Vanguard Bandits Review (sort of)
PostPosted:Thu Mar 15, 2001 3:18 pm
<div style='font: bold 11pt Modern; text-align: left; '>I don't really know how to write game reviews but I just finished this game for the third time this week and I thought I would let other people know about it. I have a feeling not many people has ever heard of it because I didn't until last Friday.
The game is for the PSX developed by Human, some people might know them from Fire Pro Wrestling, last I heard they went out of business, translated by Working Designs, everybody here should know those guys.
This is a Tactical RPG. I've beaten as many as I could get my hands on Front Mission (Super Famicom), Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Front Mission 3, Vandal Hearts, Kartia (listed in order of preference, all games are for PSX). I think Vanguard Bandits rank right after FM3.
In this game you control ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs (Xenogear style robots) but the game is more like the other games than Front Mission. The ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs can be equipped with a weapon, a power-up gem and an accessory. There are only 3 different types of weapons (Swords, Sabers, Spears). There are ATAC specific fighting skills as well as pilot specific fighting skills but none of them hit multiple targets. Customization is not really a factor in this game. I've gotten a maximum of 10 ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs, it varies with the story and a lot of times you have NPC ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs on your side.
This game is really short, it has 3 storylinesstorylinesstorylines (one of them can only be played after you beat the first one) each with 20 missions and each mission takes about 30 minutes. There are 56 missions altogether because some stages overlap. The two main storylinesstorylinesstorylines have two endings each so the game has five endings in total. You can say this game has great replay value but because each storyline only takes about 10 hours to complete replaying it is almost mandatory. I should also say that when two ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs fight it goes into a battle animation scene. I only turn it on to see new ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs or new skills. If you are crazy enough to leave it on all the time it might double the playing time.
The story of the game is it's greatest strength. The main one is a basic defeat the evil empire story. The second one is help the princess fix the evil empire. The hidden one is an idiot storyline where almost everything that can go wrong does (the last mission in this storyline is THE FUNNIEST thing I've ever seen in my 10+ years of playing RPGs).
Some other things:
Graphics - Ugly, I would say it's tied with Karita for worse in this genre.
Sound - Ok, I guess. I play my CDs with almost every game I play. There's a miniscule amount of WD voices in this game.
Gameplay - I love this genre. The gameplay in this game is just a simplified version of all the others.
Difficulty - Not really hard but sometimes keeping all your people alive takes a little strategy.
If you like this genre give this game a shot. In comparison, I enjoyed this game with ugly graphics more than Grandia 2.</div>
The game is for the PSX developed by Human, some people might know them from Fire Pro Wrestling, last I heard they went out of business, translated by Working Designs, everybody here should know those guys.
This is a Tactical RPG. I've beaten as many as I could get my hands on Front Mission (Super Famicom), Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Front Mission 3, Vandal Hearts, Kartia (listed in order of preference, all games are for PSX). I think Vanguard Bandits rank right after FM3.
In this game you control ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs (Xenogear style robots) but the game is more like the other games than Front Mission. The ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs can be equipped with a weapon, a power-up gem and an accessory. There are only 3 different types of weapons (Swords, Sabers, Spears). There are ATAC specific fighting skills as well as pilot specific fighting skills but none of them hit multiple targets. Customization is not really a factor in this game. I've gotten a maximum of 10 ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs, it varies with the story and a lot of times you have NPC ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs on your side.
This game is really short, it has 3 storylinesstorylinesstorylines (one of them can only be played after you beat the first one) each with 20 missions and each mission takes about 30 minutes. There are 56 missions altogether because some stages overlap. The two main storylinesstorylinesstorylines have two endings each so the game has five endings in total. You can say this game has great replay value but because each storyline only takes about 10 hours to complete replaying it is almost mandatory. I should also say that when two ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs fight it goes into a battle animation scene. I only turn it on to see new ATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACsATACs or new skills. If you are crazy enough to leave it on all the time it might double the playing time.
The story of the game is it's greatest strength. The main one is a basic defeat the evil empire story. The second one is help the princess fix the evil empire. The hidden one is an idiot storyline where almost everything that can go wrong does (the last mission in this storyline is THE FUNNIEST thing I've ever seen in my 10+ years of playing RPGs).
Some other things:
Graphics - Ugly, I would say it's tied with Karita for worse in this genre.
Sound - Ok, I guess. I play my CDs with almost every game I play. There's a miniscule amount of WD voices in this game.
Gameplay - I love this genre. The gameplay in this game is just a simplified version of all the others.
Difficulty - Not really hard but sometimes keeping all your people alive takes a little strategy.
If you like this genre give this game a shot. In comparison, I enjoyed this game with ugly graphics more than Grandia 2.</div>