ROBOBLOG III Archives

5.31.2007

The Roboblog Chronicles: Episode 8.5

I was replaying Robotech: Invasion the other day, and you know what part I really hate? That bit with where you're on the back of the truck and firing that turret at the oncoming Invid hordes. I always have trouble with that bit. And what's really annoying is that every time you lose, you start right where that stupid soft-focus flashback bit starts playing, the one where it's obvious that both the soldier and the commander making the speech are Greg Snegoff, only for the commander he's doing a bad "character" voice. I wish you could skip those soft-focus flashback bits. Yes, yes -- the REF's counter-invasion failed. We know. He's hearing Invid voices. We know. Drop it and let me get back to the running and the riding and the shooting, OK?

Also: JHC was right-on in the comments. Not being able to ride your Cyclone through the tunnels is REALLY stupid, especially when most of them have clearly marked lanes.

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posted by Captain JLS at 03:14

7 Comments:

  • INVASION's not a bad game it just missed the target of what a ROBOTECH game should be. RT fans want to relive their memories of the cartoon by experiencing what'll be like to actually be one of their heroes. Creating a HALO clone just left me with a empty feeling. That's why BATTLECRY did so well because it looks like the cartoon. I did like the humans becoming INVID agents subplot though.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 01 June, 2007 08:06  

  • The REAL downside to Robotech: Invasion is that you do not pilot either an Alpha Fighter or a Beta Fighter, just a Cyclone. :(

    Invasion's a good game, but I wish that HG hadn't skipped the Southern Cross arc for their second Robotech game.

    By Blogger SailorCallie, at 01 June, 2007 15:25  

  • Invasion felt like a sterile lifeless game. I could not bring myself to care about the characters or even become interested too much. And thats a problem...more than anything Robotech at least made you emapthise with the characters. We all felt bad about Roy getting killed..we felt Claudia's pain about that. When Rick took over Skull 001...we GOT that. in battlecry..I found myself likeing the characters...and felt bad about the end. Robotech as a series invited you to invest some feeling for the characters. Invasion never did that for me.

    Maybe that is why I just could not buy into it as a Robotech game and just pegged it as a Halo clone.

    -AdmiralHunter

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 01 June, 2007 17:17  

  • Callie: I remember back in ... oh, I think it was spring of '01, Tom Bateman told me that the Vicious Cycle guys REALLY wanted to make a Cyclone riding game, but were told they had to make a Macross Saga game first. But then if you asked them about Southern Cross, they started making "yuck" faces. Typical; I actually had a substitute teacher in high school who did the same thing when you mentioned Hovertanks. *sigh*

    I also remember Tommy Yune back in the summer of '04 talking about asking Vicious Cycle if they could at least put in one stage of Alpha Fighter action at the outset, but apparently nothin' doin' there. Given what Treiz said about the six month development cycle, I don't think we should be surprised on that count.

    Invasion is OK for what it is, but moreso than Battlecry it feels like such a cash-grab, tie-in licensed game. Battlecry was something that got the hardcore gaming folks excited; Invasion did when it was in development due to the goodwill from Battlecry, but the final product had them all going, "Been there, done that." I think that's one of the (many) reasons it was nowhere near the success that Battlecry was.

    By Blogger Captain JLS, at 01 June, 2007 17:28  

  • You make a good point about the games needing to tie into eachother better. Lessons for the future I guess.

    I bought Invasion when it came out, and like you I was ready and willing to put down the $40, but apparantly there was some last minute snafu at the EB Games where I got it, they were selling it for only $20!
    I took it home and took the game on xbox live to try out the multiplayer, and one of the other players was actually one of the developers, who incidentally also worked on Battlecry. He was getting feedback about the game from us, and I got him to tell me all about it. That's how I found out about the rushed development and other stuff.

    By Blogger Treiz, at 01 June, 2007 17:51  

  • Captain: I noticed that you didn't mention any aspect of the 8 player online component of Invasion (although it was more than difficult to find 7 other people playing the game at any given time). Any thoughts? With the proliferation of the multiplayer experience on consoles, the true value of games these days seems to revolve around the online experience (see any Tom Clancy title) and character customization.

    Given that any future incarnation of a robotech game will most likely be another first person shooter, I'd like to hear your thoughts on what you feel would make for a successful mass marketable robotech title that simultaneously stays true to robotech continuity and tradition.

    Also, what do you think the liklihood is of expanding upon and enriching the robotech universe in allowing players the immersive mech customization features commonly found in other mech games, i.e., mech assault, armored core 4, and more specifically chromehounds, and how this could be accomplished while staying true to robotech.

    The short answer, IMO, is to have UbiSoft Montreal develop the next game.

    -Duck996

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 04 June, 2007 02:04  

  • Just please somene develop the damn game NOOOOW..... not in 20 years....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 09 June, 2007 15:21  

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