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Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation: Reviews

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Game Score: 8/10

Intro:
If you've never heard of Super Robot Taisen, (or as it's known in Japan Super Robot Wars) then a basic way to describe it would be a Tactics RPG with giant robots. The main bulk of the games are a massive crossover of different robot anime like Gundam, Mazinger and Macross, and were never released out in the west due to lisencing issues. Then, the makers of SRW had a brilliant idea: Take all the original characters they've made and put them together without any anime characters. Thus, Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation was born, and was the first ever SRW game to be released in the west.

Story:
As the game is generally based on different anime, expect (and love)every robot anime cliché in the book. The basic premise is that in the future, the earth is struck by several meteors, the third of which is found to be artificial. The earth federation government set up a research institute, the EOTI to research the technology in the meteor, as they realise that it was the first step in an invasion plan by aliens which are dubbed "Aerogaters" by the earth government. However, the leader of the EOTI starts a millitary coup against the federation with his secret faction, the Divine Crusaders.

At the start, you can choose between two characters for whose path to follow. The choice is between Ryusei Date, the mecha otaku who falls into the cockpit of a prototype suit and is drafted into the army, and Kyosuke Nanbu, a stoic test pilot with unnatural luck. The two main characters are in their own teams (SRX team and ATX team, respectively) for approximately half the game before the paths merge. Along the way expect comedy, treachery, romance and lots of giant robots duking it out.

Graphics:
The plot cutscenes are generally bare, usually just a background and text (and I mean a LOT of text) accompanied by a mugshot of the person talking. The battle map is average, with the different units represented by colour coded heads (blue for the player's team, red for enemy, green for AI controlled allies) on a background ruled out into a grid. not too impressive, but the actual combat is where the graphics truly shine. On a very detailed, scrolling background representing the terrain the unit is standing on, an SD (that's super deformed for those who don't know, with a large head and small body.) version of the robot executes wonderfully animated attacks, complete with cut-ins of the pilot on some of the more impressive ones. The beautiful attack graphics more than make up for the slightly lackluster cutscenes.

Sound:
Most of the sound effects are acceptable. None really stood out for me either way. The music is nice too, with unique themes for most characters, although the 'Go! Go! Go!' in Ryusei's theme gets a bit grating after a while. Sanger Zonvolt's theme 'The Sword that Smites Evil' is a personal favorite of mine and Elzam Von Branstein's 'Trombe!' overwriting every other theme (including bosses) is hilarious.

Replayability: The fact that there are two separate paths at the start gives a bit of replayability if you want to see the points of view of both teams. The game is fun to just pick up and play, although there is only the story mode and no way of going back to choose previous episodes to play, so you are stuck playing the episode that you have got up to (unless you start the game from scratch of course). Unfortunately some missions will have you replaying them ten or so times due to a tough boss or one of your characters being picked off when they are part of the mission objective, yelding a game over. Thankfully there's no chance of losing a character permanently due to battle, just a repair cost for the mecha, so there's no need to reset your game just because a lucky missile caused a critical hit.

Overview:
A very fun game to play, but mainly for anime fans. If you hate the idea of giant robots fighting each other with guns, swords, and super attacks, then this game might not be for you. However, if you're a fan of Gundam, Giant robots, anime in general or if you've enjoyed games like Fire Emblem in the past, I'd recommend giving this game a go.

Pros:
Brilliant plot, wonderful battle animations.
Cons:
Bare cutscenes, Lackluster map screens.