|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Contents News Previews Reviews Features Columns Media Wallpapers Interactive DCS Forum Letters Chat Submit Stuff Feedback Staff Join us Affiliates>>
Be ahead of the game! Enter your email address and get notified of site updates: Help keep this site alive. Please visit our sponsors |
Tech Romancer
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.
"Fans of Big Hulking Mechs with teenage girl pilots buy this game. Casual gamers run away"
Related: >>Buy this game or get more info! >>Compare prices for this game and get the best deal! >>Discuss this game and share your opinions in the Forums! >>Read other reviews
|
Reviewer:
Click to see the game for yourself: Compare prices for this game and get the best deal!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All copyrighted images and names are trademarks of their respective copyright holders. All original work is copyrighted by Farooq Asif. Unauthorised reproduction of any material from this site is strictly prohibited. © 2000 DreamcastSource.co.uk |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||