Zoids Assault

Before I even start, I must be brave and just say...I did not finish this game. I could not bring myself to do so and I'm hoping to either sell it or burn it. Either way I'm not getting my 60 bucks back. Now, on to my review of this game that I spent a few hours in, but did not finish.

Zoids...if you're unfamiliar with this term, that's actually expected. Zoids are a line of toy models made to look like mechanical a wide range of animals. Eventually, this line of models produced a few anime series, which, I was a fan of one. This game, as far as I can tell, is not based on any of those series. The narrative in this game is very polictical and honestly not all that interesting. The cutscenes are done with the best I can describe are painted slideshows which in this day and age is not very impressive. To sum up, you might as well skip the cutscenes unless you like wasting time, which, on occassion, can be fun. Keep in mind, I only played a portion, something awesome may actually happen at the end of the game, but I highly doubt it.

You start out as 5 pre-chosen Zoids that you cannot add to unless it happens later in the game. This was very upsetting to me. I was hoping to see other zoid types come into my unit. As a fan of New Century Zero, I was excited to see in my team was a Shield Liger, Command Wolf, and D-Bison. It would've been cooler to see things like Shadow Fox, Liger Zero, Death Saurer. Oh well....

The progression on this game is based upon numbered missions. There's no exploring to this game unless you count inside the battlefields which you can pan and see everything from the beginning. This game is entirely linear. Between each mission you'll get one of those "cutscenes" I was talking about which gives a very minimal story element to that game. Each mission is a small grid-based map across different, very generic locales filled with enemies and one or two treasures.

The gameplay is a set to a grid-based strategy in which you move your zoids a few squares and

attempt to attack enemies within your range. Each movement is show from a helicopter view. Then, when you attack, it switches to a more cinematic camera, but that doesn't do much for the experience. There are a handful of weapon types and different weapon models that offer different ranges and strengths. One of the main gameplay elements is the scan ability. With a certain level of scan you can launch auxiliary support attacks from friendly zoids within range and facing the correct direction, but if you're enemy has a certain scan level when you attack they can also counter with multiple units if they have the correct range and facing as well. I actually liked this aspect, it made me think before I attack, move, and end my turn. However, to counter....counters there is the EMP attack which charges like a Street Fighter Alpha 3 A-ism super gauge, anytime you take or dish out damage. Also, like SFA3 A-ism, you can only hold 3 EMP attacks. This is shared by all of your members but it's powerful enough that you don't need individual EMP. An EMP attack lets you attack all enemy zoids within your range while making them incapable of counter-attacking.

Each Zoid has it's own indiviual ranking with seperate stats, skills, and you can ever change your zoids paint. Leveling is a pretty standard fair, you gain exp to fill up a bar by doing various things on a mission. When that bar fills, /ding. Leveling up allows your zoid more stat points and more room for skills. The skills use a capacity system where you're allotted a maximum amount of skill points and each skill takes up a pre-determined amount of skill points. Skills range (a rather small range) from sacrificing some stats for others (ex: Overdrive: which heightens strength but lowers defense) to repairing a unit to an all direction scan which lets that unit be apart of support attacks no matter which direction it's facing.

In closing, I can't think of anybody that I would recommend this game to. I don't think even hardcore fans of the series would find this game very enjoyable. Personally, I don't the Zoids franchise fits at all in strategy. I'd rather see a vehicular combat game made out of it. What I remember from the series is insanely face-pased combat and stylish finishes.