Banpresto have a pretty sketchy record when it comes to mecha action games. After numerous botched attempts they did the smart thing and hired From Software to helm a series of mecha games called Another Century’s Episode. Linked in spirit to Banpresto’s turnbased strategy focused Super Robot Wars series, it featured multiple mecha from disparate mecha series in an action game context all high fiving for the win. Of the three games that were released on the PlayStation 2, it’s hard to find fault with any of them. From Software knew what they were doing and had finally been allowed into the playground where all the cool mecha toys were kept, so the results were obviously rather wonderful.

When ACE:R was announced, there was a sizeable amount and quite justifiable excitement over the game. As this would be the first entry to be in HD on a new and more powerful console. However, as this was meant as “rebirth” Banpresto mistakenly involved the SRW team on the production, most probably to bring the two massive franchises into a closer alignment – or some such mind numbingly stupid corporate agenda. The outcome is something rather unfortunate indeed.

As a series, Transformers often gets a bum deal when it comes to gaming. In recent history at least, the majority of the games made using the license have been functionally atrocious. However, much of this was down to the games being lead by the nose by the original intellectual property and, for the last few games, down to idiotic schedules on account of them being film tie-ins. Thankfully, games like Batman: Arkham Asylum have shown that if you use the framework of the IP to build a game at its own pace you can end up with something decent.

Activision did just that and between film releases decided to fund a dedicated Transformers game which wasn’t stringently bound to the narrative idiosyncrasies of a series that’s, to be fair, pretty mongrel at the best of times. High Moon have managed to tackle the challenge with a remarkable level of craftsmanship and for the first time in a long while I’ve been able to play a refreshingly good Transformers game.

Contrary to popular, and often ignorant, belief Virtual On has inspired a varied progeny of games over the years. From the rather flawed ZOE series, to games like the original Senko no Ronde. G.rev’s approach was very much well wrought, in the sense they didn’t just blindly copy elements of the game without understanding how they worked. No, instead they took the core of the fixed vectored dash combat system and brilliantly added a danmaku framework alongside it.

What transpired was a game that allowed the player to transform into an actual boss that spewed impossibly complex geometrical patterns of death, whilst the dashing mechanics were in place to render that almost irrelevant in the hands of a competent opponent. Even without the boss mode activation, the original game was awash with danmaku leanings all over the place and it added a very fresh dimension to the Virtual On lineage.

Unsurprisingly, the original arcade game gathered quite the fanbase in Japan and consequently received a 360 port, which was comically retitled as “Wartech” in the West. G.rev have since followed the original game’s success with an arcade sequel and it wasn’t long until another 360 port followed. Put simply, it’s bloody amazing.

Over the past five years or so there’s been a palpable trend within gaming in the West. Palpable in the sense in that it fundamentally affects the functional framework of the games themselves, to the extent that this change is almost taken for granted.

In the scramble for supposed mainstream appeal more and more games have opted to take a standardised approach to gaming functionality. On the one hand this allows for a much more accessible learning curve and an implicit understanding of how a game will operate. The down side to this is that ultimately many games end up playing the same.

Bucking this trend is also very difficult as much of the mainstream press get pretty worked up when a game requires them to learn something new. This, to be fair, isn’t their fault as they often have to cover multiple games in a ridiculously short amount of time. As such, due to the way that the gaming press operates, functional standardisation is something that is critically welcomed.

So when something as brilliantly wrought as Lost Planet 2 comes along, with its immense number of fascinating nuances and insightful design choices, it receives coverage that’s very much distorted and more than a little bit unfair on account of how the gaming press is structured. As such, we feel compelled to address this issue; as Lost Planet 2 is really quite bloody amazing.

For many, Last Raven was the last “real” Armored Core game before the paradigm shift of the next generation entries. It was also a brutally difficult and thoroughly exacting game, expecting nothing short of absolute concentration and a steely set of gaming skills in order for the player to survive. In short, Last Raven was a bit of a bastard (to find out how much of a bastard feel free to read our review of the PlayStation 2 original).

However, like bastards are prone to behaving; it was relatively fair. Almost every time the game spat out your charred robotic carcass onto the heap it was invariably your fault. You’d been too cocky and wasted too much ammo, only to have a Pulverizer introduce you to the business end of several rather terrifying weapons. With enough practice and forethought though, you could endure and eventually triumph.

