Robotech Invasion

[Roy Focker]

If you believe I'm going to be unbiased thank you. Now stop living in dream world.

The Review:

Okay I don't think that much of Robotech. I'm sure some of you know that already but what you don't know is that back in 1986 my friends in the 5th grade and I road our bikes around pretending they were cyclones. How lame was that!

Back in the 80's that was my favorite saga of Robotech. Even though I consider myself a pure Macross fan I still have a little soft spot in my cold blacken heart for cyclones blasting Invids.

I first saw this game a couple of months ago but I had other games that I want to play first. When I saw this game I laughed. Flash forward to Xmas. I have the holiday off and I decided to rent a game. You didn't think I would buy this game now did you? Since I played all the other games I wanted I decided to finally rent this one. Battle Cry sucked but that was a first attempt. This one would have to be better. Note the games I played before renting this one were Samurai Warriors Extreme Legends, MSG Snake Eater and Ace Combat 5. Yes those games were better but that doesn't mean Invasion was bad.

Using a cyclone to blast invid it's a great idea and fun at time yet the game seemed like a half effort. You know when a new system comes out the first games for it are sorta so so and as years go by the games get better and better that make the earlier games weak in comparsion? Invasion is like one of those earlier games. If I played it a few years ago I would have like it more.

Now the problems. First you can't drive a cyclone in motorcyle indoors. Go take ahead the fun away. Second you can't kill allies, sometimes I just want to shoot friends. The music is something else. Artero(?) pilots a girl's cyclone does that mean he goes both ways? I can't drive a cyclone through a tent. Every one seem to have the same face to me. How come Locke has to fights the latin woman? I think an orgy with them would have been better. Who agree with me? Sad no one got any "action." The voices. Can we talk about the voices? Yep a lot of Robotech VO are in the game. Fine with me. It's a nice odd but that Sam character. That voice was just errrgghhhhhh.

My biggest complaint has to be the way the story was presented. Where's the CGI mini animated intro movies and cut scenes that we've come to expect from current games? This one had some but animation quality was the same as the game play. Don't these tend to be of better quality? Then there's those flash blacks (with great dialog btw ) those would have been perfect spots to throw in a movie but I'd you get blury vision and hear some bad screaming. A lot of the story was told through others screaming dialog during battle. If it wasn't for my earlier knowledge of Robotech I wouldn't understand what the hell was going on. I swear half the time I time didn't and still don't.

Overall: This game was better than Battle Cry but was just an okay experience. Had the story been presented better I would have thought much better about this game.

[EXO]

At least you played it. After Battlecry, I'm definitely biased against any Robotech game and didn't wast my time. I rather play that old Space Harrier game and pretend it was a cyclone.

[MGREXX]

Exo,

ALWAYS the pesimistic one.

[pfunk]

YOUR MY BOY BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was going to get the Battle cry game, but I never seen it anywhere when I was thinking about it

[Bloodcat]

I didnt think Battlecry was all that bad. A bit too hard though.

I plan on waiting on Invasion till it hits the budget racks since I am cheap and such.

[myk]

At least you played it. After Battlecry, I'm definitely biased against any Robotech game and didn't wast my time. I rather play that old Space Harrier game and pretend it was a cyclone.

Agreed, but I'll take Battlecry over the VFX games anyday...

-Let the hate mail begin...

[bandit29]

The Invasion demo was enough for me. Seemed kinda boring. But FPS are my least favorite video game genre.

[JB0]

My biggest complaint has to be the way the story was presented. Where's the CGI mini animated intro movies and cut scenes that we've come to expect from current games?

Bah. Pre-rendered cutscenes have problems, and I'm glad to see the industry getting away from them.

This one had some but animation quality was the same as the game play.  Don't these tend to be of better quality? 

Game engine cutscenes are becoming the preferred type, now that they can get the game engine running as high detail as they can. Saves the disk space for something more useful.

We've come a long way since FF7, and an even longer way since Ninja Gaiden.

[Effect]

That's good. Honestly while movies are fun to look at I'd rather the game be longer instead of much of the disc being taken up with movie files. With the way game engines are setup it can be done but still a few movie files are nice, especially at key moments.

While I like to consider myself a RT and Macross fan and New Generation is my favorite part of RT I have to say that Invasion was a disappointment. I still had fun playing through it but there are a lot of things wrong with it. I haven't gotten a chance to sell my copy yet though. Will most likely go to EB to do that with two other games. Battlecry was a much better game in terms of graphics, story, and characters I feel. VC having less month and time to make Invasion shows I feel.

