomers. First we have probably the very latest anime amongst the roster here, Expelled From Paradise. It’s a real robot show with a more modern design, pretty sure the first thing that comes to mind by other people tends to be how much fanservicey the design of the main heroine Angela Balzac is (it wasn’t as ridiculous). I watched the series too, but I just thought that the mecha seems to be kind of an afterthought, the main meat are the philosophy talk and the dangers of utilitarianism, something that the script writer Gen Urobuchi wanted to deliver (and mind you, this is TAMER than his other works). So it didn’t deliver as much hype.

Good thing that was the first new series shown. Because the rest… well, they’re designed to blow a lot of people’s minds.

Let’s go over the first one. It’s… that thing that wants to blow this place, get everybody and stuff together… OK, 3, 2, 1– It’s Cowboy Bebop, let’s jam! Man, where do I even begin with this series. Well, for starters… I haven’t watched or finished the series. At all. But it is such a cultural anime icon amongst English speakers, close enough to be a Holy Grail of dubbed anime. It kickstarted efforts for good dubbing, it’s kind of… the ‘essential/must-watch anime’ for westerners for a lot of reasons other reviews would gladly tell you, mentioned everywhere in English-speaking anime community. The surprise is that mecha is probably the least you’ll think about on Cowboy Bebop, but here it is. It only got a combat plane for unit, but for a small unit, it’s pretty powerful and with proper upgrades, is nigh untouchable and can go toe-to-toe with other big robots available. So bottom line, while I am not as hyped on this series, I can already sense others getting hyped on this, and it does good for the game, really.

Next we have Arcadia of my Youth: Endless Orbit SSX. If that title makes you wonder what it is, well maybe the phrase ‘Captain Harlock’ will make you feel familiar. Yes, it’s one of the many anime featuring fiction’s most famous Space Pirate Captain Harlock. This anime is actually the oldest that is featured in the game, dating at the 70’s, so the appeal of the game also reaches those who likes the 70’s anime, greybeards before there was an internet. All I know was the fame of Captain Harlock, but not in details, so this will be the first time I get to see how he got those fame amongst the fans and yes, he’s certainly worthy of being called ‘man among men’. Like Cowboy Bebop, this series does good to hype up the game further even if I do not get super big hype about it.

Because the next, final entry is one that makes my hype get launched from above my roof into the space. This entry is none other than…. than…. MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH!! AAAAAAAAAAAA–

Ahem. *Deep breath*

Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite anime/manga series ever and even other SRW fans have been clamoring for its appearance in the series, with Bandai Namco and Banpresto (now B.B Studio) only complying to the request now. The last time Rayearth was known amongst the majority of anime fans was being the final game of Sega Saturn, and after years, it was back. Seeing them in the trailers and the game reminded me the times I was a child and enjoying to watch Rayearth during childhood, and during the early days of the internet, I could never stop fanboying over it. It’s THAT big of influence to me.

And there we have it from the rosters, with the greatest highlight personally being Gun X Sword, Mobile Fighter G Gundam, GaoGaiGar and Magic Knight Rayearth. All of them are great and makes me smile, thinking that it’s the strongest roster so far for a single-story SRW… okay, probably not quite for other people, but to me, it is goddamn strong. But there is one thing that I got the conclusion of from my opinion. The series listed so far were majorly airing and finishing before the 2000’s, giving it a more old school feel, filled with what I feel as ‘relics of the Golden Age of Robot Anime’. Well, 2000’s robot anime were nice too, but I did notice that a lot of robot anime in the 2010’s didn’t have that same punch than the previous decades. So giving focus on the old, greater age seemed to be a big plus to me.

So basically, after all this, the Roster gets a solid 10/10 score from me.

Original Generation

Now with a roster like this, you may be wondering if the story presentation is good or it’s a disaster. Hey, it could happen. By this we will also review how the Original characters stand up, because they, at least the bad guys’ side, started this mess and the good guys’ side spearheaded the opposition against them when all of the other licensed bad guys are wiped out.

