Megazone 23: A Welcome Addition to the PS3

Megazone 23: Aoi Garland replaces the original 1986 Megazone 23 OAV’s main character Shogo with 20 year old Hiroto Takanaka, the son of popular lounge singer Yui Takanaka who was also the heroine of the OAV. The game takes place in an alternate storyline that continues from the first OAV. It's 20 years later and things don't seem to have changed a lot in Megazone. Everyone is still brainwashed into thinking Eve is the most popular idol singer and as the inheritor of the Garland you must dodge the authorities in what has become a military state.

The game-play takes on 2 main styles; an adventure system where you page through scenes of voice-acted text and make an occasional choice, and a combat system where you choose actions order to defeat or defend against up to 4 enemies in a turn based sequence of 3D animations. Rather than a PS3 game this sounds more like something from the first era of CD based games but don't let that fool you. There are some compelling benefits to this style of game on this particular platform.

The game is largely 2D. On a system known for its spectacular 3D graphics this may seem like a tremendous step backwards, but it's really not. The backgrounds and character portraits look fantastic in HD. The artwork is appealing and colorful. A 2D anime based game on the PS3 sets a good precedent: that there is a place on this system for games that are not 3D action titles. Graphical-adventure style games should not all be relegated to portable handheld systems or last-gen consoles. Playing this game in HD on a large LDC TV is a joy in the same way that watching a movie on Blu-ray is. It's a new level for interactive 2D games.

The combat system feels simplistic at first, but it gains some depth as you level up and acquire additional attacks. You gain a higher amount of total action points distributable towards your actions as you level-up, and you gain new attack moves that consequently have a higher point cost. The general rule of thumb is to equip the best attacks at your disposal but this is not always the case. For instance, the lock-on feature allows you to specify which enemy to fight in battle rather than blindly attacking the first one, however, the alternative rough-attack costs no points. The defensive counter-attack costs more points than the cheaper "defend", but conversely it's more advantageous to defend against attacks sometimes.

You are only able to have a certain number of actions at your disposal, usually just one in each category and you can only change them in cockpit mode so it can be important to think ahead and be conscious of the actions you've equipped. Boss battles may benefit from a different set of actions than battles against weaker enemies for instance. However, the battle system is fairly simple and you shouldn’t have much trouble progressing in the game. Even with little skill in Japanese the battle system is not too difficult. In fact, its simplicity is probably a boon for players with little Japanese knowledge or whose first language is not Japanese.

Most of the menus are in Japanese and English, or even in English alone. The ones that aren't are frequently English words in katakana like "kick" and "punch" that can be sounded out with only a little effort. The adventure portion on the other hand is not as friendly to the Japanese-impaired. For the English speaker it benefits from a general linearity. It's possible to blindly tap the button and skip through dialog sequences while randomly answering questions and enjoying the battle sequences and still complete the game. The answers to the questions seem to be irrelevant to the larger story, but have the ability to unlock various scenes with different characters based on your responses.

Upon completion of the game you are able to access the scenes that you unlocked and see how many scenes you missed, access the character gallery including voice samples, enjoy the music mode that lets you play songs from the game, and view the 3D mecha models used in the combat sequences in a 3D gallery. Playing the game again to unlock the additional scenes provides some replay value.

There are things this game is, and things it is not. It's not a full budget 3D action game and should not have been priced as such. It's not something that can be fully appreciated without those fond memories from when you first saw the Megazone 23 OAV and it changed the way you looked at animated features. It's not in English and if you are a native English speaker this can definitely get in the way of enjoying the main story portion of the game. It is not a conclusion to the Megazone 23 story and leaves many questions unanswered.

It is an interesting re-imagining of events happening after Megazone 23 OAV 1 and is a welcome alternative to the actual Megazone 23 OAV 2 which felt like a real departure from the first. It is respectful to the fans of the original. It includes bits of animation from the first OAV that is fun to see juxtaposed with more modern designs, kind of like old home movies transferred to DVD. A deliberate effort is made to bring back familiar characters from the first OAV and give the player a taste of how their lives may or may not have changed in 20 years.

It has some contemporary styling including a few good songs and references to modern otaku trappings such as cosplay and maid cafes in Akihabara. It’s fairly lengthy. The story probably takes anywhere from 5 to 20 hours to complete depending on whether you are reading the text or not; longer if you're trying to translate it. ;) It’s longer than a single OAV would be and the sense of empathy that develops playing alongside the main character gives you and odd sense of satisfaction upon completion. It also makes you read, which in a world of movies, animation, and TV, is sometimes welcome.

Like those 80s franchise remakes, this game is probably more a nostalgia piece than anything, but there is a place for this game on the shelves of gamers interested in another take on Megazone 23 Part 2 with some light combat and gal-game elements. A non-native speaker may not get as much out of the main narrative, but may enjoy the combat and trying to get a little extra value out of replaying the game to acquire the alternate scenes.