Maybe VC should have been allowed to make the Southern Cross/Robotech Master game like they originally wanted instead of HG telling them to make a New Generation based on instead. Maybe things might have turned out better.

[Roy Focker]

I plan on waiting on Invasion till it hits the budget racks since I am cheap and such.

I suggest you rent it first.

Am I the only one that enjoys a high quality cutscene?

[JB0]

I plan on waiting on Invasion till it hits the budget racks since I am cheap and such.

I suggest you rent it first.

Am I the only one that enjoys a high quality cutscene?

I like a good cutscene too. But I prefer a good game more.

A few FMVs are okay, but if you're going to do very many you darn well better have a reason. And they usually don't.

I wouldn't strip Lunar 2 of it's FMVs, for example. Yes there's a lot, but the style of the game necessitates them.

In general, however, they try to replicate the look of the game-engine characters in the FMV, and when you do that on a modern game system, I prefer something a little less sharp and more matching the "real" characters.

Shorter load times are nice too.

[Jolly Rogers]

I was going to get the Battle cry game, but I never seen it anywhere when I was thinking about it

I got a minty sealed copy, PM me if interested.

[Mechafan]

I played it and had fun with it. It could have been a lot better. Having the multiple endings was a plus.

[Roy Focker]

I played it and had fun with it. It could have been a lot better. Having the multiple endings was a plus.

But you personally care for the mulitple endings? I had a hard time getting into and following the story. When I'm playing a game I'm too busy shooting the crap out everything in sight to listen to what others are screaming in the back ground.

[Jolly Rogers]

When I'm playing a game I'm too busy shooting the crap out everything in sight to listen to what others are screaming in the back ground.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an Ace Combat 5 fan here.

[BruinKat]

OMG are you kidding!? Invasion sucked ass! Battlecry was much better than Invasion and even then it was an average game. I played Invasion for 4 hours straight and oh man was I bored. You do the same thing every mission, no cut scenes worth mentioning, the voice acting is horrible, the story is not exciting enough to follow, and the music is nothing close to Robotech. I said so as much in the game forums. Where VC gets this "it got great reviews" crap is beyond me. They are delusinal and as for online..no one is ever on! I'm not surprised.

[chrono]

I was very unimpressed with RT:I demo. It was actually boring. Whoever designed that level should be fired. The Invid were wimps! The game doesn't look well thought out at all.

As for the FMV vs In Game models subthread.

They only use them because it costs money to make FMV. Any In Game sequence with sub-10k models is crap. Properly mixed they are great, but too much either way they are garbage.

[Zentrandude]

I was very unimpressed with RT:I demo. It was actually boring. Whoever designed that level should be fired. The Invid were wimps! The game doesn't look well thought out at all.

As for the FMV vs In Game models subthread.

They only use them because it costs money to make FMV. Any In Game sequence with sub-10k models is crap. Properly mixed they are great, but too much either way they are garbage.

Theres good and bad things with both. wing commander series can be used as a bad example of FMV, just thinking of it *shivvers*

for in game sequences the old interstate 76 game was very good even with the lack of texture and low poly models but it kept the game enviroment constant.

[Gunbuster]

I played it and it was buggy. I fell through a couple of map holes and was "outside" of the game and had to reset. The AI is one of the worse; I felt the invid was just standing there and saying, "just shoot me, I won't dodge" .. I didn't have a good time with it. Talking cool in-game cutscenes...that is MGS3 and MGS:twin snake..those are the best ingame cutscenes I've ever seen, no pre-rendered. Even though there's alot of them in the game. it was a joy to watch them all

Edited December 28, 2004 by Gunbuster

[Roy Focker]

Well I gotta admitt I was bored to tears until I used a don't die cheat. Then I just ran through the game.

[Doctor Paragon]

Well I gotta admitt I was bored to tears until I used a don't die cheat. Then I just ran through the game.

same here.

But the actual gameplay wasn't as good as say Fire warrior, it wasn't really bad.

It just struck me as decent enough to play a few times.

[JB0]

As for the FMV vs In Game models subthread.

They only use them because it costs money to make FMV. Any In Game sequence with sub-10k models is crap. Properly mixed they are great, but too much either way they are garbage.

