Steambot Chronicles

Steambot Chronicles takes the sandbox presentation to entirely new and bewildering levels with a vast amount of in-game content.

Similar to the antiquated Find Your Fate books, console role-playing games have evolved to the degree where almost every RPG game enables players to determine their characters fate using nonlinear gameplay. While this trend was refreshingly innovative for the multiple endings in Chrono Trigger on the SNES, Steambot Chronicles takes the sandbox presentation to an entirely new and bewildering level with the games vast amount of content.

In Steambot Chronicles, you'll assume the role of Vanilla, a castaway amnesiac who finds himself washed ashore on a beach, and he meets a pretty girl named Connie --wait, it gets better. As fate would have it, you'll discover an abandoned Trotmobile (a steam powered robot), escort Connie to her friends, befriend her click of cohorts, and eventually join her rock band, the Garland Globetrotters. As the game progresses, you'll be given the option to make various alliances, and commit to certain quests, while simultaneously trying to regain your memory and investigate what really happened to you in your previous life.

Who Names Their Son Vanilla?

Since the entire game is modeled after the nonlinear sandbox design, every decision you make will change your standing in the world. Your gameplay experience depends on how you play the game. If you're friendly, people will help you complete your goals, but your game progress will be slow because you'll have to take on numerous errands for the needy. However, if you play as a conceited self-centered jerk, the game will constantly reward you with money and game progress, but many of the citizens will fear and despise you. The game is all about choices.

Initially, the game is fairly linear. You'll go through the motions of visiting your first town and you'll be forced to partake in both the righteous and acquisitive paths. Nevertheless, the game will eventually open up into the nonlinear format and subtly present you with ever increasingly challenging tasks which require copious amounts of time and effort. You'll be tested to see if you really have the patience and kindheartedness for the destitute three-dimensional sprites. The entire process is subtle and insidious.

I'm A Ripe Selfish Bastard

Additionally, Steambot Chronicles offers a vast world to investigate, which will keep you busy exploring and building a life for your amnesiac protagonist. The game features a full fledged stock exchange, which allows you to invest your hard earned currency into in game businesses you frequent. You'll also be able to make money by transporting goods from town to town, mine for ancient artifacts in quarries which you'll be able to sell to museums, take part in Trotmobile tournaments, or by carrying out impromptu musical street performances. The game even allows you to rent your own apartments in the various towns, which you can furnish into the ultimate digital bachelors pad.

And, what would a nonlinear sandbox game be without tons of mini-games, options, and side quests? Steambot Chronicles provides a horde of customizable options and events. You'll be able to customize your Trotmobile, by changing parts, weapons, and color, customize Vanilla with a vast wardrobe of clothing for almost every occasion, and take part in a veritable cornucopia of mini-games, including music mini-games, and Trotmobile arena battles.

Why Aren't There Trotmobile Races?

Speaking of Trotmobiles, you'll have to demonstrate limitless amounts of diligence to be adapt at the Trotmobile controls, which are clumsy and unintuitive. The Trotmobile controls work well when you're exploring and fighting low level enemies, but fail miserably when you have to take on boss characters and the plethora of Trotmobile gladiators in the town arenas. You'll be out maneuvered time and time again due to the sluggish controls, floating jumps, and the multitude of uncircumventable projectiles aimed at you by your foes. As the game progresses, you'll learn to cope with the controls, but the feeling of sluggishness never really goes away.

Moreover, Steambot Chronicles is riddled with minor collision glitches while Vanilla is on foot in the various town environments. The towns are designed to simultaneously accommodate both foot traffic and Trotmobile traffic. However, traveling on foot is extremely tedious since many of the visit-able venues are spread out around the urban landscape. To facilitate foot travel, you can press and hold the L2 button which triples your default running speed. However, toggling this function turns off the collision detection for many buildings and guardrails and a wreckless player can easily run through a building or run off the playable environment and get stuck.

Furthermore, Steambot Chronicles also sports a bewildering naming convention system for locations. Many areas will be designated by up to three vastly different names, which can get rather confusing when you're tasked to go to a specific location which is known to you by a different name.

Aside from the junky collision detection and the bizarre area naming conventions, Steambot Chronicles is a pretty vast RPG title. While the objective is to complete Vanilla's personal journey, the game offers so many side quests and attractions you'll be continually entertained exploring the towns and countryside for weeks, and gameplay value is additionally prolonged if you replay the game with different actions and moral decisions --definitely a keeper.

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