SRT gives us another great installment as Go Lion and GaoGaiGar smash onto the DS.
All Super Robot Taisen(SRT) games share the same basic formula, super robots and real robots from the TV series and movies of the time, with all of their appropriate attacks and abilities, put together in one strategy RPG(SRPG) with a loose story tying them together. So if you are familiar with SRT, or if you like SRPGs then you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect. You command a set number of units, which you usually get to choose, through a number of missions which take place on 2D maps that are laid out on a grid. Through the course of the game you earn credits that you then apply to upgrading the stats and weapons of the robots you like, making them stronger in preparation for the end game. Standard SRPG stuff, just with robots and giant monsters instead of goblins and knights. The main SRT games differ from the OG games because the robots and characters included in them are taken from Japanese Anime as well as including the original robots and characters that appear in the OG games exclusively. If you would like to learn more about SRT and the various robots and characters included in this and other games in the series, go to this link;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_robot_taisen
SRT: Double (SRT:W) is the first iteration of the series to appear on the Nintendo DS hand held. And boy is it a good debut. This game takes all of the things that were great about SRT:J and adds enough content to fill two screens. Many of the series that were included in SRT:J are also included in SRT:W; Gundam SEED, Mazinkaiser, Nadesico, Full Metal Panic, etc... and there are some great new additions; Gundam SEED MSV, Shin Getter Robo, Hundred Beasts Go Lion (Voltron), GaoGaiGar, etc... and once again the UC Gundam units are absent. All told the roster is just as good if not better than SRT:J. And you can even use some of the SEED units you could not in SRT:J, for example you can use Nikol and Blitz Gundam, and you can use Mwu all the way through the end of the game. One interesting thing about SRT:W is that it is broken into two chapters. You finish the first chapter and then you can reselect your favorite series with upgraded units for the second chapter.
The gameplay in SRT:W is very similar to SRT:J. All of the additions and refinements from that game are present, with the exception of the Tsumesuparobo training missions. The big difference of course is the dual screen set up of the DS. Most of the game is played on the bottom screen, with the stylus or the d-pad being used for navigating menus in and out of battle and issuing orders in battle. The top screen displays information during intermission, and displays the map, unit information, and battle animations during battle. Players of SRT:J will also be happy to know that the replay system is fully intact, so you can build very powerful units by way of multiple playthroughs.
The graphics of SRT:W are almost identical to SRT:J, and this is not a bad thing, but with the added power of the DS there is a richer color pallet and more layers of texture. Many of the units' sprites and animations have been reused from SRT:J and that is a little off putting at first, but even the reused bits have been spruced up with more frames, brighter colors, new explosions, etc... and in a lot of cases the reused units have had some new attacks added that they did not posses in SRT:J. SRT:W takes everything that was great about the graphics in SRT:J and improves upon all of them, albeit slightly.
The sound is MUCH better, simply by virtue of the DS having more audio resources than the GBA. All of the themes and effects sound much better and closer to their original source material.
I said that SRT:J got the highest marks for value due to its replay system, new units, unlockables, etc... and with the exception of Tsumesuparobo, SRT:W gets all the same merits. This is only the second iteration of SRT that I have played through multiple times. Everything that was great about SRT:J and more. A great value.
I am however going to give this game a slightly lower rating than SRT:J, simply because SRT:J is a tremendous achievement on the GBA, lightyears ahead of all of the other SRTs on that system, while SRT:W is just as good, I think that the developers can do a lot more with the added power of the DS and I look forward to many more great SRTs that make much greater strides of improvement than there are between SRT:J and SRT:W.
So the bottom line is, if you liked SRT:J, like SRT in general, or just like SRPGs, once again you should get this game. If you are trying to decide whether to get SRT:J or this game, I would say get this one, because it has everything that SRT:J has and more, and it is the most up to date iteration of the series that you can play on your DS.