We meant to cover this a good while back but lots of new games have been kicking off, so it got lost amongst that. In any case, the wondrous Border Break has been receiving numerous updates via the BB.tv channel, showing off the new blast runners as well as the new maps. What’s most striking in the video below is how much faster the game has become since we reviewed it. Whilst we greatly enjoyed the slower pacing before the Ver 1.5 update, as it made matches feel very tactical, it seems that this speed increase is something that’s quite short range and localised. As such we’re inclined to think that this development is actually a positive one, as it’s merging both the tactics that occur at range and a more instinctive approach to closer range combat.

Over at HK-TF they’ve undertaken a picture review of the new Optimus Prime toy from War for Cybetron. First impressions is that this is a toy done on the cheap and whilst the sculpt looks more or less accurate it’s still very basic. To be fair the price of this toy costs a lot less than most of the Japanese equivalents, so a reduction in quality is to be expected. That said, it does seem odd to aim the game at an older demographic yet pitch the toys beneath that in terms of price bracket/quality. In any case, for those that have a hankering for all Optimus/Convoy type toys then go here and pick one up. Alternatively, you could save those pennies up and get something properly brilliant.

The upcoming War for Cybertron has been given a multiplayer demo via the 360 online Marketplace, so go and download it basically. From the few games we’ve played it’s obvious, that despite being very pretty, the game reassuringly doesn’t suck total sweaty robot balls. Though, that said, it is worryingly generic (from a multiplayer standpoint at least). The really good news, for us at least, is that High Moon didn’t bork the mecha handling as they feel suitably weighty. We’ll be reviewing the game once it’s released later this month, so keep an eye out for that. Naturally, Megatron must be stopped…no matter the cost…

Bandai have previewed their upcoming VB-6 König Monster toy from Macross Frontier. The VB-6 is actually an interesting design though as it’s based upon the frame of an early destroid, specifically the HWR-00-Mk.II Monster, and was originally created for the PlayStation game Macross VF-X 2. Over the years it’s been rendered in toy form at least once and it seems that Bandai want to make their mark too (so much so that Shoji Kawamori supervised this toy’s production, which helps explains why it’s using a lot of diecast). Interestingly, this toy is also a collaboration between the DX Chogokin and Robot Damashii line, which could birth some pretty epic articulation. There’s also a special Sheryl Nome variant in the works, which will feature a variety of moe tranfsers to sully this great design. In any case the toy will be released in September for the eye watering price of 16,000 yen. Still, we thought it worth finishing off with the FMV intro from Macross VF-X 2 in all its robot stompy tank crushing action!

4gamer has some new screenhots of the upcoming 360 port of Virtual On Force. What’s interesting about these is that they clearly show a 4 player splitscreen multiplayer option (along with the already documented online setup). This is a nice concession to the fanbase, as the Virtual On scene (in Japan at least) are pretty closely knit and prefer the more social arcade-esque gatherings.

Separately, a few people have been asking me about the VR pictured above. Well, its name is Kagekiyo and he was a new unit introduced in Force. This was an experimental VR made by Dr. Yzerman of the Sixth plant “Satchel Mouth.” Yzerman attempted to pluck the soul of the fugitive warrior Kagekiyo, a retainer to the house of Hei, from the dead and trap it within the V-converter (something similar to how Specineff’s V-converter was created in case you’re wondering). Over time he managed to control Kagekiyo’s spirit, which allowed the VR to be relatively mass produced. The VR resembles a samurai warrior of the sixteenth century and is often armed with giant versions of basic samurai weaponry, notably that of a katana. Due to the use of Kagekiyo’s spirit, some pilots have claimed that their Kagekiyo VR often goes berzerk. Specineff was an earlier Dr. Yzerman creation and Kagekiyo was a partial spin-off from that line. This is yet another mecha design that also ties into my theory that contemporary mecha are heavily influenced from the cultural effects of the samurai.

