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Tech Romancer

	Developer
	Publisher	Virgin Interactive
	Genre	Beat 'em up!
	Players	1-2
	Rumble	Yes
	Extras	Arcade stick

Capcom the undisputed champions of the 2D fighting games return again to the DC with another fighting game. Wait don't go its in 3D! Tech Romancer is its name and it features absolutely no "romance" or "romancing", seriously if you are after those types of games, pop down the shop and buy a copy of girly world.

Tech Romancer is a 3D mech or mecha fighting game, it has obviously been heavily influenced by the excellent Robotech and Gundam series. The object is to pick one of the 8 initially available mechs and pilot in some cases then battle against other mechs. Pretty standard fare, but Capcom have split the Arcade mode into two distinct sections.

One is the hero challenge mode; here you choose your mech and battle 12 other robots. Your final rank is determined by your skill and heroism levels, incidentally this is how you earn points for the Tatsumi technodrome, but more on that later.

Tech Romancer is a complete 3D fighting game with fully functional 8 way movement, it is not up to Power Stones freedom but it is leaps ahead of Soul Calibur's. Controlling the multistorey mechs is key and Capcom have implemented this excellently, there is a quick turn option where your mech can run around the side of your opponent then release a barrage of rockets against the enemy…marvellous.

Capcom have re-introduced an innovative feature, namely the collectable power ups in the style of Marvel Super Heroes. However in Tech Romancer it is now possible to pick up a maximum of 5 and stock them up for later use.

The power ups come in 7 different flavours:

1.       Offense up - increases your attacking power.

2.       Defense up - improves your defence.

3.       Speed up - your attacks and mech movements increase speed.

4.       Special up - increases your special moves ten fold.

5.       Repair up - repairs your mech damage [only the highlighted yellow     section]

6.       Amour repair - fully repairs your amour.

Although the Story mode narratives are a great addition, Capcom have also included the amazing Tatsumi Technodrome. Basically this is where you earn all the game secrets. By beating the game with the available characters opens up hidden art work and animations and the downloadable mini games. If that is not enough there is another section of the Tatsumi Techndrome where you convert your 'G' points earned from the vm mini games and the hero challenge mode into new mechs. One of the characters will please all you Capcom Cyberbots fan, because Jin is a hidden character complete with his awesome mecha!

All of these features are a welcomed addition to the game, but those familiar with the 2D Capcom fighting games will be slightly disappointed. There are only 2 attack buttons rather than the 6 that we are used to. Even though the two attack buttons have many different moves assigned to them depending on your distance from the enemy the game mechanics rely more on button tapping and over the top super moves.

The music and sound effects in Tech Romancer do their job admirably. All the vocal samples are still in Japanese, with the English story narrative appearing in subtitles. This is probably better then getting some new English voice actors trying to act surprised, also some of the narrative is quite strange, just put it down to the translation process. As the mechs run around you have the constant noise of their metallic feet hitting the ground, which may not be correct, but it sounds so cool. All the super powered plasma weapons have suitable sound effects and even the buildings make a noise when they collapse under your mechs feet! Music wise it is your typical Japanese rock and synth tunes, although not as bad as the awful American rock in some games it is still pretty average. However saying that, the credit roll song is good, but don't buy the cd.

In short if you give Tech Romancer a chance the likely hood is that you will get hooked on it. Basically Capcom are great at creating fighting games featuring characters with personality, and Tech Romancer is no different. Tech Romancer is a heavily styled game, which will appeal to manga fans and those who want something more from their fighting games, however casual gamers look elsewhere.

Sam Smith

Graphics	7	The character 2D artwork is typical of Capcom's high quality.   The 3D models each look amazing, and the whole game front end continues this trend.
Sound	7	Suitable sound effects and the Music does its job.
Gameplay	7	All out over the top fun, missiles, plasma cannons. Good arcade style fun, with a little added depth to keep you going for a long while.
Lifespan	7	Lots of hidden games/ artwork/ mechs to collect, but once that is done then it is like all the other fighting games. If you like it you will play it.
Overall

"Fans of Big Hulking Mechs with teenage girl pilots buy this game. Casual gamers run away"

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Reviewer:

Sam Smith

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