Actually, they also don't use them because they're disk-space hogs.

And in some games they have trouble maintaining continuity(example: Parasite Eve 2. Every FMV with a weapon shows Aya wielding her starting pistol, regardless of what you have equipped, or in storage).

As for the too much either way argument...

Metroid Prime and Prime 2 are raw game engine. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Same for PN3's (very rare) cutscenes.

If the game engine is high-enough resolution, FMV is just a waste of disk space.

[JsARCLIGHT]

It's always been my opinion that FMV sequences in games, while nice to look at, take me out of the game. Sure they are pretty and sometimes can add some "oooh and aaahh" to an otherwise lackluster game but when you are playing a game and suddenly the screen goes black and you hear that telltale disc rampup of an approaching FMV sequence you just put down your controller and watch... any tension or action that built up in the preceeding game stage totally falls apart while you stop to watch this video clip. While watching the cip I usually start muttering things like "wouldn't it be neat if the game actually had those graphics?".

Just for comparisson take a game like the Metal Gear Solid series that uses a combination of FMV and game engine cutscenes... during the spots when they use the in game engine to generate a story bit my hands are on the controller, I'm waiting for "my turn" to start so I can kick some a... but durring the FMV spots you put down your controller and just watch. It just totally takes you out of the game and makes you feel like you are a bystander rather than a player.

It all comes down to your own personal game playing likes and dislikes though. As games become more graphically appealing the lines between "movie" and "game" keep blurring... except for the main difference that you watch a movie and you play a game. I'm one of the people who want to play and not watch... hence why Metal Gear grates my nerves so bad. Plus when they use the in game engine to generate the cutscenes you have this feeling the game can "drop you" at any second back into the game... the transition from talky story bits back to action can happen in a split second. The transition from FMV back to game is herky jerky at best.

As for Robotech: Invasion... they shoved that cake in the oven too fast, took it out too soon, hurried through icing it, mispelled your name when they scrawled "Hapy Birfdaye" on it and then threw it in your face and charged you $50. If you think that analogy is a train wreck then just imagine the game. If they would have taken their time, refined a lot of things and cleaned up their engine and controls the game might have been decent.

[chrono]

Actually, they also don't use them because they're disk-space hogs.

And in some games they have trouble maintaining continuity(example: Parasite Eve 2. Every FMV with a weapon shows Aya wielding her starting pistol, regardless of what you have equipped, or in storage).

As for the too much either way argument...

Metroid Prime and Prime 2 are raw game engine. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Same for PN3's (very rare) cutscenes.

If the game engine is high-enough resolution, FMV is just a waste of disk space.

It's the cost and NOT the disc space that actually matters to the game developers. The disc space reasoning is just another additive reason, not the true reason. Anyways any time you don't control your character and the story is advanced that's a cutscene, but it's also an FMV because it's been pre-scripted into the engine. Place the blame where it's really needs to be placed... On lousy game design. Not the tooling.

People will be having this debate for years to come, because the game poly counts aren't gonna be near the same level for a long while after Unreal 3 has been released.

Maybe by then somebody will have actually made a decent RT/Macross game!!!

[JB0]

Actually, they also don't use them because they're disk-space hogs.

And in some games they have trouble maintaining continuity(example: Parasite Eve 2. Every FMV with a weapon shows Aya wielding her starting pistol, regardless of what you have equipped, or in storage).

As for the too much either way argument...

Metroid Prime and Prime 2 are raw game engine. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Same for PN3's (very rare) cutscenes.

If the game engine is high-enough resolution, FMV is just a waste of disk space.

It's the cost and NOT the disc space that actually matters to the game developers.

By that logic they'd've never STARTED with FMV. It's far cheaper now than it was when FF7 was made.

The original point was to give them a chance to NOT have big chunky jaggies showing off. Now we have small, fairly streamlined jaggies, and it's not near as much of an issue. And we've got all sorts of features they couldn't dream of when they started the FMV whorage. Things like real-time faicla expressions, cloth that reacts like cloth instead of a cardboard suit painted like cloth, and so on.

There's just no compelling reason TO use FMV in many cases now.

Anyways any time you don't control your character and the story is advanced that's a cutscene, but it's also an FMV because it's been pre-scripted into the engine.

FMV = Full-Motion Video.

As it's not typically full-motion(static backgrounds, often limited character animation) and the term video is debatable(depedns on the usage), no.

