Silicon Fusion >> Reviews >> Robotech: Invasion

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Review:

19th January 2005:
Robotech: Invasion
The Zantredi are nothing more than a memory, their masters defeated by a new menace. Now it is the Invid who control Earth's destiny!
Posted by Chris Snook - PlayStation 2,Xbox - UK and Europe

The Macross Saga. Rated by many as being one of the best animation series ever created. There has been one game already based on the series, Robotech: Battle Cry dealt with the beginning of the tale and how humanity united under the threat of that we are indeed not alone and that they were fifteen times our size. Robotech: Invasion is set further into the story, the original invaders the Zantredi and their Robotech Masters are no more, the Invid have arrived and have taken over. Mulching their way through all resistance as they try to secure the energy source protoculture that now grows upon the face of planet Earth.

Things start as the Robotech Expeditionary Force arrive from deep space and attempt to take back the planet in a massive aerospace and ground conflict. Ultimately they fail and you as one of the infantry assaulting the central Invid Hive, are captured. The story is picked up four years later with the Invid being fought by a band of human resistance fighters, who are grimly trying to remove the occupiers. You are picked up by a patrol, with limited memories of who you are, you literally have no name and as the opening sequence ends you take the body armour and name of Locke. It is here that you suffer the first of a series of flashbacks that proceed to help flesh out the back story.

From here you are pitched into the fray as you are drafted to fight the good fight for the human race.

Invasion at it's heart is firmly cast in the Halo mode of play. Take on missions, shoot enemies and blend, slice 'n' dice your way through the Invid foot soldiers, hunters and aerial units with a variety of weapons and the game's most unique feature. The Cyclone, a suit of power armour that has the nifty ability to change back and forth into a nippy motorcycle, all the more to speed you through some of the fairly large levels.

The levels themselves are very well rendered, they are often large enough so as not to be confining, yet are not so sprawling that you can get confused as to where you are on the map, this is made easier by a large green compass arrow showing you where to go next, though not always by the most direct route. However in some levels there is a distinct sense of linearity as you slog around on foot indoors, explained as a safety feature of your Cyclone to prevent accidents. As when indoors you are unable to convert into cycle form, a decision that seems a little contrived.

Weaponry wise there is a nice selection to pick from, shotguns, pistols, machine guns and rocket launchers to name a few, not to mention the 'Gallant' a protoculture powered weapon that has a number of add-ons to customise its utility, including a sniper scope that provides a satisfactory level of distance takedown. All the weapons have a zoom mode, some only to 2x others to 4x, enough to provide sniper fans some fun until they get the scope. As a bonus your Cyclone has an onboard missile system, with which you can rain devastation upon the Invid as you carom around the landscape.

Things do move at a nice clip, there is no hint of slowdown even if the screen is filled with enemies and allies and the cycle elements move fluidly and with efficiency through the landscape. Animation overall is smooth and whilst not fully 'cel shaded' there is enough of a hint with the graphics to keep people happy. In all three viewpoints, first, third and a kind of middle ground, everything behaves nicely, as it should be backed up by the Havok engine physics model.

From a sound point of view a few of the weapons sound a bit weak but some, such as the rocket launcher and machine gun more than compensate. Environmental sounds are almost devoid, beyond footsteps, which synch nicely with the animations and the sound of weapon impacts on your armour or objects. The Cyclones do make a satisfying sound as you tear up the dust and tarmac. Voice acting is generally good and does not intrude, there are no unnecessary monologues or voice over's and the music by Jesper Kyd contains some of the best atmospheric sounding elements that I have heard in a long tine.

There is a lot of ground to cover and three difficulty levels to keep you happy it will take time to complete but there is one deep flaw at the heart of the game. The control system. Even with eight possible configurations to pick from there is none which really works easily in all modes. Aiming and moving is all analogue, mimicking the Halo style and it should work but doesn't. There are issues with sensitivity that means that if you are moving and shooting there is no way you can reliably hit a target and often the aim slides around, weaving about the HUD. This means that you need to remain still to effectively kill anything, never a wise move when in a shooter as when the many enemies come at you, you are a sitting duck to incoming fire. As a treat to those who are left handed there is an option to reverse the movement and aim controls, which in some configs render the rest of the control awkward to useless - the best example being that to then jump you have to stop moving. Later levels also require that you jump from platform to platform or island to island and whilst pixel perfection is not required, enough timing is and it is frustrating to restart once again due to being a split second too late on that jump. When will designers realise that an FPS does not require a platform element to work? All this is not fatal but for those who are unwary it can be a maiming wound to enjoyment.

Which is a shame as Robotech: Invasion could have been a very good game with a less clunky control system and the elimination of unneeded gameplay styles. A reset aiming control would have been welcome, re-centring your aim by tapping a button, certainly more useful than the seldom used melee weapons. The storyline is fascinating and well told, the flashbacks enhance as opposed to confuse the player, though it does assume some familiarity with the universe. What works, works well and manages to save things from oblivion but the parts that don't will wear you down after a while, making you think as you try to loose yourself in mindless violence.

Chris Snook

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Review Summary:

First Person Shooter set in the Robotech/Macross universe at the time of the Invid occupation of Earth. Solid storyline, with voice acting and atmospheric music that is let down by a poor control system that hinders effective combat. For fans of the animated series and of motorcycle style racing games.

Related Games:

Robotech: Invasion
for PlayStation 2

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