After ten years, it finally seems that Turn A Gundam is coming to the West. As Bandai Entertainment plan to bring the 50 episode anime series to Western shores in the coming future, whether this will encompass the two movies as well remains to be seen. Since its release in Japan Turn A has become a cult series, due in part to the somewhat bizarre and originally very controversial mecha design, penned by none other by Syd Mead. Over the years these designs have grown on the fanbase and many know appreciate the fact that series was very much ahead of its time. From the gorgeous score by Yoko Kanno to the deft characterisation and narrative from a calmer Yoshiyuki Tomino, Turn A is a series that is quite a mature and thoughtful work. The fact that it will finally receive a Western release is good news indeed, though arguably a tad overdue.

Unsurprisingly, Turn A has graced multiple games over the years. From Super Robot Wars Z to the Gundam Musou games as well as Another Century’s Episode 3 not to mention the Gundam Vs games, the SYSTEM ∀-99 (WD-M01) ∀ Gundam has made its mark on gaming in recent years. Due to the immense potency in the anime though, it’s a problematic unit in terms of games design; as an attack that can wipe out all technology via nano-machines is a bit tricky to implement in a functional sense. The gaming connections of this series also span to the character design too, as Yasuda Akira (or “Akiman”) was one of the original designers on Street Fighter II, amongst many other Capcom games. He went to work with Tomino again on the brilliant Overman King Gainer, which even featured a protagonist who was an ardent gamer.

4Gamer has some new coverage for the upcoming 360 port of Virtual On Force. Despite showing the four-player splitscreen mode, the above screenshot was of more interest really. For those that may not know, that’s a picture of TWO Jaguarandi’s against a MBV-04-10/80adv “10/80 ADV”. The best description for the above picture is probably along the lines of “incongruously terrifying”. This somewhat insane screenshot actually shows a special mission in progress, which is interesting as it’s something Virtual On Marz attempted as well, in terms of its level structure at least. Having a 10/80adv pitted against the Force era Jaguarandi’s does seem brutally unfair though.

SiliconEra has an interview with Shinji Hashimoto, producer of Front Mission Evolved, teasing some sort of cross-promotion with Hideo Kojima and his PlayStation Portable game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

This cross-promotion seems to be in addition to an already announced cross-promotion between the two games, where items unlocked in Peace Walker will be available in Front Mission Evolved, and/or vice versa. Considering the very different nature of the two games’ mecha, I’m wondering how this will actually work; if it’s robot-to-robot part swapping it could look awkward, albeit possibly interesting. The mecha in Peace Walker are heavy tank-like walkers and reworked versions of Metal Gear Solid 3′s Shagohod, while Front Mission Evolved’s mecha conform more to the Real Robot standard of quick-moving humanoid weapons, equipped with thrusters and ground rollers.

I wouldn’t mind the big secret being a face-off against the venerable Metal Gear REX from the original Metal Gear Solid. I’ve been waiting years to go mano-a-mano (well, mecha-to-mecha) against that monster without support from an insane cyborg ninja. Getting help from an insane cyborg ninja always felt like cheating.

Game Watch has a nice breakdown on the upcoming Front Mission Evolved that shows, amongst many things, the backpacks that the wanzers can equip. From anti-missile hardware to, the more interesting, hover/flight backpack. Interesting in the sense that wanzers have historically been ground specific mecha, much like the AT’s in VOTOMS in fact as they too have “rollers” in their feet. Admittedly, some of the Front Mission games have allowed the wanzers to jump and hover but this was relatively rare in the series as a whole. There’s no reason why it can’t work though and the backpack element means it’s by no means a permanent fixture either. The update also shows some of the antagonist characters, with emphasis on bewbs no less. The Dylan mercenaries sport wanzers with skulls for heads, just so that gamers get that they are the “baddies” (way to go on the narrative subtlety there). In any case there are lots of nice screenshots to look at and, for all our worries about the game, it is looking nice.

After HORI finally received all its pre-orders for the release of the TwinStick EX peripheral, it now seems that that sticks are going into production again. In addition, the sticks have been emblazoned with the Virtual On Force logo to tie in with the port’s 360 release at the end of the year. You can also order the sticks again here and thankfully the sticks will also still work with the Oratan 5.66 port that was released on XBLA last year.

Over at Gpara they’ve covered the news that an old Temjin statue will go on tour around three Japanese art museums in the coming months. Specifically the Aomori Museum of Art, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art and the Iwami Art Museum. This is also part of a robot art festival but it nicely ties into the upcoming release for the Virtual On Force port coming later this year. This specific Temjin statue, the MZV-747-J, was actually used at the 2002 Tokyo Game Show to announce Virtual On Marz’s release. The problem is that the 747 series of Temjins in Force sport a different and more subdued colour scheme, so this statue is a bit out of date with that really. This Temjin from Marz also featured in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 on the PS2 and the recent Super Robot Wars K on the DS.

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.

War for Cybertron effectively tells part of the back story of what happened to the Transformers before they evacuated their planet and left for Earth. It features many familiar names as well as both Decepticon and Autobot campaigns. Set over 10 chapters, you can either start at the beginning (with the Decepticons) or halfway through (with the Autobots). What transpires is a linear narrative from both sides of the conflict. Due to this framing much of the origins for the major characters in the mythos, the game doesn’t have either Megatron or Optimus Prime square off directly. Instead, it opts to show how both these leaders found themselves in there respective positions on either side of the conflict.

