Eureka Seven - Vol. 2: The New Mission
Score: 68% ESRB: Teen Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. Developer: BEC Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Shooter
Graphics & Sound: Based on a popular Anime series, Eureka Seven-Vol. 2: The New Mission is the second installment in the gaming series. Just as in Eureka Seven-Vol. 1: The New Wave, you will play as Sumner, battle your way to victory in your trusty LFO, and try and find the girl that got away. The storyline is complex and involved. This is both a good and a bad thing because either you played all of the way through the first game and are familiar with the Anime series, or you find yourself playing catch up through the game to figure out what exactly is going on and why. Comparing the two side by side, it would be unfair of me to say that the graphics haven't received an upgrade and that the look of the game has improved. That being said, if you couldn't compare them side by side you would still feel like the graphics are from earlier Final Fantasy renditions. Because this is a series game based off of an Anime, there is little you can do to get away from the original music or sounds, and you wouldn't expect them to. Voiceovers still have all the excitement and flair of Styrofoam, but this is obviously a redubbed game as the dialogue stops well before the characters lips do.
Gameplay: Eureka Seven-Vol. 2: The New Mission has absolutely no intelligible deviation from the original game. The only thing that has changed is the name of the game and that the female characters are more risque in their appearance. You still take on the pouty and somewhat melancholy role of Sumner, who is still pursuing his obsession for Ruri. The box says that I am in a fight for my life, running from a corrupt military. It will take you a while to get to that part of the story The first game held your hand in the very beginning as the first missions were done in order to get you ready for LFO combat. Here you are thrown directly into the line of fire, so you have to do the tutorials if you want to have a hope of being able to control your LFO in combat, or lift. For those of you who don't know, LFO stands for "Light Finding Operation" and lifting is a sport where you use a special board to surf in the sky. In order to be fully up to speed on what each of these are without playing the game, there are about fifty episodes of the Anime you would need to watch. Once you have the basics from the tutorial, you are going to "Rinse and Repeat" your way through chapter after chapter of this ongoing linear story. "Linear" - that is a good instant summarization. This game is best described as an elaborate interactive story and less of an actual game. Not that this is a bad thing entirely. This game is made for the true fans of the series and the story. Both of these games are working their way towards the actual events of the Anime, so it isn't to much of an off-shoot. Get in your LFO, shoot the bad guy, earn money, and look for the girl. There you have it.
Difficulty: They have upped the difficulty level for Eureka Seven-Vol. 2: The New Mission. It is still a bit of a button-masher, but with more aerial combat, there is more patience needed to pull off attacks. You are far less likely to just run up on an enemy and melee attack him into submission. This is an improvement, as with last game it got me through the first three chapters and here, it is necessary to use differing attacks. All of the battles are fought in small arenas or in a confined flight space. These arenas are pretty much the same size, making it very easy to get used to fighting in the same environment fight after fight after fight. Use cover to ward off attacks on the ground and learn to dodge in the air.
Game Mechanics: Eureka Seven-Vol. 2: The new mission has only three battle mechanics: in your LFO, in the air on your REF board, or on the ground on foot. You have the ability to upgrade you character and your LFO. The better you do in battle, the more money you earn for upgrades. The Menu system is clear and very easy to follow, a saving grace of the game for sure. You can quickly and easily apply your upgrades for your character and your LFO without any issues. I couldn't make it any farther without talking about the enormous amount of loading screens you will have the pleasure of staring at while you play this game. If you read my review of the first installment of this series you will remember my "Loading..." comments at the beginning of each section. I beat that to death last time, so I didn't do it here, but trust me you will spend a lot of time waiting for very small sections of animation and dialogue. I spent a great deal of time in this game trying to remember the storyline from the last game, with any precision, to be able to completely follow its storyline. I made it through just fine, but because it wasn't very friendly to the new player. It was basically a "Hack 'n' Slash Button Mash." Maybe for many, the confusion will prompt them to get into the Anime series and figure out more of the story. I feel that if this is the player's first taste of this universe, they may be a bit overwhelmed and not wish to buy the Anime or other game to figure it out.
-WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd
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