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GAME REVIEW

Super Robot Wars V is strategy gaming at its most basic


The mecha genre of anime and manga is one of the most enduring products of modern Japanese entertainment. Whether you were born a decade ago, in the ’80s, or even as far back as the late ’50s, there’s a giant robot franchise that’s aimed specifically at your demographic.

With so many “super” and “real” robot series in existence, how do you enjoy them all in one fell swoop? Well, there’s an easy answer to that: the crossover! And, thanks to our poor understanding of the science governing the multiverse hypothesis, we can chalk all this wanton inter-dimensional travel up to “a great big explosion ripped a hole through the fabric separating our two universes.”

“Super Robot Wars V,” which celebrates the 25th anniversary of the “Super Robot Wars” franchise, brings together a host of the most popular giant mecha in one tactical turn-based RPG. And while that sounds fantastic to the fans of this genre, the reality is a little less so for everyone else.





Super robot orgy

“Super Robot Wars V’s” story begins in the distant future, where a war between the Earth Federation and a hostile alien species known as the Gamillans has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Our species’ only hope is the Space Battleship Yamato, a powerful vessel capable of destroying entire enemy fleets and even a small continent.

Yes, the game’s opening hours tread into “Space Battleship Yamato” territory, one of the most influential classic sci-fi franchises in anime history. But not long after we’ve made the acquaintance of its crew of too-pretty youths are we pulled into a parade of giant mecha, starships, heroes, antiheroes, and all the baggage that each featured franchise comes with.

So which robots appear in this game? Far too many to mention them all. But you’ll meet pilots and robots from franchises like “Mazinger,” “Evangelion,” “Nadesico,” “Full Metal Panic,” “Getter Robo,” “Gundam,” and more.

Almost every mission introduces new characters and mecha, and the game dedicates some time to explaining their purpose in the overarching story. The truth is, after your 15th new hero, you just stop caring about anyone. It becomes near-impossible to keep up with so many faces, names, and backstories. It doesn’t help that the plot is advanced via static talking heads and boring, crawling text, and that most characters are rarely given the opportunity to develop beyond “this is Tough Guy A, he pilots Super Robot A, and this is Emo Dude B, he rides Real Robot B.”

None of this will matter, of course, if you’re a fan of the genre. Most likely you’ll already have emotional attachments to a number of these characters, rendering character development unnecessary. This is the audience this game will appeal to; everybody else will just be left confused and overwhelmed by the glut of characters and robots.





Basic strategy

“Super Robot Wars V” progresses across numerous scenarios, each a mission that entails defeating a large number of enemies using the units available to you.

Units range from robots such as Great Mazinger, space warships such as the Waverider, or huge battleships like the Nadesico B. Each has their own statistics, including movement speed, attack damage, energy, and the like.

Every unit has several actions they can perform. They can move a number of spaces in any direction; use Spirit abilities to heal themselves, heal other units, boost their accuracy, enhance their evasion, bolster their defensive capabilities, and others; or employ the limited yet significantly more potent Extra Actions that provide powerful buffs. Battleships have an additional ability: the Extra Order. These allow the battleship to improve allied units’ survivability and efficiency in battle.

Of course, units can also attack enemies. Selecting a target prompts players to select from an array of offensive abilities of varying strengths, ranges, and energy consumption.

While “Super Robot Wars V” offers plenty of things to do in battle, the choice of one skill over another rarely has any relevant impact on how the mission will turn out. One attack may do more damage than another, but the difference isn’t so enormous that using the more powerful one won’t lead to a unique outcome. Buffs can be handy, but it’s possible to forgo their use completely and still come out on top.

Missions take you to diverse environments, such as space, barren wastelands, cities, coastal regions, etc. As varied as they are in appearance, however, every map feels exactly the same as every other. Obstacles that block your line of sight are rare; units are capable of flying over hills, buildings, and water with little or no penalty to their movement and vision. Because environmental features are basically just for show, they hardly ever figure in your tactical considerations, which means every map is essentially as flat as a chessboard.

Taking all this into account, “Super Robot Wars V,” for a tactical turn-based strategy game, is light on tactics and strategy. This isn’t “XCOM” or “Valkyria Chronicles,” where the lay of the land can vastly impact your choices and approach to battle, where different skills and weapons lead to different results, where you can use walls and other obstacles as cover to avoid enemy fire, where each allied and enemy unit feels truly unique. “Super Robot Wars V” is far too simple to stay compelling.

Things do get interesting every once in a while. Some missions will surprise you by suddenly bringing in new allies, enemies, or extra-powerful rivals. You can also try to meet special conditions to garner additional rewards upon completing the scenario.

Outside battle, you can customize your units by raising their stats or equipping them with power or option parts that bestow on them various effects. You can even develop new skills for your pilots to learn, and use the factory to sell or purchase equipment.

“Super Robot Wars V” offers 50 to 60 hours of gameplay, and even more in your second playthrough. That’s a lot of gaming. It’s just too bad most people won’t make it past 10 hours with every level feeling so samey.

As for the visuals, let’s cut to the chase. They’re nothing to write home about. They look fine on your PS Vita, but on a TV screen, they underwhelm. In contrast, the animated battle scenes are gorgeous and exciting. They do grow boring with repeated viewing, however, so much so that you’ll end up skipping them altogether.





A bland celebration of awesomeness

Let’s get one thing straight: giant mecha are awesome. The various robots, characters, and stories represented in “Super Robot Wars V” have endured for so long for exactly this reason.

Sadly, “Super Robot Wars V,” with its units, abilities, and maps that provide a uniformly bland experience across the board, fails to do justice to the eclectic genre. A crossover involving so many iconic brands is always an excellent idea, but once the initial thrill of having your favorite robots fighting alongside each other wears off, you’ll realize “Super Robot Wars V” is as basic as strategy gaming gets. — TJD, GMA News

Rating: 6/10
Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita