7/10: This classic Japanese franchise makes it to the PS2 for those interested in complex high-brow military tactics.
This is a shame though, because this game is fantastic. On both this and the identical XBOX versions (minus campaigns), I spent hours upon hours moving multiple land, sea and air units over huge honeycombed battlefelds engaging the enemy. This is a turn based strategy and nothing else, the story is really quite minimal, the audio is terrible and the animations are kind of pathetic.
Please don't let this be a turn off though- this is a technical game by all standards and graphics really aren't important next to the strategy elements that congeal to make a complex game so fun. For instance, when I'm playing chess on the computer or otherwise I really realize that the graphics are non-insturnmental window dressing and any elaborate animations or audio actually become very annoying after a couple of hours. Give me substance of gameplay and I'll provide my own soundtrack by listening to the radio or something. So this is a warning- the soundtrack consists of one song looped over, and over, and over. I last played the game about two weeks ago and the friggin song is still looping through my head.
When I checked, this series is a very popular and long running one in Japan where the general video gaming public will have different tastes (hello! pachinko simulator!). As a result many of the new and old iterations of this game on the DS, PSP, Genesis, and even way back to the original NES (!) never made it here.
This game is basically long hours in huge campaigns moving individual units across terrain and playing a menouvering battle with the enemy based on the range of your weapons (which are calculated by both the lateral and vertical reach).
Basically, if you have found yourself enjoying board games like Chess and RISK, and have found yourself hopelessly addicted to the unique intricacies of current turn based strategies like- Advance Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics and FireEmblem you should like this. Daisenryaku 7 Exceed is a unique game among the North American market place and gives you a peek into the Japanese strategy gamer's world. Although this game has a somewhat high barrier to entry in the presence of its seemingly steep olearning curve, you'll find that past all the stats charts and choosing the altitude of your bombers, it's actually a pretty simple game at its core. It provided a slow, logical flow to it that I really liked. If you want to play make believe General, pushing little model soldiers across a map and enjoy unique strategy games this one is definately for you.
Cons:
-graphics are basic
-soundtrack is all of one song looped (turn off voulume)
-has steep learning curve at first, will take a couple of hours 'till you're right into the swing of it
-fast twitch fibre younger gamers with ADHD will not like this game one bit
Pros:
-seriously addicting and satisfying battles across some massive maps
-unique, I can't recall amother game like this currently available for consoles