Gotcha Force Impressions
Although the game's storyline revolves around kids who find mech toys that they must use to save the planet, what seems to really matter in this game is how much stuff you can blow up. Hey, I'm not complaining.
In essence the game is a multiplayer mech explosion-fest. Players pick and choose from many different characters, all with different abilities from shooting missiles to firing lazers to using gigantic blades to slice up the competition. Capcom explains that there will be a focus on four-player mayhem, but if you want to play solo, the rest of your team will be controlled by the computer.
Running at a high framerate, the action looks spiffy. No slowdown as far as I could tell even with six-plus mechs on the screen all at once duking it out, and believe me, Capcom has not skipped out on the particle effects. Explosions of all sorts rock the screen and each character has specific combo moves that can be pulled off, all with their own light shows. On my particular game, I used my team to take out a giant Tyrannosaurus-like robot that breathed fire and missiles to take you down, and because of the 3-D environment, some characters can use rockets to fly upwards and look giant robots in the eye. Even more fun is the abilitity to team up with another player and create an even bigger robot a la Voltron, so let's hope this aspect is expanded on later. Still, the texturing could have been a bit neater, but of course, this is only a preliminary demo.
In all, I was impressed, but I think a few camera issues need to be fixed (the camera seems to have a problem staying behind you and often times catches you at an odd angle disrupting gameplay). No matter the issues, this game could turn out to be something special and a new, successful franchise for Capcom on the GameCube.
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