To start with, the story began in New Universe Calendar during an age man called Twilight Age. Before, everything was great and mankind already prepared to travel to space, with technology and science ever growing. But then they found one particular hurdle that shook their resolve that they just halted everything. Mankind entered an age of stagnation, full of wars, corruption and people’s morale were an all-time low, filled with uncertainty and despair. And it was called the Twilight Age.

Saizo, our male protag

Sagiri, our female protag

But there were forces that refused to stand down and continued to make progress. That force is a group called VTX Union, and our story is told through our choice between two particular Salaryman and Salarywoman, Saizo Tokito and Sagiri Sakurai, whoever is chosen gets to pilot the VTX Union’s newest product Tyranado, and the one not chosen… is not turned into antagonistic and becomes an ally riding on the classic unit Gespenst. Our chosen main hero will be accompanied with a newbie young officer named Rami Amasaki, adopted daughter of their boss Hirosuke Amasaki, and two co-workers, mechanic Meryl Spanna and auditor Aimes Ernest.

I’ll be honest that this is one of the times that the Original Generation didn’t click much on me. Granted, it’s not that their designs were bad. The Tyranado had a pretty slick design, I love how it has a piece that made it look like a necktie, just in case you’d like to know that it’s to be ridden by salarymen. It also fits the more down to earth theme of the game that we’re being back to basics, so it has mostly guns and a bunch of beam launchers, a lot of them stored within the backup ship Carriax. It kind of reminds me of the Dea Blanche Neige, but didn’t go quite over the top. Then again, it’s not like when an OG debuted, they went straight to over the top.

Tyranado, our OG mecha. Real only.

Real Robot fans will love this. But for Super Robot fans? Well, they might have to contend themselves with just the licensed Supers instead. Mind you, this game has a nice combination of Supers, but it’s kind of a pity that you don’t get a choice in your original character’s type of robot. This is overall subjective, but the lack of Super OG is a contention point to me.

But hey, I don’t judge based on one section only, so let’s get over with the characters. To be briefs, I’ll just go over with the main, selectable protagonists. In this departments, they actually did well while not being overly notable. It’s a salaryman thing. Sagiri is an overall easygoing and fun-loving lady who’s moving on her own pace and motivated with the fun bonuses she got from her job. Saizo is a stoic workaholic that links pretty much everything with job stuffs and being a ‘model salaryman’. These two contrast with each other, but to get the full brunt of their personalities, you’re going to need to play both of their routes, since the one stuck on Gespenst don’t get much time to express their personalities. Don’t let Saizo’s more stoic workaholic attitude fool you to think he has no personalities, he could get creative and crazy in his workaholic stuffs while maintaining his personal morals while also adhering to the protocols of the VTX.

At least that’s what I get from playing as him.

But the most beautiful thing that I learned from these OG’s was this. Salaryman in general tends to get REALLY bad rap as a (particularly tough) nobody who could only be nothing but a tool to the company and needing something exciting to get out of their boring daily life of work. Not so for these guys, they will vouch to you good qualities of a salaryman, and that it’s a job you can be proud of. So when you grow up and try to find a job, don’t be ashamed that you end up as a salaryman, it’ll still be a good experience and an important part in society. You can learn a lot from humility, which can be important.

That is one happy salaryman… which might not be out of Saizo’s mindset

As far as how their story goes, these salarymen… actually doesn’t have that much high stake on the job. Their opposition, The Company (which is all I can say without delving) are rivals scouting for other men for them, which eventually escalated in a global scale. But overall, the VTX union was there because they were contracted and under obligation rather than personal stake. It might not make for a well invested story, but in the same time, it fits well with the background of a salaryman. You don’t fight for justice, but for obligation and contract. But of course, that doesn’t mean they can’t overlap.

There will be some twists and turn, but… heck, I can’t say any further without spoiling.

So overall, the personalities of the main OG are at least decent, the story is fitting, but could be in a less global/epic scale, and the OG mech choice, while nice… is not going to please Super fans. The message they bring, however, is beautiful and reassuring, especially for working class people in general. It’s brief, and I’ll just repeat it: “Salaryman isn’t a lame job that defines you as nothing but someone else’s tool. Be proud of it!” And this is before I get into that anime about office worker piloting giant robots which has also appeared in an SRW in another game.

So overall, I’ll give the OG the score 8/10.

Actual Story

Okay, so I told the story for the OG, but what about the story of the licensed series? And here is where the overall story of the game shines. The style of the story beckons to the older style of Super Robot Wars games where several games’ plots got meshed together with the other games and they create new possibilities.

This game has a lot of series that is given the ‘post-script’ treatment, in other words, they’re taken from a point after their original anime ended. Might Gaine, Zeta Gundam, the original Aura Battler Dunbine, Armored Trooper VOTOMS are such examples, but I would like to give one exceptional praise for the post-script status of G Gundam.

Typical of Domon, calling his Gundam

The way it’s treated, despite re-treading some old plot points, it’s like they just made a full blown sequel to the series. Domon continues to be central to its plot, and there is a similar level of progression for the cast, so they’re not just being static. I believe it was like that in G Gundam’s last appearance in MX.

And as a bonus, this post-plot stuff is also intertwined masterfully with the plot of Gun X Sword. Between Domon, the man who has gone through the past vengeance, and Van, the man who is on a revenge quest… they actually form a tight and well done friendship, Domon doesn’t even once try to tell him that revenge is a bad thing or a futile one, but he’s just trying to ensure that Van sees through his quest to the end as his heart decreed and make decisions on his own. The rest, you’ll have to see for yourself.

Of course, there are some that are just there for obligatory appearances. It’s mostly Tryder G7, but from what I heard, the original plot was simplistic enough that not including its plot would be okay (if it was another Invincible Robots that had Yoshiyuki Tomino as its writer, well that’d be a different story).









But to make it up, they got one of the funniest, most surreal new combo attack that wasn’t even in the previous games! It’s hilarious.

For those whose story were played straight mostly, they still included some twists here and there, so even those who watched the original series may find some surprises. That even some omissions can surprise you in how they handled the story (such as Getter Robo Armageddon). And of course, since this is a 2019 game and a certain 90’s anime with a infamous (but regarded well done) plot twist is included… well… I won’t say more, but…

Bring tissues.

Really. Bring tissues!

Back to the lighthearted stuffs, if I have to say about the crowning jewel of interactions, that would be the interaction between the Holy Trinity of Super Robot Wars, Mazinger’s Koji, Getter’s Ryoma and Gundam’s Amuro, and this thing will shine the most if you know how the Super Robot Wars franchise ran throughout its lifetime. In this continuity, they’re all grown ups, as opposed to Koji being the ‘upstart kid’. Hence, this time around, they’re more like old war veteran buddies that just had another ‘class reunion’ or so, reminiscing the past and teaching the new generations to move forward.









And take jabs at each other about their past exploits.

While some of their past habits still pop up here and there, just so you know that it’s… still them deep down. These throwbacks were still done without ruining the overall narrative, so it all worked out and becomes an endearing charm for those who has been around longer.

And speaking of throwbacks, of course, it also contained some lines from the original shows said once more in new contexts. If you remember this iconic scene from the original Gundam, the line above became much more awesome to hear. But even those who don’t, the events surrounding it will still make the line inspiring.

Of course, perhaps it was to the regret of many, mine included, that they did not include GaoGaiGar FINAL (I’m gonna miss the Goldion Crusher). But it is something that is not overly crippling to the whole story. Especially if you want a more down-to-earth approach. And some debuting series had some arcs cut out thanks to having to blend many series’ plots at once. Despite the more faithful and good adaptation of both seasons of Magic Knight Rayearth, some character-driven contents got cut out so it might raise some eyebrows. Or heck, if you like Cowboy Bebop, a good chunk of plot also wasn’t there (though Spike makes it up by being an entertaining wisecracker that goes along with the plot).

