Proves that RTS games are not just for PC's.
Well lets face it, the game doesnt exactly have a deep story line, well in fact it doesnt much have one at all. The story doesnt really add much for the game other than the fact of just having one to continue your way in the game. The game sets out as a race you play as, there are 3 races; Leons, Tramplers, and the Minos. Once you have your race your to stop the other races from taking the differnt planets resources for their use to build military forces.
The single player campaign is a good length, on average probably a bit shorter than your usual RTS campaign but then once you complete it you can play through the same campaign again but with the other races that you didnt choose first time around. The campaigns have a good variety let it be to destroy all enemy units to escort missions which is something different from other RTS games and actually works out well, protect the transports and get them to their destination safely while you build a force to protect them from enemy fire.
Now your probably wondering, how do you control a RTS with the GBA's limited controls. Simple actually, instead of a fixed cursor like make console RTS games, the cursor is free moving using the D-Pad. To draw your selection box just hold down "A" and drag to select a large group. "B" is used to cancel, "Select" is used to bring up the map which goes full screen, and the "L" and "R" shoulder buttons swap through units, or use the shoulder buttons + "B" to quick scroll around the map. They take very little time to get used to and feel natural. There is also options for grouping and ungrouping units aswell as self-destruct which destroys a mech or unit to give you more room incase you wanted to build a better mech.
Graphically speaking the game is very good for a GameBoy Advance game. Like most other 2D RTS games the sprites are 3D rendered images so they look very good and are highly detailed and animated. The environments themselfs are very good looking, as your see animated water and waterfalls in the grassland maps or broken cable lines with sparks in the city ruins maps. There isnt that much veriety in the map types, basically 3: grasslands, deserts, and city ruins. Each map depends on the planets.
My only real complaint of this game is the sound. There wasnt much attention to detail in the sound department since everything from the overworld music sounds like generic rock midi's. The mech's themselves do not make any sounds other than when they are in combat you'll hear gunfire or crashing metal from close combat. In fact the music does get annoying very quickly since it constantly loops. You'll find yourself muting your GBA most of the time.
Now the fun bit, multiplayer. The game supports 1-4 players if your duking it out with a buddy (multi-cart play) or you can go one on one with the computer (basically skirmish mode). Multiplayer is really fun, you have your settings which you can choose your team colour (several different colours to choose from), maps, starting units (if you want any), and you can set your tech levels and resources. For setting tech levels there are 3 levels you can go up to (level 1 being you have no upgrades to your army and you have to research, level 2 being all 2nd level upgrades are done and research for level 3, level 3 being everything has been researched). For resources its the same deal, level 1 being your normal start out and level 3 being maxed out (great for quick start). You dont choose an army but you bring in all your units you earned from the single player campaign, all the ones you earned can be built. Its the same thing when your fighting a CPU, everything is the same other than you fight a computer instead of a person.
Mech Platoon is a great RTS game, great for people who don't usually play RTS while good enough for the hardcore players. Other than is minor flaws and some path finding problems for the computer it still provides a great experience that has tonnes of replay value. This is really an underrated game that really deserves a sequel, perhaps with the more powerful 3D handhelds like the PSP or DS we can have an even greater experience with Mech Platoon.
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