R.A.D.: Robot Alchemic Drive
- November 04, 2002 00:00 AM PST
At last, Americans can experience what every Japanese school child goes through in their formative years�commanding a giant robot against the surreal forces of giant evil.
Members of the I Want To Be An Anime Schoolgirl Giant Robot Pilot Club, rejoice! The game you've been waiting for your entire life is finally here!
Neon PS2 Evangelion
Robot Alchemic Drive is the anime-mech lover�s dream come true: a slow, deliberately paced robot-fighting sim that puts you in control of a little anime human who commands an enormous, lumbering, Japanese-city-defending humanoid machine against things from beyond the Nectar Barrier. Sure, robot fighting�s been done before�but never quite like this.
R.A.D. Stroke of Genius #1: Battles take place entirely from a human-eye point of view. You position your character (equipped with handy anti-grav device) wherever you feel you�ll get the best view of the battle�be it atop a tall skyscraper, on your robot�s shoulder, or standing at his feet�and the game perfectly mimics the Godzilla oh-my-god-that-enormous-foot-is-about-to-crush-me perspective. City blocks collapse with a perfect sense of weight, gravity, scale, and destructive sound; giant mechanical bodies hurl through the air with eerie, measured realism; giant mechanoids make weird noises that would make Godzilla cringe.
R.A.D. Stroke of Genius #2: You move each limb of your mech independently�two shoulder buttons for each leg, one analog stick for each arm, and the D-pad to rotate and tilt your torso. While it takes a while to get used to (and even once you do, you�re still fully aware you�re handling a ponderous, clumsy, unnatural behemoth), that doesn�t matter a whit�it�s absurdly fun, and makes you feel like your PS2 controller is really, truly a giant robo remote control.
The two-player Vs. Mode is a blast, too, and it runs at as well as the single player game�though the vertical split-screen tends to your mech out of your character�s view.
A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action
�Course, not everything is so equally brilliant. The Story mode is broken up by too much waiting, too much bad voice acting, and too many �escort stupid friend to the bakery� missions�though admittedly these things do give it even more of an authentic anime feel. The graphics are dull and flat up close, and the game is given to fits of horrible slowdown (luckily, it�s not so bad during battle�it�s mostly during the �pre-battle� chaos).
Also, as you play, you�ll find that the long-range weapons, while cool in theory, are almost useless in practice, since there�s no clear targeting system and shooting leaves you vulnerable�but punching tends to be way more fun anyway. And anyone who doesn�t quite click with the concept should probably stay far away�you�ll equate �see things from human�s eye� with �worst camera controls ever.�
But for those in tune with their mecha chi, none of that will matter. R.A.D. is a weird high-concept wonder that actually works, and it�s about as close as you�re gonna get to playing Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Game. Hopefully there�ll be better long-range weapon control and a more polished Graphics Alchemic Drive written into the second season.