But despite the cut story contents, they also put out a lot of nice crossover interactions and generally delivers their story well enough that I think those ends up being not at all crippling, maybe just a scratch. Therefore, the score I’m giving for this department is 9/10.

Presentation: Graphics/Animations and Sounds

These days, Super Robot Wars have been accused of reusing the same engines. And the last SRW I played was Z2.1. I abstained from playing previous SRW games in preparation of this and honestly, I think the graphic showcasing was good. The animation is quick, well-paced and some of them are improving from their original source, and they even added varying portraits depending on the attacks. Considering that Bandai Namco were only given 12 months to develop, it’s still impressive that they had quite a lot of series entry new to the engine, and still put up impressive 2D graphics.

Including the aforementioned new combo by Tryder above. Sweet.

However, this section is where some screw-ups can be spotted. Although I could acknowledge them as sacrifices due to the short development cycle, they kind of stick out.

Generally, the soundtrack itself is awesome. The rendition of Yuzurenai Negai (Magic Knight Rayearth’s theme song) did the music justice. The problem is the amount of musics given to the game. I mean, GaoGaiGar or Might Gaine only has one main music each? (Though admittedly, the renditions are still pretty good, especially the sax) And they couldn’t try to make a rendition of any of Expelled From Paradise’s soundtrack? Really? (Not that the original song for it is bad, but…)

Of course, all of these could be alleviated if you use the Custom Soundtrack, but that’s only available in the PS4 version. If you only have the Nintendo Switch version? Tough luck.

The translation is, as usual, very good, since the team behind the translation of V and X, which is considered good, with several words that fit the tone being put in instead of making it feel like robot speaks. But since I haven’t played those and thus haven’t known for real about the benchmark from the previous games… I can still spot a number of typos and mispelling. I understand that it is done for Southeast Asian countries where English isn’t the first language, and the script’s size itself is HUGE, so mistakes could be found. But I do wonder if they cut out the spell-checking or proof-reading time.

Well, the good thing is…. it’s still better than the translation in Moon Dwellers.

Also, this game is not bug-free. There were some visible but annoying bugs, but thank goodness that Bandai Namco patched all those ASAP. Still, it was quite felt before the patch. But all’s well ends well.

For the overall presentation, it was good, I suppose. It was majorly as expected, with kickass soundtrack and nice animations, even if a lot were re-used assets. There were some screw ups, but overall, the other positives in this parts make up for the negatives, making it look like acceptable sacrifices. For that, I’ll give the presentation score 8/10.

Gameplay

Yeah, what’s a video game review/verdict without tackling the most important thing that makes a game. As someone who has been mostly absent from the normal SRW series, only returning for the OG series, the series has evolved from the last I remembered it to be. In order to maximize its enjoyment, I had to abstain playing the previous translated games like V and X, not just because they didn’t generate such big personal hype like T, but because I don’t want to be burnt out when I actually played T.

So… how did it go? What’s the new things to play with and how do they hold up?

Well, first of all, at the very least the core turn-based strategy is back. When I first get into the combat menu, there’s one thing that surprised me: The EX Action. It’s basically a list of buffs that uses a unique meter called ‘EX Counter’, which is accumulated by either killing enemies or gaining a level. A unit starts with 0 counters, but after reaching at least 2 counters, they could activate one of the many available EX Actions, such as an extra dash that ignores enemy collisions; ignoring enemy’s defensive actions or traits; making your attacks have no cost except for Morale; ensuring Critical Hits until your next turn or the best one, making you act again as long as you score a kill.

Battleship gets a different sets, some of them including filling in an ally’s ExC or letting them take another action again. While I rarely use battleships for direct combat, this puts emphasis on the support role that a battleship has, making more than viable than before.

Of course, that’s not counting Captain Harlock and his Arcadia that fights just as well as he supports.

Another change I noticed is that the ever godly skill of SP Regeneration is now a mandatory thing for everyone and they have bigger SP pool. However, each of your pilots start out with 50% SP when sortied so you can’t just spam your SP willy-nilly. But then again, a lot of Spirit Commands are also a lot cheaper. And speaking of Spirit Commands, they can now be activated any time in the battle, even in enemy phase.

