Liberation Maiden

Following her father’s assassination, high school student Shoko Ōzora must become the president of New Japan and defend the country from an evil menace with her most powerful tool. Executive orders? No! It’s a giant mech!

This is the premise of Suda 51’s new game – Liberation Maiden. Published by Level 5, this Suda’s contribution to the Guild01 game compilation for the 3DS. The game plays like a fast paced arcade shooter, using the stylus to target and attack, the circle pad to move, and the shoulder button to lock-on.

Story

If you are looking for Suda 51’s usual outlandish, wacky, and outright insane plots, you may be a little surprised by this one. Not to say that it’s not odd, but not on the levels of No More Heros, Killer7, or Lollipop Chainsaw. Perhaps the strangest part of the plot is how much more serious it takes itself. The majority of the story is conveyed through beautiful anime cut-scenes, which while short, is understandable for the length of the game. Shoko must pilot her giant mech, the Liberator, to destroy spikes that have begun to cover New Japan. In doing so she brings back nature and life to the areas the spikes or other enemy machines inhabited. Technology versus nature? Check.

Gameplay

Controls

The game plays fairly well in burst or short play, but can become stale or repetitive for prolonged play times. Since you must use the shoulder button(s) to target enemies, specifically the lesser spikes (mini bosses), this can become uncomfortable during longer play times. The circle pad controls the mech well, and stylus target is effective and fun albeit random at times. Targeting takes place on the lower screen with the stylus and is visually represented on the upper screen. Often times precision is thrown out the window and random scribbling of the stylus takes over.

Mechanics

To attack an enemy in Liberation Maiden you must target them on the lower screen with the stylus and flick to release the attack. Swiping over an enemy again will increase the charge count on that enemy and attack with more strength when released. The interesting part is what you attack with, and what charges your attack, is also your shield. This creates an sense of strategy balance with smaller attacks and an ability to defend yourself versus bigger charged attacks and no defense. When your shield is down or drained you will start taking direct damage to your health. When you do take damage to your shield you lose that part of the shield, but can regain and increase you shield by destroying more enemies.

You are also given two different weapons: missiles and lasers. With the missiles you can re-swipe over enemies and build up a attack charge on them represented by a number that will hover over them. This allows for heavy damaging attacks on bosses and mini-bosses. The laser allows for continued damage that drains your shield. Unfortunately the laser doesn’t seem to fit as well into this games frantic gameplay, and while it has its few uses, is generally not as enjoyable.

You also have a sword like attack that charges up over time when you damage enemies that you can throw onto the battlefield and damage all nearby enemies. I actually forgot about this ability for most of the game, but did enjoy it when used.

Your final power against the enemy is a suicide like attack when you charge into the enemy and must rotate around a circle quickly style so that the Liberator can pierce through the enemy’s heart. This is how each boss battle ends.

Graphics and Sound

Impressively I never experiences any sort of lag for frame-rate drops while playing. This is surprising since the game does look pretty good and is typically full of hectic explosions, lasers, various effects 90% of the time. The sound effects are good and never become too repetitive or boring. Voice acting is great for all of the characters and really help bring everyone to life.

“But what about the 3D?” Yes, there is 3D. No, it does not matter.

Conclusion

I was very pleased with Liberation Maiden, not blown away, but pleasantly content. Despite the lack of wackiness, this still feels very much like a Suda 51 game and I was not disappointed. The shield/weapon mechanic is cool and gameplay overall is fun and frenzied. However the game is short, it can hurt your hand, does become repetitive over time, and has limited replay value. I feel I got just about exactly my monies worth, not necessarily less, and definitely not more.

Score: 7.5/10