One of the most beefy designs from Armored Core 4 and For Answer has been announced to be making an appearance in kit form, courtesy of those brilliant people at Kotobukiya. The GAN01 frame is probably one of the most heavily armored set of parts available in the games. Built by the corporate remnants of North America, in the form of Global Armaments, they specialise in the “hammer” and “nail” type of engineering finesse. Where the bigger the hammer is obviously better. Unsurprisingly, they also make some of the best solid ammo weapons in the games. This kit, despite its somewhat straightforward appearance, will feature numerous gimmicks; from the seamless overboost mechanism to actual missiles in the CHEYENNE02 missile packs. It’s also worth pointing out that this kit is made from an all new mold, rather than built from pre-existing parts. The kit will be released in October for 5,565 yen (inclusive of tax).

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from the Lost Planet series of games to review. Specifically, the PTX-140R Hardballer vital suit. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked some gameplay footage of it in action in Lost Planet 2 at the end of the review.

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.

With the latest trailer for Vanquish, we finally see what the game looks like in action and I have to say that my initial skepticism about it has all but vanished. The game’s pedigree is excellent, being created by Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Mad World) and headed by Shinji Mikami (Devil May Cry, Resident Evil) but the early screenshots and teaser trailer released to the gaming public made the game seem, at best, an interesting take on the overused “space marine” trope all too common in current-gen titles.

The new trailer puts any doubts to rest because not only is the action as frenetic as we would expect from Platinum Games, but rather than simply using space-age armor to explain away the amount of damage these characters are capable of soaking up, we can see in the trailer that the main character’s powered armor provides him with additional movement options as well–one scene shows him boosting from one set of cover to another almost instantaneously, while another has him using his thrusters to gain enough vertical range to smash a foe.

It’s nice to see designers thinking about what ways these wonderful “space marine” armors could change combat, and while the scale of powered armor doesn’t exactly match that of mecha, and thus is really a whole different kettle of fish, a lot of the solutions are the same–just as giant robots shouldn’t be treated as human analogues, humans in powered armor should have different skillsets following from their upgrade. While Vanquish isn’t the only game in recent memory to play with the trope (Section 8 being a good example) it’s good to see some of the most talented people in the action game business working on the problem.

On more firmly mecha-related territory, I’d also like to point out some interesting similarities between Vanquish and Mobile Suit Gundam. Both deal with humanity expanding into space not onto different planets, but rather in O’Neill cylinders floating freely in space that use rotation to generate an approximate feeling of gravity, and both have these colonies eventually being used as weapons, by taking advantage of the plentiful solar energy resources of outer space.

While it’s hard to tell where the homage ends and genuine cultural absorption begins with the Japanese and their (perfectly reasonable) obsession with Mobile Suit Gundam, I do find the use of Gundam as a reference point interesting, because much as the mobile suit’s use in Gundam is to provide a vehicle that can operate equally well in space, under Earth’s gravity, and in the artificial “gravity” of O’Neill cylinders, Vanquish is taking the commonly used Western term “space marine” quite literally, as Vanquish’s power armor seems to be designed both as a spacesuit and as body armor, used to infiltrate a structure floating in space. Most of what are called “space marines” in the press tend to be neither, operating on planets rather than in space and not being any more mobile than regular troops being shipped to a far-off planet.

Hopefully Vanquish will be the great game that it looks like it will be, and that it will create a renaissance in the West regarding the Men In Space Suits, Holding Guns, Shooting Aliens genre, maybe even something a bit closer to the original Western concept; when the West made Starship Troopers into a movie we kept only the fascism, while Japan kept only the robots. Needless to say, Mecha Damashii supports robots over fascism.

The Niigata City Art Museum is holding a new exhibition showing off the work of one Kunio Okawara. Entitled the Mecha Design For 1/1 Mechanical Designer Kunio Okawara Exhibition it features, amongst many other things, a full scale heathawk (thoughtfully embedded in the gallery floor). The heathawk was the predominant melee weapon of choice for the initial Zeonic mobile suits in the original Gundam, which means it’s been sported in multiple games since. Both the MS-05B Zaku I and MS-06F Zaku II are suitably notable – though many other mecha, on both sides of the conflict, also sported the weapon. Being the classy chap he is, Okawara was actually present at the exhibition on May 29th signing autographs and most probably fighting off screaming groupies.

The exhibition is going on until the 1st July and only costs 700 yen for entry and, unfortunately, there’s no word on whether they’ll roll out a full scale SPT-LZ-00X Layzner cockpit anytime soon.