flash-hammer's Full Review: Tech Romancer for Dreamcast
Tech Romancer is a game that probably lost quite a few potential buyers in PAL regions based solely on it's shoddy front cover over here, which was very yellow and an emphasis was put on the most childish looking robot in the game, giving the impression that this was anything but a Giant Robot fighting game. Something a title like Tech Romancer, which sounds more like a love story about scientists, didn't help.
Apparently the game started life in the Arcades, but there are no arcades around me, so I can't say I've ever seen the machine myself. However, as with almost every game Capcom brought out around the life of the Dreamcast, Sega's little white box saw a port of the game.A game that, quite unfairly, got overlooked in the waves of fighting games for the console.
Tech Romancer is a 3D fighting game, but fairly unlike anything Capcom, or any other developers at the time, had put out at this point, in that, unlike Capcom's previous Big-Robots fighter,Cyberbots, the game wasn't just Streetfighter with robots, but the game is in fact more of a cross between SF's gameplay and the engine of Capcom's excellent Powerstone series. It is 3D, but not to the degree of PS, and it does feature Special and Super Moves, most of which are activated by performing the 'Sonic Boom' motion with the analogue stick, but not requiring it to be charged for a few seconds.
Most of the combat takes place in a very 2D feeling plane, but it is possible to side-step, and you can even run around and about the large arenas, picking up power ups as well. Power ups can range from weapons for your robot to a health boost, and are found in buildings that get smashed. You see, like Giant Robots tend to do, Tech Romancer's Mech's seem to have deemed various cities the best place to duel, so lots of buildings get smashed in these Godzilla-sized battles.
One notable difference from the average fighter is your Health bar. Instead of starting full and depleting with each hit, your robot has a 'Damage Gauge' that starts empty and fills up the more damage you take. While it may sound like a little thing, it's a pretty nifty touch, and makes the screen look and feel more like a robot's HUD than a screen showing a game.
You also have armour that depletes the more you block, or the more physical damage you take. Having your armour destroyed allows enemies to dish out more damage with each hit, as well as spoiling your paintwork.
Also different from the norm is the way the game works in terms of 'Rounds'. There are no rounds as such, and you can simply take your Damage Gauge being filled twice. Basically the game works along the same lines as Rare's Killer Instinct.
Controlling the game can quite easily be done on the standard Dreamcast pad, although seeing as I own one, I figured I should play it with my awesome arcade stick that I usually use for fighters. A breakdown of the controls in the game would look like the following:
To use items, as well as perform special moves, the game requires you to press 2 face buttons at once. This is possible on the pad, but this is really where the stick comes in handy, as it makes it much simpler.
While the controls are certainly different from Capcom's usual, it doesn't take long to pick them up, and within a fight or so I was very confident using them, and I think it's a unique and cool system. There certainly weren't any response issues either, not that they would be expected from a company like Capcom.
Summing up the gameplay of Tech Romancer is simple. Fun. It's nowhere near as deep in terms of special moves or combos as the Streetfighter series, but at the same time, sometimes it can be fun to just chill out and have a cool battle with some big robots. Aside from an overly cheap boss character, I actually cannot say I have any serious complaints about Tech Romancer's gameplay. It isn't as free roaming or adventurous as Powerstone, or as masterful as Streetfighter 3:Third Strike, but it comes together to form a simple to pick up, solidly made game engine that I don't think I'll ever tire of.
Another aspect in which the game scores points is in the amount of options. The main option is 'Arrange Mode', which then divides itself into two categories. First is Story mode, where you fight through each of the other characters to progress the story.
The game actually has a variety of plots, depending on which robot you choose to play the Story mode as. The story is told by various still anime scenes and text that appears onscreen, and this is easily one of Capcom's best attempts at adding a flowing and clear plot to one of it's fighters, even if most of the plots do contradict each other. What helped the game garner it's now cult following was the excellent character design. Does anyone here remeber SNK's King of the Monsters? It was a fighting game where players took control of various giant monsters to duke it out to the death. What made it so memorable was that SNK clearly couldn't attain, or didn't even try to get, the Godzilla license, so instead just created characters 'inspired' by Godzilla and his buddies. Capcom takes a similar approach here, but doesn't focus on one series, or even particular genre. Basically it takes all of Japan's famous Giant Robots, be they heroic, militaristic, alien, brought to life by Anime or Suitmation, and creates characters inspired by them, with a neat little story to boot.
G.Kaiser owes more than a little to Great Mazinger, Pulsion is a neat fusion of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ultraman, Rafaga actually is a Robotech/Maccross design, you get the picture, if you've ever enjoyed a program or comic from Japan about Giant Robots, chances are you will find a character that strikes a chord with you here.
The second option is Hero Challenge mode, where the idea is simply to fight through 12 of the robots, all in the name of gaining points.
You see, the game also has a pretty cool section for unlocking stuff. This ranges from cool FMV videos of each robot, games for the VMU(Capcom were one of the few companies to explore it's possibilities) and even extra characters, including Cyberbots Jin Saotome and his Blodia II Custom, later made famous in Capcom's now famous VS Series.
The VMU games themselves can even be used to gain points to unlock stuff, thus making the 3 of them contenders for early purchases. They aren't anything spectacular, the best being a vertical shooter, but I still feel the VMU was one of the DC's most under-used appliances, and it was cool to see Capcom utilize it.
Also in there is your standard Versus mode, which basically does what it says on the tin.
Graphically the game is very nice. It captures a real '3D Manga' feel to it, and all of the robots are well designed and modelled. The animation is also top notch, with not a frame going missing. The beam weapons all look really good, and the sparks that fly off the robots is a real nice touch. If I have one graphical complaint, it's the smoke that comes out of the robots when they are defeated. It just looks really primitive and out of place, like it should be in a PS1 game or something.
Sound in the game is another positive factor. The music is all very upbeat, and sounds like it came straight out of an anime or Superhero show, which naturally fits the bill of this game like a glove. Voices are in Japanese, so I can't say how goofy they sound, but I will say that they don't get annoying. You announcer is really quite excitable, shouting everything in a far too enthusiastic manner. Although after Capcom Vs. SNK 2, his announcing enthusiasm pales in comparison to Capcom's current announcers.
What it all comes down to is that I'm glad I didn't overlook Tech Romancer. It's a very enjoyable game, and one of Capcom's most unique fighters. It may not have had the 'WOW' impact to ensure it got full marks, but I still enjoyed it a hell of a lot, and it makes for a fun 2-Player, so combining that with my fandom for big robots sees to it that the game succeeds in attaining a solid 4/5.
While it isn't as good as Streetfighter 3:Third Strike or Powerstone, I feel the game provides a happy medium between the two, and is a really fun and rather unique fighter that I think all Capcom fans, as well as those with a liking for giant robots, should check out as soon as possible.
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