Test de Super Robot Wars 30 : Rise of the Robots

Strawberry jam, sausages of Toulouse, strong mustard, banana and chocolate

If it speaks to you, you are from a generation who grew up with series like Goldman, Across (Robotic) or Mobile Suite Gun dam. These series of animation had the particularity of staged giant robots and created a gender in its own right named super robot. Very popular in Japan, these series have caused cargo derivatives and with the explosion of video game in homes, some quickly felt the furnace. And it was especially the case for one of them: Banzai. Manufacturer of toys from Tokyo, Banzai society is quickly known for its cheap toys as well as its reduced vehicle models, but it is from the 1960s that the brand becomes synonymous with derivatives through The whole world and this will only increase in the 70s.

Thanks to the increasing notoriety of super Sendai these live series like X-Gold, Ultraman or Karen Rider — and the explosion of Japanese animation as well on the archipelago and Throughout the world, Banzai becomes an unmissable giant, which allows him to diversify and especially to acquire the rights of exploitation on a lot of licenses including those who interest us today: the Mecca series. Malinger Z, Goldman, Gun dam, Across: All the successes pass under its fun and if Banzai has already produced electronic games in the late 70s, it's the massive arrival of the video game in the homes that change the game. Faced with the undeniable success of the salon consoles, Banzai released in 1990 on NEW its first Crossover mixing some of its licenses including Ultraman, Karen Rider, Malinger Z or Gun dam. Named SD Battle sumo: Hara Hero Basho, the latter generates a spin-off that releases the following year on Game Boy: Super Robot Taken or Super Wars Robot in the West. This is the beginning of a long series of games spread over thirty years and having passed to 19 million copies.

It is to blow its thirtieth candle as Banzai — become Banzai NAMC In the meantime —, produced a special twisted episode called Super Robot Wars 30. And to reinforce this anniversary effect, the game enjoys for the first time from a world exit thanks to the Steam version, which we were able to test for you. Back on a game that should have, but who did not know.

IT'S SAYING ROBOTS

As you understand it, Super Robot Wars is a Gloubiboulga of Mecca licenses that Banzai NAMC has the rights, or at least a game, and for this episode we hoped to see the most important finally end up in the same game, because if They have all been exploited during these thirty years, rights stories have always made this impossible. Banzai NAMC has a part of these operating rights, but the Nippon publisher can not do what he wants, the authors always have their say. Similarly, other entities want their units of the cake mainly via the expensive rights on music and dubbing.

This is partly for this reason that Banzai NAMC has never been able to gather all its most popular licenses in the same game and has been added a new factor: the age of dubbing actors. If some have been replaced over the years for new animated series, as was the case repeatedly for the Malinger Z hero, others did not have this chance and characters now meet orphans, As Captain Warlock better known at us under the name of Alba tor, whose legendary Mario Income dubbing actor is unfortunately deceased. You may think that Banzai NAMC can find other actors, and well return, because we meet again in the face of the Rights Management complex. This will result in the more and more frequent absences of old series years since today.

But then, how does this great Wars Robot 30? Does he manage to do better than his predecessors and honor his birthday game status? To tell everything, not really. Do not go out our pleasure, we are far from a disaster with the presence of eternal Gun dam and Malinger Z in more than some popular series like Magic Knight Ray earth, GLASS Code or Majestic Prince, some of which we find Knight's & Magic and Brave J-Decker police as well as drawer funds to inflate the cast and discover unknown series, but no less interesting, like Guesswork. So a rather balanced choir for a super wars robot. Except that it is supposed to be a special episode and not the shadow of a across, from Current Logan, from Cowboy Bebop, from Space Battleship Yamato 2199, from Full Metal Panic, Gun buster or above all. 'Evangelist despite the event output of the latest film. It was certain that all these licenses could not be in the same game. However, after taking out a Tales of Arise as ambitious for the 25 years of the series, one could hope for a list a little more three stars for The 30 years of super robot wars.

