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CNET editors' rating:
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- Reviewed on: 08/03/2006
- Updated on: 01/09/2007
- Released on: 08/08/2006
- Originally published on GameSpot: Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation (Game Boy Advance) Review
It tells you something that publisher Atlus didn't alter the Japanese title of Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation in the process of bringing this game overseas: This is one of those games that's specially suited to a particular crowd. Some of that crowd could tell you that the game is part of a popular, long-running strategy role-playing series also known as Super Robot Wars, though they presumed it would never leave Japan. After all, SRT throws just about every famous giant-robot anime franchise together into one universe. It's iconic stuff you've surely seen or heard of, like Gundam, Macross, and Mazinger Z. And you don't need to be an international copyright lawyer to imagine that the licensing rights involved in mixing all these up must be pretty complicated. However, this particular installment in the series dodges a lot of those issues by replacing all the licensed mechs with an original cast, though they clearly draw inspiration from numerous anime classics. That might seem like a cop-out, but as you get into Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation, something amazing occurs: You may easily wind up liking this game's cast and story just as much as other, more famous giant-robot material, if not more.
Giant robots and strategy role-playing game form a winning combination in Super Robot Taisen.
Knowing that SRT: Original Generation is quite similar to the better-known Fire Emblem series may help you to quickly understand what sort of game this is. It isn't quite as great as the two Fire Emblem games released for the Game Boy Advance in recent years, but it's not too far off. The games share the same structure, with rather long-winded but engaging cutscenes placed before and after some simple, entertaining turn-based strategy missions. The missions are scripted so that bits of the story also unfold during battle, so the story doesn't feel disconnected. Another similarity between SRT and Fire Emblem is how the stories feature a huge ensemble cast and spend plenty of time developing characters besides the main protagonists--in this case, a gifted and enthusiastic young pilot named Ryusei, and a cool-under-fire soldier named Kyosuke, either of whom you can choose as the main character at the beginning of the game.
Though the two main characters and their comrades eventually meet up and join forces, the first halves of their respective stories are completely different, yet interconnected. Just playing through one character's storyline (consisting of about 40 missions) could easily take 30 or more hours, and there's a ton of dialogue all throughout. So it's impressive just how much dialogue was crammed into this game, and the English localization turned out quite well for the most part. The story sequences consist simply of static postage-stamp-size character portraits and written dialogue, but even so, the different characters' personalities are made distinctive through the writing, and many characters are likable, even memorable.
A mostly plain presentation gives way to some great-looking combat sequences.
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