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Zoids Assault
-Atlus
(2008)
Summary
The war
was supposed to be over, but not until one Zoid squad will fight their final and most
important mission.
My Thoughts
 One
rainy afternoon, months upon months ago, I was spending some time browsing
through the Japanese Xbox Live Marketplace. I was slowly scrolling through the
listings, reaching the end when I saw it: Zoids Alternative. A Zoids
game? On the 360? There were only a couple trailers for the game, but it was
more than enough to excite the dormant Zoid fan inside me. And not only was it a
Zoids game, but a turn-based strategy Zoids game. At the same time I was
disappointed because I knew that the game would never arrive in North America.
Zoids popularity had died out long ago and no company would ever take a chance
on releasing the game in a market that wasn’t Japan.
Then
came May 13th, 2008 when Atlus announced that it would be publishing
Zoids Assault (renaming it from Zoids Alternative) in North America. I was
floored that this game would actually make it across the ocean, but if any
company was going to do it, it was Atlus. It had been awhile since a Zoids game
came out in America. The last two, okay, only two, that came out in America were
the terribly mediocre action game Zoids Battle Legends for the GameCube
and the excellent RPG
Zoids Legacy for the GBA.
Japan has a ton of Zoids games, so getting one more in the U.S. was unexpectedly
pleasant. As the release date
neared for this newest Zoids game, my excitement grew little by little.
Zoids Assault is not a great
game as there are many things wrong with it, but I love it regardless. Zoids
Assault can be considered fan service to a point. It’s not fan service in that you’ll see the
big recognizable characters or Zoids from the anime and manga like Berserk Fury
or Liger Zero. If you have seen an anime or read a manga with Zoids, you know these
Zoids. If you haven’t, just know that those Zoids are two of the coolest
mechanical creatures to walk animated earth. Zoids Assault is fan service in
that it simply exists.
 This
is a separate story kind of based years after the Helic and Guylos war from one
or two of the Zoid
anime and/or manga. From what I remember, just the country names are recognizable. This
story is about a squad of five pilots and their Zoids. You don’t get to control
an army of Zoids, just these five. And you can never get new Zoids. You are
stuck with the same five Zoids throughout the entire game. You have two Shield
Ligers, two Command Wolfs, and a D. Bison. While you will get to fight other
Zoids like R. Horns and Zaber Fangs, you will never get to pilot them yourself.
And that is the extent of the Zoid models in the game, just five, six if you
include the appearance of a Gustov. A Deathsaurer is mentioned, but never shown.
The Zoids in here go by slightly different names, though. What we know as Zaber
Fangs in the West are called S. Tigers in the game.
The
story is actually told in the past tense. A commander is telling the story of
her and Mace Squad (the name of the squad you control) to a room of uptight
politicians. It’s a story of political deception and the gain of power by
sacrificing one’s own people. The cut scenes are usually nothing more than a
camera panning or zooming on still images. Once in a while there will be a
little animation, but overall the visuals of the story are a sad sight.
Sometimes you’d be better off just closing your eyes and treating the scenes
like a radio drama. At least the voice acting is mostly passable. Having
said that, the story is actually told in the past tense, with a visual style to
match. The graphics of the battle have a grain filter over them, giving them a
rough, in-the-past look. Some of the cut scenes also have the old film look,
with lines and tears.
The
in-game Zoids are done quite well and have plenty of detail. Having assembled
and customized plenty of Zoid models back in the day, I was pleased with the
level of detail found on the in-game Zoids. The rest of the visuals probably
could have been accomplished on a PS2, but the Zoids themselves matter the most
and they look great. Gameplay is from a top-down or isometric perspective; you
can rotate the camera to view the stage at any top-viewed angle. A grid appears
when you command your Zoids. Once you select what you want the Zoid to do, the
screen shifts to a close-up of the Zoids with dynamic camera angles that capture
the action. You are able to skip the combat scenes, but the animations of the
Zoids just look too good. I never tired of watching the action unfold.
 For
a strategy RPG, this is a short game. There are only fourteen missions that can
take less than as many hours to complete. To lengthen the game a bit, there are
enemy prototype Zoids that will appear under certain circumstances. However,
fighting these Zoids the first time through is suicide because they are way too
strong. You have to wait until you finish the game at least once as you retain
all the experience and items for your next play-through. This is kind-of
artificially extending the length of the game, but the game really needed it and
I was determined to get all eight achievements. Yes, there are only eight.
The
objectives of each mission are very simple; you will need to destroy all
incoming enemy Zoids, have to protect an installation by destroying all enemy
Zoids, or destroy all the enemy installations. For most of the missions you can
take as much time and as many turns as you like, but there are a few that must
be accomplished within a certain amount of turns, adding a little pressure into
not taking your sweet time.
One little innovative thing
the game can boast is its support system. When it is time for a unit to take
action, a little number appears next to it. This number displays how many
additional attacks you will have when the current unit takes action. If one unit
has a number 2 next to them, when they attack two allies will attack the same
target, essentially making three attacks in one. When an enemy attacks the
friendly unit, the two supporting units will attack that enemy. The support
count has a maximum of 3, so positioning your Zoids where they will benefit one
another the most is key in obtaining victory. Especially considering that the
enemy also uses the support count system. Believe me, getting trapped by enemy
units with high support counts can be devastating.
The
Zoids have a few different skins you can use to change the look of your squad.
The downloadable pack contains the “Classic” skins. These make your Zoids look
like the Zoids in the anime. The Liger becomes blue with an orange cockpit, the
Command Wolf becomes white with an orange cockpit and the Bison is black with
green weapons.
While
that game does have its share of disappointments, I still love this game. The
Zoids fan inside me loves seeing my little on-screen Zoids running around,
shooting up enemy Zoids. I was exactly the type of person this game was made
for. Unfortunately, I don’t think there are enough fans like me to ever get the
other Xbox 360 Zoids game, Zoids Battle, or another Zoids game published over on
our shores. Unless Tomy of Japan produces a new anime, this is that last Zoids
game we’ll ever see. The game could have been much better than it is, but
regardless of its faults I love the game because it’s a Zoids game. And
that’s all I really wanted.
 Score:
6.5
-Shawn
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