Regarding the story, it is in the form of a graphic novel or Novel Very for the intimate, so via fixed screens where the various characters are confronted in more or less verbose dialogues. Important point to be specified, the STEAM version is actually the Asian version and understands only English in the western language for subtitles and only Japanese is available for voices. It's always better than nothing, but the Anglophobe's will surely pass their way. As for the scenario, you can imagine that such a crossover gather as many series can enjoy a coherent story where everything makes sense, but that's not what we expect from such a game. Despite All, the set strangely holds the road and easily integrate all the characters from the moment that one closes the eyes on some details. To summarize, you play the role of one or a pilot who, following an enemy attack, joins young cadets to save the last jewel of the Federation Fleet: the Dreisstrager cruiser. It is during this attack that you discover a strange Mecca named Huckebein 30, which seems to hide many secrets. Despite the inexperience of his crew, the ship receives the order to combat the different bellicose factions sampling through the solar system and to achieve it, it has no choice but to find new companions to recruit. You see, it does not break three legs to a duck, but it's the job and we still right with some twists and heroism moments. However, it is not so much on the history that the looks are working when a new episode goes out and beyond the cast, it is towards the gameplay of the battles that fans can be the most critical.

The battles can start either by moving your ship on the map or by going directly through the dedicated menu, from which you have access to all available missions, which you can do in the order you want as soon as you. Complete the annexes before continuing the story, so as not to see them pass under the nose. Once a chosen mission, a small dialogue engages and the battle begins!

If we were doing a small part of failure?

Short coupons to expectations: Super Wars 30 robot does not upset habits and offers a gameplay in the line of previous episodes with rare novelties. For non-initiates, the Super Wars Robot are Japanese Tactical Role Games (T-RPG) like Fire Emblem and Disease. As in the latter, the battles take place in turn on trays divided into boxes on which your units move. Victories depend on certain criteria decided at the beginning of the battle and generally resolves to eliminate all enemies in a limited number of tricks or not. Of course, if you lose some or all of your units before getting there, it's the defeat. To attack, you must like to fail to move your units by respecting the movement limits of each and when they find themselves quite close to enemies, they can attack them through various skills. It's a very simple system that has been proven for decades and Super Robot Wars 30 is certainly not there to Chantelle them. But beware, if the basics of the system are indeed simple to understand, control all the subtleties becomes less obvious.

As in any respecting T-RPG, a battle begins with the choice and placement of your units. Here already, you have to make choices, because you will accumulate a lot over the missions, and you can not use them at the same time. To help you, each unit has ground affinities, which means some are more effective in space when other excellent on the ground. Thus, you avoid using a Mecca specialized in the ground operations, unless you miss units. Once your team is complete, the battle can begin. From there, it's up to you to play with all the actions permitted by your Meccas before passing your turn. Each has its share of action among which we find the displacement, the attack, but also the ex action and the SPIRIT skills. The ex share are identical special skills for all Meccas and offering powerful temporary bonuses that can be used with ex points, which are obtained by eliminating enemies, gaining a level etc. Spirit skills, which are also temporary bonuses, allow themselves to improve statistics or take care of and these use SP points, which are slowly recharged at each turn.

Once your unit is moved on the desired box, you can attack the enemy and there you have the choice between several weapons with each of the own characteristics. Whether to hit remotely, attack the body to body or touching a wide area, you can select depending on the situation, but be careful, because just like your Meccas, weapons have ground affinities, so some do more damage on enemies in flight or water, etc. Once the weapon chosen, the fight begins through a nicely animated Shear where the different participants defy in a deluge of pyrotechnic effects all sprinkled by the musical theme of the series from which your unit comes from. It's the moment Chiefs for any fan of Mecca! When you used all your units, you can pass your turn and so it's the enemy to take over. During this phase, you can not do anything if it is not to choose between counsel, dodge or defend when a Mecca enemy attacks one yours. Thus takes place each battle until the goal is achieved or your units perish. Know how developers have integrated a new automatic battle system, which gives care to the AI ​​to handle everything in your place. Practical for those who especially want to enjoy the story or who have a little harm, even if it is to forget in the highest difficulty modes. Speaking of difficulty, it remains rather weak until hard mode — especially when we understood how important the dodge is —, and becomes frankly Horace in the expert mode. No fear however, the loss of a unit is never final.

You see, it's not complicated, but it's because I voluntarily pointed out in some details, such as supporters, who are characters not present on the plateau that can provide you with valuable support through Various skills. And that's not all, but some subtleties depend on the improvements of your Meccas and that is a subject that deserves his intention.

