Archer's Veritech

As I scan around my office, I come to the media rack that has become the home all the videos and DVD’s that I have received for evaluation. On the bottom shelf is a collection from ADV Films. This collection, Robotech: The Macross Saga, is a set of DVD’s based on the Robotech television show series. There has been such a trend for ‘80’s nostalgia that TDK Mediactive has come up with a game based on Robotech. This game is Robotech: Battlecry. The game is being ported to PS2, GameCube and Game Boy Advance. I had a chance to check out the PS2 version of the game recently. I liked it a lot, and found that it held true to the theme from the original animated television show.

The first thing that you should know about this game is that it is done using cel shading. This process makes for interesting backgrounds for the 45 missions that are included in the game. These missions include locations in Macross City, the Rings of Saturn and various canyons and ruins around the world.

There are three different ways to play Robotech: Battlecry. The first is Training mode. Here you will fly one of three training missions under the direction of Commander Roy Fokker. These missions coincide with the three Veritech fighter modes, Battloid, Guardian and Fighter. In the Story mode, you will be Jack Archer, a veteran fighter pilot. As you complete the missions as Archer, more missions will be unlocked and the Veritech’s themselves will be upgraded. Versus mode has you play head to head in a two player game.

For those of you who might not have ever seen the television show or watched the DVD’s, I’ll try to give you a brief overview. It seems that an alien force called the Zentradi left a space ship on Earth. This was no ordinary ship, but a battleship of some sort. It was all but destroyed and Earth’s scientists and engineers spent 10 years putting it back together.

Now they have decided to protect the Earth from this alien force using their own refurbished battle cruiser against them. The battle cruiser is named the SDF-1. Characters like Linn Minmei, Lisa Hayes and Rick Hunter have pivotal roles in the show. They show up as supplemental characters in the game.

The Veritech that Jack Archer will pilot is not only a jet fighter but transforms into a fighting robot, complete with rockets, a gun and fists of steel.

The timeline for this game fits somewhere in the middle of the Robotech: Macross Saga storyline. The Zentradi have attacked and have for the most part been beaten back. There seems to be a new uprising in the making, so the Earth forces need to spring into action. Jack Archer is just one of those fighter pilots whose job is to go out and kick some Zentradi tail.

As Jack goes about his quest, the different modes for his plane come into being. The Fighter mode has his plane being a plain old jet fighter. The Guardian mode has the nose of the plane intact, with the other parts being arms and legs. The Battloid is a full transformation mode in where the fighter is transformed into a fighting robot.

The gameplay is linear. The more missions that are flown and won, the more medals and promotions Jack Archer will get. You will also have access to the bigger, better and badder Veritech fighters as you go along.

The cel shading animation is terrific, the sound effects reminiscent of the television show and the gameplay is really good. Especially the Versus mode where two players can really go at each other.

Look for Robotech: Battlecry at your local game retailer. You also might want to visit the TDK Mediactive web site to check out the latest information on the game. The web site is www.tdk-mediactive.com or visit www.robotechgame.com

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