Robotech: Battlecry

by Sony

Product Features

• ACTION PACKED GAME

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00006DY3H
• Item Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 23, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,954 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Manufacturer Description

A mission-driven action title, Robotech: Battlecry embodies the classic mech-filled mayhem of the animated series. Featuring all-encompassing destruction on a giant scale, the game is a high-octane arcade shooter that captures the TV show’s spectacular visuals and epic storyline. As an intrepid fighter pilot, the player must protect cities of Earth from roving bands of a giant alien race, the Zentraedi. The player pilots the versatile Veritech fighter, a giant transformable mechanized robot that can convert into a high-flying jet fighter, a 40-foot-tall humanoid robot, and a combination of both. Each transformation mode offers new movement options, special abilities, or weapons. To succeed in battle, players must use more than one mode to complete their assigned objectives. In keeping with the Robotech identity, the environments, mecha, characters, and overall appearance are modeled directly from the stylized look of the highly regarded animated series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The 17-year wait is over, September 24, 2002

By 

Oliver M. Severino (Yuma, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Robotech: Battlecry (Video Game)

As a long-time Macross/Robotech/anime-in-general fan I've been waiting for a game like this for a long time and it's finally here. After the disappointing cancellations of the US releases of Macross VFX 1 and 2 I thought I'd never get my chance to fly a Veritech. So after seeing the limited edition release of this
game I decided to give it a try and it has not dissapointed.

Fans of the series will relish the fact that TDK has created a storyline that is original but at the same time allows you to experience some of the events seen in the TV episodes. Another welcome feature is the return of the voice actors for Roy, Rick, Lisa, and Mynmei to reprise their roles (as well as Max's actor, although he's playing the lead role Jack Archer). Hearing Lisa's voice telling me to go rip it up with the Zentraedi made me feel like a kid again.

But it's not just fanboy appeal that makes this a great game. The cel-shaded graphics look awesome and really enhance the anime atmosphere. Dogfights and ground combat are amazing, with dozens of friendlies and Zentraedi (and scads of missiles) making for a lot of furious and jaw-dropping furballs. The controls are also great and make the transformations into the three modes easy and seamless.

The game is not without faults however. The missions are very creative in design, variety, and execution but can sometimes be frustratingly confusing when it comes to knowing where to go or what to do to complete them successfully. The escort/defense and occasional rescue missions can be maddening as well. And as I said the controls are great but the Guardian and especially the Battloid mode don't really give you the sense of moving in 3-D especially with the camera angle generally staying behind your Veritech and therefore not allowing you to see targets almost directly below or above you (even though you have the gun aimed and firing at them).

Both of these problems - and a few more niggling ones which I'll omit for brevity - are more than outweighed by the overall quality of this game. Admittedly it will most likely appeal to fans, but license aside it's still a great action game that will appeal even to gamers with no knowledge of the anime.

On a side note: True fanboys might be interested in the limited edition version which is exactly the same game but has a bunch of nice swag (such as a soundtrack CD and t-shirt) packaged with it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's about time!, October 24, 2002

By 

Justin Ratcliff "egovirus" (S.Pasadena, Ca.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Robotech: Battlecry (Video Game)

Once I saw this game, I could not resist buying it. I grew up watching the cartoons, and I even own 4 of the box sets; so to say I am a geek would be entirely superfluous. The game it's self is a lot of fun, and there looks to be a good deal of replayability. The controls are pretty straight forward, although the superimposed physics can be annoying, they too seem pretty realistic. The game follows the first chapter of the Robotech saga faithfully, and all the units look like the cartoon. The Veritech fighter can be easily changed to the 3 different modes simply by pushing the directional pad up, left, or right. There seem to be approx. 25-30 missions, all of which can be replayed, and several of which you have to replay to get the Medal, and thus unlock goodies. There is a multiplayer feature as well, but I've not yet checked it out. Overall this game is pretty good, and I would definitely suggest it to all Robotech fans. Those who don't know the Robotech saga may not enjoy it as much, especially if you weren't like 9 or so back in 1985. Good game.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Review for Newcomers to Mecha Games, October 5, 2002

By 

James M. Stafford III (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Robotech: Battlecry (Video Game)

I remember first seeing parts of the Robotech series when it aired originally in the States in the mid-1980s. I was too young then to know or even care that it was Japanese - I just liked how it was very different from other cartoons at the time and really presented a true ongoing story. When I had the chance a few years ago to acquire the entire series on videotape, I jumped at the chance, and finally saw everything from start to finish (all 85 episodes), truly relishing for the first time the storytelling ability of the series and its impressive mecha.

Robotech: Battlecry is indeed as close as us average Humans will ever come to piloting any of the mecha in the Robotech series. Generally, I stay away from mecha games, but given how much I deeply enjoy the Robotech series (of the 100+ videotapes and DVDs in my collection, it is the anime series I watch most often), I simply could not resist :-)

For those with even a minor interest in the Robotech series, this is a must-have game! However, for those new to mecha games, this could get rather confusing initially, because virtually EVERY button of the PlayStation2 controller is used. There are three Training scenarios to teach the basics of piloting a Veritech (one scenario for each of its three configurations), but given that there is really no danger or time limit in which the Training objectives must be accomplished, about the best that these Training scenarios will do is give the player some familiarity with movement and changes in configurations. Beyond this, the only way to truly come to know the Veritech's capabilities is to go out on actual missions.

As for the missions themselves, they more or less wrap themselves in a storyline which itself uses the Robotech series as a starting point (for example, the earliest missions provide a different viewpoint on the opening events of the Robotech series) and moves on from there, with appearances by characters originally appearing in the anime series. However, there is no need to really know anything about the Robotech anime series itself - but for those (diehard fans) familiar (perhaps intimately) with the series, the storyline of Robotech: Battlecry is all the more involving.

Those new to mecha games will also likely have trouble with the opening missions. I am only on Chapter II as I write this review and am having extreme trouble with one particular mission, thus preventing access to Chapter III. In some cases, familiarity with the Robotech anime series will provide some clues, but this is not generally true. Part of the initial "trouble" comes from not necessarily knowing when to change from one configuration to another, as each configuration has its strengths and weaknesses; even if a newcomer to the genre knows which configuration to use, the button layout is initally so complex that time will be required to determine which button performs which function. Once the configuration changes and button assignments have been learned, however, the main consideration is how to complete each mission - this is often fairly straightforward, but there are times when there is little assistance provided to show the right path to mission completion (despite hints shown as each mission is loaded).

One important note: Some missions have multiple sections. Sometimes, these sections are essentially standalone mini-stories within themselves, allowing the player to enter any mini-story at will. However, some missions MUST be completed in order, with no chance to enter in the middle. Therefore, unless a player is CERTAIN that a mission section is a standalone mini-story, players should NOT quit after a mission unless they also save their game progress.

One of the strong points of the game is the frame rate. There is virtually NO slowdown in game action, even with multiple missiles, numerous targets, and massive amounts of smoke and flying debris all being rendered on-screen at once. Another strong point is that the music from the Robotech series has been presented (in a more orchestral form) and used in such a way that players will feel as if they are truly inside the Robotech anime series itself :-)

For those genre newcomers unfamiliar with the Robotech anime series, this game will probably rate only a 4. For those with strong familiarity with the series, Robotech: Battlecry will definitely rate a 5.