Jacky Tuning 2.0

You understand it, you have the opportunity to improve your units, and it goes through three different methods. First, Meccas's upgrades, which allow you to increase statistics like the points of life, energy, armor, mobility, aim and the damage to weapons. Whenever you reach an increase threshold, Mecca wins an extra bonus.

Then you have the Skill Program, which also relates to Meccas, but the drivers. Here you can assign new combat skills as the possibility of moving after attacking, supporting a close alloy, gaining an extra point of movement, increase your ammunition, criticism rate and a lot of bonuses. Situational as I will refrain from listing, so many are numerous. In addition, you can also improve the driver's stats to improve efficiency. You are surely wondering why it is necessary to improve the pilots while the Meccas does not run? Well, dear readers and readers devoured by curiosity, know that your pilots are not related to the Meccas with whom they join you and that you can assign them according to your needs as during space battles while some of your Best drivers use Meccas more adapted to ground combat. In fact, you probably privilege the respect of affiliations and avoid the sacrilegious to put Fallen GLASS code in a gun dam. But the possibility is offered and can be useful in the highest modes of difficulty.

Finally, and there is a novelty for a great Wars robot, you can improve the operating system of your DreisSstrager cruiser. Equipped with a very advanced IA, the latter makes you enjoy its improvements to increase the efficiency of your units, to gain experienced bonuses, money, unlock equipment and much more.

In addition to these improvements, you can also equip your Meccas with accessories called Power Parts. Again, bonuses are diverse and varied by ranging from the simple increase of statistics, to improve the affinity of land by adjusting the attack distance of weapons or by the gain of experience. What make your battles even simpler, maybe too much elsewhere.

Art of Combat

Visually, Super Robot Wars 30 will not surprise the connoisseurs of the series. Whether at the novel visual party or during battles, it is the same rendering from chandeliers and if we do not ask for more in an episode lambda, we were entitled to hope for a little better for An anniversary episode. Still, the game should not shock your retinues and the fighter seines are always done as well. As for the technical aspect, we can not say that we are facing a very greedy game, so it's certainly not him who will kneel your machines, making it a perfect game for Your laptops as long as they do not date from Mathusalem. It can especially lend themselves to the small sessions it offers a backup in full battle, allowing you to take it back later. On the other hand, we can blame him to be frankly chick into graphic options. Apart from resolution, anti-aliasing and sync, you can not influence performance. You will tell me that for such a game it is not very important, and you would not hurt in the absolute, but can block the number of frames per second to 30 for old machines would have been welcome.

As for the music, it remains a thorny subject, since to have the original versions of the different themes of each series, you have to pay a small extra ticket when buying and at €29,99 the pack It spades slightly, even if it is difficult to prevent rights, and the number of compositions he understands. These are 31 themes in more than 15 original songs that add to those already available. It's expensive, impossible to deny it, but the quantity can explain the price, and it's always pleasant to find some pieces that have marked our young years.

the discount birthday?

At the time of the balance sheet, it is difficult not to make a little grimace in front of this super robot Wars 30. As a new opus of a very long series, it does not disappoint and keep its promises, which will not fail not reassure fans. The content is consistent and will hold you in breath for several tens of hours, the battles do honor to the series and the animated fighting are always so successful, in short it's good super robot wars.

However, when one takes into account its status as an anniversary episode, which it makes sure to remind us until in its title, it becomes more difficult to ignore its lack of ambition. To celebrate the 30 years of existence of its T-RPG, Banzai NAMC could have proposed even a more generous game in cult licenses. Certainly, we find the classics Gun dam, Malinger Z, and we certainly do not sulk the presence of GLASS code or MAJESTIC PRINCE, but when we know that series like Evangelist, Across, Cowboy Bebop or even Gun buster have already been part of the Cast One or more Super Wars Robot, we can only stay on our hunger facing a very friendly, but rather generic list for a birthday episode. Yes, rights management makes the thing complicated, but it was precisely the perfect episode to go further, to do more and there the appointment is somewhat missed.

Super robot Wars 30 may not be the event episode that we hoped, but it remains one of the references of the T-RPG. In addition, and that's a big step forward, he remains the first episode to know a world exit and the first to go out on Steam in the West. So, it may be there the highlight of this anniversary.

The basic game is sold €49,99 on Steam.

Test directed by Lanai from a version provided by the publisher.