We discuss the impressions left by the opening bars of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, the new title from the creators of Dragon’s Crown.
Vanillaware has been one of the studios that has gained notoriety over the years through the different titles it has released over the last few years, offering an interesting mix between striking and captivating graphics with usually focused gameplay. in action titles with RPG touches such as Odin Sphere, Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Dragon’s Crown, although they also explored other aspects such as Grim Grimoire, one of their first titles that bet on a time strategy gameplay real.
With just over a month to go until the arrival of its next game, the expected 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, we will comment on the impressions left by the playable prologue of the game, which offers snippets of what to expect from this title that mixes parts of Side-scrolling adventure with other real-time strategy combat.
The first thing that catches your attention when you start playing is the graphic section of the game, which, although it follows the line of the previous works of the study, in this case draws attention to the contemporary approach it boasts, showing bustling cities and movement, classrooms with students at the end of the school day or the classic Japanese riverside among many other styles, showing several really striking details such as the twilight rays of sun being seen through the windows of a classroom worn like raindrops on a rainy day. Likewise the characters, who have varied designs, despite being all adolescents, which contrast with their personality and the different
After the initial sequence of the game, with an impressive invocation of one of the sentinels, the giant robots piloted by the protagonists of this title, a tutorial phase is offered that will serve to learn about the attacks of the units of Iori Fuyusaka and Juro Kurabe and also some of the different types of enemies that will make an appearance in later combat phases, in which the rest of the cast of protagonists with their respective attack units will appear. The combat phases are developed from a top-down perspective showing a sector of the city in which to control allied units, colored blue, through a real-time strategy court combat system in which to select the different Actions of each unit on the ground to confront the enemy units that will make an appearance.
Each sentry has different abilities, some focused on close combat but causing great damage while others will allow the use of ranged weapons against various targets such as missile launchers, machine guns, long-range missiles and even a railgun, or other support in combat, so it will be necessary to choose the appropriate unit regarding the type of enemy to face in combat, being necessary to move them in some cases to get the attacks to take effect. To overcome these phases, it will be necessary to fulfill the established objective, usually being to protect the supercomputer to activate the defense mechanism, Aegis, of the sector, preventing its defense bar from reaching zero, denoted in the upper left, or defeating all the enemies. The use of each of the attacks will spend XP points, similar to the typical magic points in RPG games, which can be replenished using the defense command.
If the HP, life points, of a sentry reach zero, the unit will be deactivated and its pilot will eject to the battlefield, having to wait a reasonable time until the sentry can be used again. In this state the pilot is exposed to being attacked and with a simple explosion he can be eliminated from the combat field, which in certain cases means the end of the game. Using the repair option, with the pilot in a safe zone, will speed up the sentry recovery process. During battles, defeated enemies will drop Metachips, which at this point in the game will be used to use a special, single-use ability that will release a volley of energy that will affect enemies within its radius, reducing part of their life bar and even destroy them.
Each plot prologue will focus on the perspective of one of the game’s protagonists, taking their control through the phase through a side-scrolling perspective, each one developing through different times, most of them being during the year 1985, where the game takes action, but including other moments during the last years of World War II, in the case of the prologue by Takatoshi Hijiyama, or in the future, as reflected in the prologue by Megumi Yakushiji.
In these phases, it will be important to interact with other characters through conversations or with the environment to look for elements with which to progress throughout the plot. Conversations or finding new objects will provide keywords that will be added to the character’s thoughts, accessing them by pressing the triangle button, which will allow knowing more about them through the character and also, in certain cases, using them when speaking with other characters, which will allow you to continue the course of the conversation or get more information about that term. In certain cases it will be possible to listen to conversations with other characters, in some cases without much relevance but they are still curious, and also interact with certain objects in the environment to continue the development of the story.
The cast of characters in this part of the game has different characteristics and personalities, offering a roster that, a priori, is varied and balanced that will show a marked evolution through the game’s plot, something that can be seen through some of these forewords.
Finally, the impressions left by the prologue of this title is of a story that promises to be interesting, especially to know the origin of the threat and the background of each character, while the fighting, despite its visual simplicity, will have as point of interest to take advantage of the capacities of each sentry to protect the city and defeat the different threats that the protagonists will face.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim will go on sale next September 22 for PlayStation 4 with texts in Spanish and dubbing in Japanese, including the option of voices in English through the patch that will be distributed the same day of launch.
