Patlabor
| Graphics: |   4 |
| SFX: | 4 |
| Music: | 3 |
| Gameplay: | 5 |
| Challenge: | 3 |
| Replay: | 3 |
| Overall: |  3.5 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Reading ability: | Required |
| Developer: | Interbec |
Background:
I've been watching Patlabor for over two years now through fan-subtitled videos. Patlabor has recently been released on video: the movies, the TV series, and the OVAs are all released or are being released domestically by various anime companies. It's an SF anime series set in the immediate future, kind of an alternate reality (hmmm... sounds like an episode of Sliders). A dam has been built across Tokyo Bay, which has been drained for real estate development. This is called the Babylon Project. Giant mecha, or "Labors," have been developed at this time. Some are military, some are for construction. The Patlabor Mobile Police was made to patrol and control the activities of Labors and to make sure that their use is not to be abused. The story for the Patlabor game involves the characters of the SV2 Second Unit. The characters in the game are Captain Gotoh, Forwards Noa Izumi and Isao Ohta, Backups Asuma Shinohara and Takeo Kumagami, drivers Hiromi Yamazaki and Mikiyasu Shinshi, as well as Seitaro Sakaki and Shigeo Shiba. The events of this game start on January 7, 2001. This is after Kanuka Clancy has been replaced with Takeo Kumagami.
The Game:
The game presents a series of missions for you to accomplish. To prevent monotony, the missions come in a variety of objectives, just as in the show. Many times, it is not in your best interest to draw your gun in order to solve the case, which Ohta is prone to do in the show. You must subdue rogue Labors, negotiate with terrorists, solve mysteries, and save a neighborhood from wild pigs. Before each mission, you must choose between Noa and Ohta to take on the mission. The selection screen shows the stats of each Ingram. Just as in the show, your Ingrams are like infants ready to learn and adapt to their pilots. As you accumulate experience, you learn new combat moves. When you attack, you get to choose from a menu of different attacks, such as punch, kick, tackle, pistol, stun stick, trip wire, etc. When you have to defend yourself, you get to choose between dodging and blocking the attack. And when you become more experienced, you can use your enemy's attack against them, as in Judo techniques. Between missions, it is a good idea to practice against another Ingram to give you more experience.
Secrets:
When I beat the game, after the credits scroll it said: "Special techniques are hidden. More than 5 in this game!" I'm not sure what this is all about, and I'm not sure as to what these "special" techniqes are. If you know the secrets, please e-mail me!
The Good:
I really like the interaction between all of the characters. It's too bad I don't understand all of what they're saying. The playability is also excellent, in that you get to choose your attacks at your leisure from a menu of options. While the games doesn't have digitized voices or sound that shows off its stereo capabilities to give the game a 5 star rating, it does faithfully replicate the sounds that the Labors make when they move, just like in the show. What is also nice is that Patlabor offers three sound settings: Mono, Stereo 1 and Stereo 2. Stereo 2 is Dolby Bass Boost (DBB), which offers a deeper, richer sound to the game. It's also nice that you can always continue if you screw up. You do not have to worry about running out of continues or reloading your saved game.
The Bad:
Many parts of the game were just too easy. Even when I find my Ingram outnumbered by other Labors 3 to 1, I often have no trouble subduing my opponents. Although I must say that the red Ingram "Salamander" and the CLD-1 "Gustav" proved to be worthy opponents.
Overall:
Although it is possible to go through the game without knowing how to read Japanese, it sure does help. I only have a limited Japanese reading ability, and I had some difficulty with not knowing what to do in certain parts of the game. In one part of the game, you must negotiate with an Iranian terrorist correctly or else he'll blow up the entire area. I got through this with only being able to read a few words and guessing the rest. I bought the game after I was told that knowing Japanese is not necessary to play the game. I am able to get through the game with some difficulty, but I would get more out of the game if I knew what was going on more. If you can't read Japanese, you will be clueless about the storyline. That's why I recommend that one should have some reading ability to play the game to get the most enjoyment from this game. But, I still had lots of fun beating up Labors with my Ingrams. I recommend this game only for fans of Patlabor.
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