This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on January 11th, 2020.
The future is here once again! Welcome to PlayStation
Basement, a weekly review of games for the original PlayStation that are
somewhat obscure, unusual, or unknown. Games are rated Good, Bad, or Neutral to
emphasize the review itself. Now, let’s go!
January is the future month of PlayStation Basement. This
month I am reviewing futuristic games, and there sure are a lot on the console.
Today, I’m talking about an import game: Van-Gale:
The War of Neo -Century. Sometimes this game is called Shin Senki Van-Gale: The War of Neo-Century, but that’s not what it
says on the cover, spine, or title screen; the title screen even literally says
(with audio) the title Van-Gale: The War
of Neo-Century. Like Cyber Sled,
this is another mecha battle game. Van-Gale
was only released in Japan in 1997. It was developed by Aroma and published by
Yumedia, two companies that have slim libraries. Other titles by either studio
include Doukyuusei Mahjong and The Star Bowling DX. I’ve never played
any of these games, but they certainly don’t bode well for Van-Gale.
The cover art doesn’t sway me either way. There’s a fairly
generic mech with a bluish glow and some title text all on a black background.
This isn’t exactly riveting stuff. I
like the way that the text is displayed. Mechs are cool. The title just tells
very little about the game though.
At least the cover isn’t misleading; the in-game graphics
look exactly like it. The game takes a behind-the-back view of the action with
flat-shaded 3D models of various big robots, most with a humanoid design. The
pilots are displayed in nice pixel style that reminds me of the PC Engine. You
have a heroic, blue-haired ace, a violet-haired scowler, a guy with a mask like
Metal Gear’s Grey Fox, and more anime
tropes. There are a number of different fighting arenas that these pilots fight
in. Some fights are in the black void of space, others above cities, and one is
even within a large, cylindrical space colony that reminded me of Side 7 from Mobile Suit Gundam. There’s a good amount of variety spanning the
range of sci-fi anime designs.
The sound design of Van-Gale
also replicates mecha classics. It’s a soundtrack full of city pop fusion and
rock ‘n’ metal crashing guitars. I really like the musick; it really makes me
energetic for the game. The sound effects are a bit underwhelming. You have the
standard laser and missile sounds and the like. The explosions seem very quiet,
and the voice acting is not very good, mostly because the characters make the
same gasps whenever they are hit by an attack. As we’ll see more and more, Van-Gale is not the cleanest of designs
for a future age.
I believe that the old saying goes, “gameplay: the final
frontier.” Even in the future, old wisdom will have some bearing. Anyway, the
game is a lot like Virtual On: Cyber
Troopers, though much clunkier. It’s not as fast, but the one-on-one
fighting and shooting is there. Even the designs are similar. Van-Gale pits two sides against each
other in some kind of conflict. I have very little understanding of Japanese
and couldn’t find much information about this game online, so I don’t know the
details. You pick a character and fight for their side until you defeat the
last opponent. Like the usual fighting game, matches are the best two out of
three. You win by depleting the opponent’s life gauge to zero or by having the
most health in a timed match. If you lose, you can pick a different character
if you choose not to continue but then select Load Game at the title screen.
The selectable characters all have different strengths and weaknesses, some
better at close-quarters swordplay and others better at shooting. Some
characters will want to take a defensive approach while others may want to go
all-in. The arenas for the fights are pretty cool. As mentioned, some are the
usual space and sky, but one arena includes asteroid obstacles. Another has a
short time limit due to the characters entering a planet’s orbit during the
fight. Along with other little details, like the pilot of the mech changing if
the same character is selected by both players, add a little bit of shine to
this game.
Unfortunately, the game is marred by a few things. Battles
take several minutes, longer than I like for a fighting game. I really wish
there were more options beyond a one-player arcade mode and a versus mode. The
main issue, though, is that the controls are not great. Controls feel a bit
delayed, especially blocking with a shield. You also both move and aim with the
D-pad. The game released before the DualShock controller, but I feel like they
could have utilized the shoulder buttons for strafing or aiming. I was also
confused by some things. The boost button doesn’t seem to always make you get
that much closer to the opponent, even when they aren’t boosting away, and I
don’t understand how to do a special move. I’m sure this would all make more
sense with a better understanding of the language.
Van-Gale is not a
perfect game by any means. It's fun to play, but the weird controls and limited
modes really hurt this. It's still worth playing if you like mecha and sci-fi,
but I don't think that Van-Gale
really shows the glory of the future.
Van-Gale: The War of
Neo-Century receives a Neutral.
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