Robotech: Battlecry Preview

The release of Robotech: Battlecry is only a few months off, and TDK Mediactive has sent out one of the latest builds, which features the transformable Veritech jets and the alien aggressors known as the Zentraedi. When you start the game, you'll have the option to select the training mode or go directly into the story mode. The training mode in Robotech: Battlecry helps you become familiar with the three different Veritech modes--battloid, guardian, and jet.

Jack Archer takes to the skies with Skull Squadron leader Roy Fokker.

In the battloid training mode, popular Robotech character and Skull Squadron leader Roy Fokker (complete with the original voice actor) takes you through the basics. Some of the first things that you learn are basic maneuvering skills. You'll have to learn how to use the battloids' boosting capabilities to skim across the landscape and even place yourself on top of relatively tall metallic structures. When that part of the training is completed, you'll go into basic weapons training, which isn't too involved since the battloid can use only the gun as a weapon, as opposed to the missiles and the gun that are accessible in the two other Veritech modes. However, to help make it seem like the battloid isn't completely underpowered in a firefight, it has the ability to automatically track and shoot down enemy missiles when you press the secondary fire button. You'll get to test this out in the training mode when a series of destroids start bombarding your battloid with missiles.

The jet mode is highly maneuverable and it's probably the best option in a dog fight.

The other two modes have a similar training process. In guardian training, Roy will instruct you how to use the boost, how to pick up items, and how to use the guardian's weapons. While the guardian has the missiles and the gun, its missiles aren't quite as powerful as those on the jet. In addition, the guardian's secondary action only enables it to pick up various items, ranging from supplies to cockpits from damaged Veritechs that need to be returned to a safe area. Generally, both the guardian and the battloid can take some time to get used to since their movement is based on momentum, so you can expect to be colliding with a few objects in the environment before you move around in either mode well.

The jet mode is a different story because you have much more space to work with, and the controls are similar to those in just about every other arcade-style dogfighting game out there. The jet training will show you how to perform barrel rolls and a split S, as well as how to boost and use the jet's weaponry. Barrel rolls and other evasive maneuvers are especially helpful for dodging enemy missile attacks or getting into position so that your missiles will inflict a greater amount of damage. One of the major benefits of using the jet over any other mode (other than its speed and maneuverability) is that it can target multiple enemies at once. For example, if you're in one of the space battles and you see two Zentraedi battlepods on your screen, you can target the primary battlepod as well as the other one by holding down the missile button, Panzer Dragoon-style. Likewise, when attacking a Zentraedi scout ship, you can target multiple cannons at once. Unfortunately, the enemy targets won't take as much damage since you're hitting them with a reduced number of missiles, but it's still helpful nonetheless. The jet can also shoot down enemy missiles, but since it moves so fast, you're usually doing it by accident.