All these changes ensures that you have a big SP pool ready any time and significantly reduces the game’s difficulty compared to other titles. And personally, it’s not that bad. If they want to attract new overseas players that wasn’t too hardcore, Bandai Namco really had to lower the bar. And besides, the biggest charm of Super Robot Wars tends to be the sight of your favorite anime series interacting and kicking ass each other. Heck, all these things about Spirit Command and EX Action will tremendously help you in achieving some SR Points which require you completing certain requirements, which has a lot of ‘Do this objective within X turns’.

This would bring us to the next point of Tactical Point AKA TacP. It’s basically the exchange of ‘Pilot Points’, the other currency you get aside of money, in order to boost pilot stats and buy skills (or items). Except this time, there is only 1 shared pool to store that, so if a stronger character gains TacP, they can be used to improve the weaker ones… or they could be used to improve the overall performance of your team with Tac Management. The last one happens to be tied with certain secrets so you will have to choose whether to go gung-ho in making one character an ultimate God of destruction or improving party performance and obtaining those secrets.

The Tac Management can be accessed in the intermission, which also has access to Sub-Orders. Which is basically giving certain bonuses for free, starting from EXP, kill count on certain pilots, money, TacP for everyone. This can help you in leveling your underdogs or making your main team even more powerful. Each pilots also have their unique Ace bonuses after they reach 60 kills and when that happens, they will get interviewed with a special scene, which makes it nice to do this to every of your favorites.

And lastly, there is this feature that just got added into this particular installment: The Supporter system. Basically, there is also an universal pool of SP which is reserved for special support commands done by characters that are mostly NPC. Characters like Mikoto from GaoGaiGar, Mokona from Rayearth, Rain from G Gundam–

Wait hold on a sec. Rain? RAIN!? You mean Domon’s girlfriend that enables him to use Sekiha Love Love Tenkyoken!? But if she’s Support, then… then…! (sigh) All right, we’ll get to that later.

To wrap up on the Supporter system, while it is nifty, it wasn’t that mandatory to use, considering that it has a limited resource and there is no way to manipulate its regeneration points, unlike normal SP, so its use was very limited. Still, it could be useful when you needed one last push for certain things… or achieving trophies.

All right, back on the Rain problem… well, of course she’s more of a researcher and the Rising Gundam that she used was just an one-off deal. However, the Sekiha Love-Love Tenkyoken attack has risen as one of the most iconic combo attacks in SRW. This brings us to the new combination system, which I heard was introduced in Super Robot Wars X, but since this is my first exposure of such system, this would mean that it’s my first time approaching this system.

This time around, if you did not deploy the other units that make up for the combination attack, you can still use the combination attack… with damage penalty. Additionally, there are some combination attacks that could only be initiated with one member. This is an overall new system, but in exchange a lot of previous combination attacks were omitted. Some of them being combination attacks between Van and the El Dora team or Ray from Gun X Sword… and of course, the Sekiha Love-Love Tenkyoken.



RIP, Burger King

All in all, the gameplay is a bit easier than several of the older titles, but Super Robot Wars has not been known for being severely difficult, so it was nothing new or too insulting. Perhaps it WAS a bit too easy with all the nifty toys we got, and some fan favorite combo attacks were omitted. But the challenge of getting SR points are still there and those new tools also gives new ways to experiment on how to approach the stages and allows us for any combinations and gameplay style we want. For that, I’ll give the score 9/10 for Gameplay.

Verdict

In the end, I have to say that this is a VERY GOOD SRW. Probably not the best one, but a strong contender for that. It is not the perfect SRW game, there were some hiccups, but all those times I hyped didn’t go to waste. I enjoyed this game thoroughly and I would give the game an overall 9/10 score.

Whether you have different opinions about this game or shares a similar opinion with it, let me know via the Comments section. Also not to forget, the SRW Season is still in effect!

Until then, this is ChrisX signing out.

