Vanguard Bandits

PSX

Working Designs - 1999

In case you haven't read my bio, you should realize this is one of my top five games of all time. This is also the best example of a strategy/rpg ever, including Final Fantasy Tactics and the eternally great "gold box" AD&D games for the first PC's (yeah, I'm THAT old). The strategy is typical, grid system, turn-based, taking direction of attack, hit percentage, defense, terrain, etc. into account. The role-playing, on the other hand, is the real treat here. The characters are all totally amazing, lovable, vibrant. Despite wearing some very gimpy short-shorts, your main character, Bastion, is quite cool, and, strangely, the apple of every female eye he encounters. That's what the story's about, basically. There are five possible endings to the game, a special bonus that turns the ordinarily ten-hour experience into about eighty (once you've screwed up once or twice).

Now, this may sound like a lot of repetitive gameplay, especially when you consider the fact that three-and-a-half of the five pathways are identical. Actually, though, they're only the same in terms of the enemies and terrain in each fight. You see, even in the same exact situation, who hits who, who gets hit, who goes where with whom by what turn with what equipment all matters. You even gain experience based on who you hit, and how hard you hit them. Characters feelings for each other change depending on all these factors, and certain endings actually depend solely on the emotions of the characters going into the final battle. Also, dialogue between characters comes with every single hit of a fight, and is personalized for the fight AND the people involved, so that Andrew, for instance, propositions every girl he encounters, while Sadira and Celine alternately profess their feelings for Bastion, and so on. And, with Working Designs doing the translations, you KNOW you want to see them all.

What I liked: I can't name enough. They give you all the possible information for every enemy and every ally in all the fights, which is essential to any really fun strategy game. You can beat anybody, or, interestingly enough, you can lose to almost anybody, and still keep going. The outcome of any battle, and even the answers to certain questions in combat or in cut-scenes, has direct bearing on which ending you achieve. You get five endings for the price of one, plus some really neat special features for taking the time to beat the game over and over, like the opening moive played over with new and increasingly disgusting lyrics for the song. And speaking of disgusting, some of the dialogue should never have made it past the censors, which is, of course, what makes it so great. I'm pretty sure I saw at least three instances of statutory rape, and countless occassions of contributing to the delinquency of minors, which is what I did when I showed Sundu, then only seventeen, portions of the game.

What I disliked: Limitations. Limited saves, for one thing. You only get three in-combat saves slots per memory card, and one save between battles (although for some reason, I only got ONE in-combat save, even though my memory card was completely empty). This means you'll occasionally save in combat, thinking you've done something good, only to discover that half your crew will be slaughtered in the next turn, and you haven't got any moves left with which to avert the tragedy. Worse still, you'll save outside of combat, then realize you needed to lose the fight to get a different storyline, but have no way to go back, since your in-combat saves are all after the point at which the fight became un-loseable. Also, in the whole game, there is a finite amount of experience to be gained. With luck, or some very patient save/loading, you can manage to kill nearly every enemy before exp. gets wasted on NPC's, but you still have to distribute it among your own people, so you can't ever fill up your stats completely on anyone (although you can get REALLY close with Bastion in the Tic-Tac ... um, don't ask).

What to expect: Simple but endlessly entertaining strategy. Hysterical, pee-in-your-pants-and-like-it comedy. Lots of options and lots of fun.

What not to expect: Fast-paced action. High-tension thrills. Big weapons or graphic violence.

What sets it apart: It's got more story than any strategy game ever, more options, more endings, more all-around good.

Ratings On:

Controls: 10 - Whaddya want? It's a strategy game. It didn't even have enough functions for all the buttons on the controller.

Graphics: 5 - They're all sprites. Totally 2-D. Some different expressions and poses to go with all the dialogue and moods but nothing exceptional. Anyway, you like the characters well enough to make graphics negligible.

Sound: 3 - No voices, very little music, except the opening and ending songs. Tiny sound effects, like hit/miss/big hit. Ah, who needs sound anyway, right?

Style: 6 - It's not the first strategy/rpg, but it is, truly, the best. If this were the "GOOD" section instead of the "STYLE" section, I'd give it a 10.

1st hour: What's this...a choice already? Hmm... hang out with dying father or go after the guy who killed him? Whatever -- vengeance shall be mine!

2nd hour: Ooh, more choices... do what I'm told or just kill EVERYONE? HAH! DIE, REPLACEMENT FRIENDS! (I think I'm getting the hang of this).

2nd day: Ok, how do I get this ending with the other girl? Oh, I know. If I just keep killing THIS girl in battle...

3rd day: Wait, why did I get the bad ending? Yeah, so I kept killing my own people so they wouldn't get the kills before me... why should that make 'em all pissy?

6th day: Ah, finally. Got all the endings, saw all the 'bots. Now to hear my special bonus song for the opening -- eh? What is she sayin -- OH! OH, that's disgusti -- OH! ECH! Ew!

reviewed by Ari