OMFG! Second greatest game EVER!

[Task]

So it's Friday night, and since I'm such a geek I haven't got any plans.
Badly needing to go out somewhere and do _something_, I arrange to go to a friends place for cards. Along the way, I stop in at my favourite EB planning to pick up Lost Kingdom (GameCube card-based RPG, I think) and while I'm in there, I see...
Steel Battalion (Tekki).
And I'm a sucker for anything involving a Giant Robot, or monkeys, or incredibly fast racing, so I get it.
If you haven't heard of it, http://www.capcom.com/SB/.
Of important note is the _enormous_ controller that ships with the game (since no other controller on the planet will work). I had a time fitting the game in my car, the box is, like, 3' cubed. So I throw away all card-based plans and rush home to hook up and play what I have heard is the mech simulator to end all mech simulators. The manual is enormous, the controller is enormous, this game now owns the entire living room.
And it is SO good. It _feels_ like a ten story tall behemoth. If I shift above 2nd gear, I can't do a tight turn without falling over. There is absolutely nothing bad about this game, it's all just so incredibly and unbelievably good... I choose the VT I want to take into the mission, I outfit the VT with weapons, and if I die in combat... My game is erased! I hafta start again! Thus, the safety-hatch covered "eject" button. You lose your VT, but your pilot is alive to try again. Buying a new VT isn't too expensive, but don't take too many tries finishing the mission or you won't be able to afford a good VT to pilot!
Each VT is unique in appearance and handling and what weapons you can put on it...
Every weapon has different qualities that make it useful in different circumstances...
There is so much to this game, that only now after HOURS of play do I have the basics of moving and fighting down. There's still so many buttons that I just don't have the ability to use yet, I'm too busy trying to make sure I'm using all the controls I know and understand correctly and at the right times...

Oh, so good.
J

[xEik]

It looks like a stiff learning curve. I hope they included at least some training ground to avoid being killed endlessly in the first satges of the game.

PRACTCE LEADS TO PERFECTION !

[Spaceboy Gajo]

Hey Task, now you have to set up that Toronto Wipeout Convetion 2003 so we can atleast have a go on this game. I've heard of it and always wondered what it'd be like.

Besides your apartment would be a small time Dave and Busters without the women. Especially those from Woodbridge ;)

spaceboy gajo :)

[Task]

Stiff learning curve? Yes, but... Practice Leads To Perfection!!! 8 D
Mission 0 is "Welcome to the training centre, after 8 months of training, we might let you pilot our newest VT (Vertical Tank)... The Decider!" (time passes) "OMG! We're under attack!" and you jump in the Decider and lay waste to the attcking VTs. There's only two of them plus some supporting tanks, it only took me two tries to complete the mission.
Mission 1-4 get progressively more difficult, but each one exists to teach you one specific lesson. Eventually, you die. Then you start again at Mission 0 and you do a lot better this time through. I'm on my 5th pilot.
Once you've beaten a mission, that mission becomes available in the Free Play mode. So you can practice it over and over again with whatever VTs you've unlocked so far. That makes it the perfect training ground, since you're not risking your valuable pilots life!
I gotta say, it adds an edge to the game, knowing that DEATH carries some consequence.
"Aw crap, how'd they get behind me?!? Ejject! Eject dammit!"

You know Spaceboy, that's a marvelous idea.
I will find a weekend that works well and we shall schedule this thing.

[Wamdue]

saw it in action in my local games store, theyve got it running here and you can pay per hour to play it. It surely looks like a lot of fun, but the price tag has scared me off. Heh it looks so cool when you start up the mech, flipping all the buttons and watching the HUD go online in the game... *drool*.

[jmoid]

I was sorely tempted by this game... but I think it would take over the remaining part of my life that I don't spend playing videogames!

[foxfoil]

i have a friend with an XboX who bought Steel Battalion. he just said, ill only let you play if you promise me not to ask any questions about how you play it.... and he gave me the novel ... hum... manual i meen :) . i got the basics down quite quickly and was hooked... this is THE simulation, your screen is filled along the outside with ammo, map etc... no see through gauges of anything like that, your IN the Mech, no facny Hard core metal music or teammates talking to you, just you and the silence around you (apart from gun fire of course) it just fell like 31st post apoclyptic battle WOW .!

but you have to be a fan, because 130 pounds is not a giveaway..... dont think this is just mechwarrior or gundam or anything like that, you have to really Love mechas and be ready for real combat, hard and dirrrrrty :)

if you are still hesitating, i was telling myself, they'd better make a few Good sequels to this in order to make the 130 pounds a solid investment.... and guess what ... e3 2003 look out fpr a new Steel Battalion, with online Xbox likve PLAY ! WoW !

[xEik]

:o Damn. There's no way in hell I'm paying 130 pounds for a game and a controller (that probably is only useful for mechas games and the like). Anyways I do not own an Xbox either.
Isn't a PS2 about 150 pounds and the normal price for games about 30 or 40? :o

PRACTICE LEADS TO PERFECTION !

[Task]

Given the choice of having either $300 or Steel Batallion... well, there wasn't really much of a choice involved. It's so good, that it disqualifies all other games from even being considered as Mech Simulators. If it weren't for the controller, it wouldn't even be a game. With the controller, it's amazing.
Now, if the term "Mech Simulator" doesn't do it for you, then... well, there's nothing I can do for you really, you shouldn't even be looking at the box. 8 )

So far I'm up to Mission #10 and I can't get past it. I've got the Railgun, but I can't manage to destroy all the enemies in the city so I can get through to the presidential building.
I realized that I needed more practice. So I started another game on the "normal" difficulty mode (instead of the "rookie" mode I've been playing on). Practice Leads To Perfection.

[Wamdue]

i spent my money on a gc with prime and zelda-le. Steel batallion is tempting.. but ill wait for ZOE2 instead, its not much of a realistic mecha sim, but the most fantastic anime-sim out there :)