Wartech: Senko No Ronde

Remember back when it was acceptable for a console game to be 20 minutes long because it was an arcade port? You know, before things like cheap, simple Live Arcade games and $60 retail 360 games made the concept look silly. WarTech: Senko no Ronde is dated in this respect, offering a con-tent-light 2D shooter as a "full priced" game. But calling it a 2D shooter is oversimplifying things. In fact, it's arguably not even 2D. Basically, it's a 1 -on-1 competitive shooter, with 2D gameplay and 3D graphics, set up like a typical fighting game. Neat concept, and it executes it decently, with a good variety of characters, distinct attacks, and fun special moves/boss attacks that add some strategy to the action. But the controls aren't as twitch-friendly and built for quick movements as you might imagine, so matches often boil down to each player throwing up as many bullet walls as possible until one player happens to absorb enough damage to lose.

As a fan of both shooters and fighters, I dig the shooter-fighter mashup concept--it's just a shame that it really doesn't work as well as you'd imagine. The game's a bit too chaotic and inexact, and I kept thinking I'd much rather be playing a dedicated shooter or fighter. That, and like Matt says, the price is nuts. For $60 bucks you can find a lot better games--shooter, fighter, or otherwise--to spend your dough on. The novelty's fun for a while, but that's about it.

Yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and be the echo on this one: interesting concept, less interesting execution, and definitely far too expensive. As a fighting game, WarTech is light on the moves and strategic depth; likewise, as a shooter, it's way too short, and when your opponent launches a hail of bullets in your direction, your best bet is to simply hit the shield button rather than try to dance through a seam in it. I can't stand the art style, either--sure, the paint-by-numbers (big-eyed/busty/Hot Topic outfits) anime characters are one thing, but a robot with bunny ears and a purse? Not on my futuristic interstellar battleground!