In this PSP port though, there are problems. Quite serious ones in fact. Despite resolving the input framerate issue via a data install, the entire game is still balanced as it was in the original PlayStation 2 version. Except, this time, you don’t have a DualShock 2 to help you out.

Artdink have been making a name for themselves over the past few years for solid mecha games on the PSP. With the four prior Gundam Battle games, most of which were a lot of fun if a little bit of a slog at times, as well as their two recent Macross efforts. In their latest Gundam based outing though, in the form of Gundam Assault Survive, the design of these games is beginning to wear a little thin.

Considering that the host platform is portable, it makes sense that the main game be based around moderately concise sections of gameplay. The earlier Gundam Battle games executed this approach very well, despite the odd difficulty spike. Assault Survive departs from this concise nature and has undertaken a sprawling approach to its missions instead.

At its core you still have short missions making up the game, the difference now is that there is a map system semi-lifted from the Dynasty Warriors series. So whilst there are brief missions making the game up, they are often chained up together to make a level that’s pretty longwinded and not really suitable for a handheld gaming device.

As a developer, From Software are known for their mechanical expertise but they also have several teams at work on other genres too. One such group birthed a selection of Xbox games that were functionally quite woeful but visually rather accomplished. The two Otogi games helmed by this team were consequently, and somewhat mistakenly, elevated by the Western press as being somehow noteworthy. At the time I was personally thankful that this same team wasn’t undermining the work of the Armored Core series, which already had a hard enough time as it did abroad in terms of the press.

Then Metal Wolf Chaos was announced and it was apparent that the Otogi production was supposedly behind this, well at least on paper. In reality, many of the Armored Core team were apparently “getting involved” in the game’s creation and the final result is something truly surprising and quite functionally invigorating.

I remember the release of the original Armored Core 3 on the PlayStation 2 quite vividly. Living in Japan at the time, most shops offered midnight sales on the day of release. However, From Software had cut a deal with a number of convenience store chains meaning that you could buy the game pretty much anywhere. Still, in the middle of nowhere I queued at midnight. That’s right, queued. There were at least thirty people in the line as well, it seemed that even in the remote Japanese countryside people really quite wanted some of that Armored Core 3.

In any case, the original game was sublimely good (check out our review if you don’t believe us) so the thought of a handy portable version would be suitably brilliant, right? Well, unfortunately no. Armored Core 3 Portable is rife with a number of severe issues that render the original game virtually unplayable in parts and mostly frustrating in others.

Not that long ago, Banpresto funded the development of a rather insane Gundam arcade game called Senjo no Kizuna. The player would literally sit inside a panoramic cockpit and pilot a mobile suit. In addition, each of the hugely expensive cabinets would be connected via an online network to other such machines across Japan. Upon its release, Banpresto soon realised they’d cornered a new part of the arcade gaming market. As queues lengthened to play the game, the main draw wasn’t just the amazing cockpit but also its online capability.

It wasn’t long until other publishers like Sega decided to get in on the act. Learning from Banpresto’s example, Border Break was birthed along with a new arcade board called the Ring Edge. Sega also didn’t miss a trick either, instead of having a theatrically huge cockpit they instead opted for a smaller and more standardised cabinet, whilst also upping the potency of the board that would run the game (as Senjo no Kizuna’s was suitably basic in a graphical sense, which is why its PSP port was even feasible). However, to classify Border Break as a mere herd following cash-in would be a great injustice. To be perfectly frank, Border Break is probably one of the most refreshing mecha games seen this decade.

Gundam games tend to get a pretty bad reputation outside of Japan, though this is admittedly due to surreal and awful choices on the part of Western publishers really. The fact of the matter is that Gundam has quite a long and proud tradition in Japan of producing quality entries to the mecha gaming pantheon. So much so that collaborations with companies like Capcom have birthed wildly popular arcade offspring as well as further console based ports.

Considering Capcom’s solid arcade versus history, it should come as no surprise that they have been making very solid Gundam themed arcade versus games for nigh-on ten years. Normally specialising on one series and/or timeframe of the Gundam mythos, Capcom kept their approach very focused. It wasn’t until quite recently when they literally threw pretty much every Gundam into the ring within one game. Naturally, the subsequent versus depth that followed on from such a decision has pushed these games up a notch in terms of their functional prowess.