From the off, High Moon have picked a shrewd starting point for the game’s narrative, as it not only sets up other elements in the canon backstory but also gives a huge amount of freedom to the team as much of what happened on Cybertron wasn’t overly documented. This also means that the designs of the Transformers themselves could be reworked to fit High Moon’s functional needs. As such, by forging an untold narrative path High Moon have been able to focus on making the game decent in the process.

Interestingly, the core third person shooter functionality is actually very standardised. Using the Unreal engine, the game plays like you’d expect much of the genre to operate. However, the levels have been built a bit differently as they’ve been made to work sympathetically with how each of the mecha transform. This is a major step forward in gaming terms, as the transformation has historically been overlooked as some kind of ephemeral gimmick and not something that’s crucial to how these mecha would operate. Now, we have each of the mecha transform at will but within an environment that encourages that.

To make matters more joyous, High Moon have used a modicum of physics to handle the mecha’s inertia. Whilst it’s not overly realistic in a technical sense, it’s actually far more accurate as to how the mecha would handle in the show. So whilst, in the past, I’ve often advocated the avoidance of physics based middleware for mecha gaming the caveat I gave at the time (as in “you need to know what you’re doing in terms of the mecha mythos”) definitely stands in the case of High Moon’s usage here. From being able to transform back from vehicle mode into mecha and still retain the momentum makes a huge difference at making these mecha functionally consistent, as well as affording a nuanced form of control to the player in the process.

All this adds a different slant on the core third person shooter framework the game uses and, once in the various multiplayer modes, also produces another functional layer to what is becoming quite a stale genre. That said, each of the transformers have to manage their ammunition quite fastidiously and it does take a while getting used to hearing Optimus Prime’s gun go “clickety-click” once it runs out.

This is probably the main issue the game suffers from; due to its functionally standardised core it is, on the one hand, more manageable and cogent but on the other quite monotonous. Admittedly the levels and mecha variance do help to break this up but the truth is that there’s nothing really new here. Being able to play a Transformers game that actually works is definitely a step forward but it ultimately plays like the vast swathes of games already available in the third and first person shooter genre.

Mecha gaming is unique in its attempt to functionally re-interpret a fictional ruleset from a multitude of viewpoints. From the customisation focus of Armored Core, to the fixed dashes of Virtual On and to the control of individual limbs in Gigantic Drive. These games are meant to offer something new and different in their approach. This is what has kept the genre fresh over the years and how it’s managed to carve out its own functional identity.

Just implementing a straightforward and obvious approach to transforming is definitely a welcome advance but it’s not enough. Considering the potency of the Unreal engine it’s a shame that the game doesn’t try anything really new, though we are relieved that the Gears of War cover system was left out so that’s at least something. We understand it makes sense to make this game appeal to as many people as possible but the license, to be fair, mostly limits that to Transformers fans so why not explore that further and make something new in the process.

The above may sound more damning than it actually is but in truth this is still an excellent and thoughtfully crafted game. From the gentle narrative references to the wonderful (though generic) mecha handling, it does finally hit the spot that the original TV series and movie all those years ago instigated. High Moon have finally picked up the baton that other Western developers have dropped. So much so that it’s a relief to say that this is the first decent Western developed mecha game we’ve played in long while. For that alone High Moon should be commended for their work and with any luck other Western developers will learn from their example.

Tamashii: 7/10

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As part of Bandai’s increasingly infuriating Tamashii Web shop exclusives, they have finally announced that they’ll be releasing Soul of Chogokin Spec toys of both the Dragonar 2 and 3 units from Metal Armor Dragonar. Now, Dragonar has had somewhat of a resurgence since it was featured in all three of the PS2 Another Century’s Episode games (though it had obviously been featured in a multitude of Super Robot Wars games prior to that). Up and till this point however, Bandai had only released toys of the Dragonar 1, specifically two variants of the design; one with original proportions from the show and another that was stylised by Masami Ōbari. These new toys obviously seem to fall into the latter Ōbari stylised camp, not that we’re complaining. At present it’s not clear whether these toys will also sport the “lifters”, backpacks with wings on effectively, that were used in the show but we may see more options surface in the oncoming months. Both toys will be released in December, though you’ll obviously have needed to pre-order them online first. Personally, we’re holding out for the day when they finally release a Dragonar 1 Custom.

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Recently at E3 2010, Bungie in cooperation with Idea Planet unveiled life size statues of Noble Team, from the upcoming Halo:Reach. The Spartan III battle armors have taken a significant aesthetic change from the series’s prior genre convention power armor, and seem to have undergone a heavily militarized look. While not quite resembling the masterful Starship Trooper’s OVA cap troopers, designed by Miyatake Kazutaka, the Spartan III armors seem to suggest a greater sense of realism and actual mobility. Previously mentioned on this site, the growing influence of Yutaka Izubuchi’s GM Sniper II becomes even more apparent in Halo:Reach as evidenced by the Spartan III armor’s customizable visors and magnifying optics. In the video, the lead artist briefly explains the delicate construction of the statues and gives the viewer a good perspective on just how large the actual Spartans are.

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The wondrous Armored Core For Answer has had a selection of rather nifty fan based animations since its release in 2008. The one below shows the face off between White Glint and Stasis, with the track Dragon Dive from the game’s soundtrack playing in the background (though our choice would have probably been The Bloody Honey Cannot Stop). Thanks to therumblefish77 for the heads up and enjoy the video linked below!

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