A fresh and original concept of a bullet hell shooter/fighter, but takes time and patience to fully understand.
UbiSoft then takes the job of publishing the game stateside, with translations for the game's manual, menu and character dialogue, but no English voiceovers. But that's no big deal with anime loving fans, right?
So let's have a general synopsis of the game. The story starts out with Earth entering a state of catastrophe, and humans and forced to leave their home planet to colonize elsewhere with advanced futuristic technology. Not too cliché, but a typical scenario in any mech anime. So after humans are all settled and such, we take a jump to SD 1484, where teenagers are responsible for the day by day job of keeping their part of the universe in order.
That's where story mode comes in, and each character has his or her scenario in interacting with other characters in combat. You choose a character, and select their machines called "Rounders" that are used in combat. Each Rounder has different attack patterns, from main cannon fire to homing missiles, and many techniques a player must perform to fill up the screen with glorious bullets. There is reloading between shots, and your special moves are limited by a charge gauge under your armor gauge. Sure beating your opponent would be a cakewalk, however, there's a twist. Like traditional shoot'em ups; the end of each level your ship has to fight a colossal boss that fires insane amounts of artillery that you would have to dodge. Here, if you beaten up real bad, or just looking to give your opponent a run for his money, you can initiate a special phase known as B.O.S.S., short for Booster of Over-Armed Shell System. Basically this allows your rounder to take shape of a large shmup type boss, and unleash waves of attacks on your enemy using different button commands for a limited amount of time. However, you won't be invincible, and parts of your B.O.S.S. can be destroyed in the shoot'em up type fashion, if your opponent is good enough. BOSS can be used twice in each match, and restore your Rounder's armor if it is still intact when the timer. If you run out of armor completely, your Rounder enters a state called Vanish, where one hit could be the final hit to end the match. Here, you have an opportunity to enter Final BOSS mode, where you can activate your BOSS for a longer amount of time, and be able to use a Final special attack that your opponent most likely can't avoid, and would allow you to make a grand comeback. Downside is, when the Final BOSS ends, you're still in Vanish mode, and can be beaten. In worse cases, your Final BOSS can be destroyed completely, and would create a dramatic explosion in slow-motion, like when a boss is defeated in games like Border Down or most notably Ikaruga.
Each character has his or her Rounder's advantages and disadvantages during battle, including their BOSS forms. The real challenge is finding out what character can do this or that, and how your strategies will work out in other game modes, especially Xbox Live. If you join in someone's match, it's most likely that without experience in multiplayer, a Japanese player might definitely give you a real rude awakening in more ways than one.
Now for my personal statements about this game. The graphics are futuristic and colorful, and the animation in game play is incredibly slick. Character design and development is great in this game, and Rounders you choose have different color variations, including a flashy and fabulous costume that your character wears. Anime fans would love it. Sound effects vary from the classic "Pew-Pew" laser effect, to the crashing and crunching of metal through damage inflicted upon your enemies. The soundtrack for this game is phenomenal, and has an awesome and upbeat techno feel to fuel the energy in the futuristic atmosphere. Heck, I even got the soundtrack on my MP3 player, and any of the tracks are sure to keep me goin'.
Gameplay wise, the controls for this game take a long while to actually get a hang of. There are different input commands that you can make to perform different firing patterns, same goes for BOSS. It isn't easy, and will take time to fully understand what Rounder type you're controlling, and what it's capable of. Japanese dialogue takes place during fights in story mode, which contributes to the story development, but is difficult to read English subtitles during fights. You would eventually reach a stage of frustration through mistakes made in the game that cost you a match, or have a hard time actually pulling off a technique. There are many inaccuracies in the manual made by UbiSoft, with several command errors that make it hard to actually do most of these moves.
On the good side, this game's a great challenge, especially over Live. It also features extra content such as artwork, a glossary with the game's terminology, and other bonus content. Many game review sites gave this game an obscenely low score, and threw it away before actually getting to know most of the concepts, or the game just didn't live up to their expectations. The game is aimed toward people that are fans of the shoot'em up genre, and arcade junkies who would love to get their hands on a game produced by a well known Japanese company. Overall, if you like lots of bullets, anime, and into some serious techno, then definitely grab this game. Recently this game's price has dropped to beyond affordable in numerous retail stores. So if you get this game and certainly want to get good at it, put some practice in it, learn from arcade gurus, and play online with Japanese players. Even if you do lose, you learn from it, and be able to pull off cool techniques that'll fill up the screen with a practical light show that create the wonderous bullet hell that companies such as G. Rev have presented us with over the years.