Cutscene is pre-scripted. FMV is a specific form of cutscene(only partially accurate, as it can also be used for the background in a game-engine sequence, or even as the actual gameplay in titles like Dragon's Lair).

Place the blame where it's really needs to be placed... On lousy game design. Not the tooling.

What blame? I APPLAUD the move.

I've got plenty to say about lousy game design, but about all there is to say relevant to the argument at hand has to do with an over-abundance of cutscenes in general and continuity-breaking FMVs in specific.

People will be having this debate for years to come, because the game poly counts aren't gonna be near the same level for a long while after Unreal 3 has been released.

Practically speaking, it's not relevant 9 times out of 10.

Going back to the Metroid Prime example, it only matters when you get a close shot of Samus' chest and the low-res texture maps show their ugly jagginess. Higher res texture maps would've gotten rid of it entirely.

Maybe by then somebody will have actually made a decent RT/Macross game!!! 

I like the Famicom and SuperFami games. Don't ask why the FC one, though. I have no good reason.

And the PS/Saturn DYRL game.

And the PCEngine CD shooter.

...

Hell, I enjoy large parts of Battlecry too.

It's not a BAD game, it's just not a masterpiece. And we want our VF-1's to be gifted with masterpiece games.

[Feyd-Rautha]

i've waited 20 years too pilot a cyclone...20 LONG FUGGIN YEARS!!!

...and i have not played many games since a few years ago.so for me invasion could be worse...

i have gleaned at least 30 hours out of it so far because i just cant get enough of piloting my favorite all time mech!!!

but i'm really hoping that they make a more playable version of a MOSPEADA based title ..

>>> this time i want too pilot LEGIOSS,TREAD and more fluid RIDE-ARMOR!!!!

[kaju1]

Does Anyone like this game? I first played it last night for 2 hours and all I can say is that the game is really cool, easy to play and very interesting.

What do you think?

[Claxus]

I never played more than the demo, but I thought it was pretty cool. An FPS game where you can turn into a motorcycle at a moment's notice? One of a kind. It wasn't really my thing, though.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Claxus

[jenius]

I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. The graphics were bland. I think I quit the game after playing a level for a long time where I was cruising all over the place but seemingly not triggering the next series of events. I'm sure I just missed something obvious but I just didn't care enough to figure it out. I'm also a huge Mospeada fan so I feel like it's pretty damning that I so easily lost interest.

[mojacko]

havent played this PS2 version but is it near the PsP game version ???

[mikeszekely]

havent played this PS2 version but is it near the PsP game version ???

PSP? It only came out for PS2 and the original Xbox.

I never played Invasion. I liked Battlecry, aside from one really frustrating level where you had to defend a stadium or something. But I liked it because of the Valkyries... I'm a Macross fan, not a Robotech or Mospeada fan.

[anime52k8]

PSP? It only came out for PS2 and the original Xbox.

I never played Invasion. I liked Battlecry, aside from one really frustrating level where you had to defend a stadium or something. But I liked it because of the Valkyries... I'm a Macross fan, not a Robotech or Mospeada fan.

same here. I played battlecry a lot just because it was an american market game with macross in it. some of the gameplay balancing was frustrating but I thought it looked good for a PS2 game and it overall played well too.

[RD Blade]

I have it for Xbox, but haven't played the system in years. It was mildly underwhelming, but not so much that it kept me from finishing the game. It's a 1st/3rd Person Shooter, if I'm remembering right. It would have been nice if they'd included a southpaw control scheme, a crime against lefties that is still common today.

I've always had a soft spot for transforming mech games, especially since there are so few of them compared to other types of games. That said, the game had its share of problems. Stupid enemy AI, bland graphics, and clunky controls constantly remind the player that it's just a game and keep the experience from being fully immersive. It was a shame to see a premise with so much potential be squandered on a game that was anything less than a sequel-spawning masterpiece. Oh well.

[GU-11]

Glad to see I'm not the only one using Battlecry as a "substitute" for a proper Macross game.

IIRC, Invasion was poorly received compared to Battlecry for various reasons.

[CoryHolmes]

Yeah, Battlecry was far superior. Invasion felt like it wanted to be a big budget AAA game... but lacked the budget, the manpower, the studio, the... everything.

Sadly, it goes into the same pile of mediocrity of most licenced Robotech stuff.