Banpresto never ceases to outdo themselves with each Super Robot Wars release, and SRWZ2 is no exception to the rule.
I was initially sceptical and disappointed last year when I heard that the sequel to Z was going to the PSP instead of the PS3. I prefer my gaming to be done on a large TV instead of a portable, and ever since the PS3 came out I’ve always dreamed of what the PS3 could do for SRW.
Despite my skepticism, recent PVs have gotten my hype levels up to the maximum. And now that I’ve actually played the game on PSP, I can finally say, it works, and works beautifully.
The last few SRWs released on PSP were ports of MX and Advance. They reused a bunch of sprites from previous PS2 games, and it was a horrible blurry mess. Not only that, but the load times were horrendous (and this was playing off the memory card as well!).
Dynamic kills galore
Z2 is a totally different story. SRW has never looked better. If you thought SRWZ looked good, the PSP’s small screen actually does the hi-res sprites from Z proper justice. Animations from the debut series look absolutely amazing. Older Z1 units, particularly Gundams, have also had some attacks or redone, or even new attacks added. A good example of this is Nu Gundam, which had extremely lackluster animations in the original, has had almost all of it’s animations redone for Z2. Dynamic kills are plentiful as well, with most of the newcomer units having at least 1 or 2 DK attacks although sometimes they tend to clump up on certain units (Exia has like 4!).
I also feel that pilot cut-ins have finally improved to the level of the DS games. W and L had stunning cut-ins, often having detail right down to being exactly the same as in the anime. Even though they were held back by DS graphics, the choreography was often much more authentic than previous SRW games, even on PS2. Now in Z2, they look freakishly close to the anime series which they came from.
Full size Gundam cut-ins!
Z2 also marks a milestone in the SRW series, as the first game to finally allow full size cut ins for Gundam units. Previous games could only have Super Deformed versions of all Gundams due to licensing issues between Banpresto and Sunrise. This lead to close-ups in many Gundam attacks looking extremly goofy. Gundam units which were previously in the original SRWZ have also had updates in their cut-ins to reflect this, though more often than not it’s just a still image slotted into the animation somewhere.
Banpresto has also implemented some interface changes. People might remember the good ol’ fast forward function, introduced in MX and A3, which allow players to basically FF the battle animation by holding circle. This is now gone.
Replacing the old fast forward function, pressing square during animations allows you to skip between attack and counterattack animations now, which I think works better, but this may irk some people. What I don’t get is why couldn’t Banpresto have kept both, seeing that they are one seperate buttons anyway?
The full upgrade bonus feature has also been tweaked slightly. In addition to the old system, each unit now gets a unique special bonus which autormatcally activates when a unit is fully upgraded. Most of these bonuses are great, like Exia getting +400 attack power to all it’s melee attacks, while others don’t really make any sense. More on that later. The pilot ACE system also works similarly, with each pilot getting a specific bonus once they reach 70 kills.
Also, another new feature (I think this might have been in W but I can’t remember) is a shortcut to the seishin menu during the pre-battle screen. Speaking of battles, load times are pretty much non-existant, thanks to the Data Install option.
The Tri-Squad system from SRWZ has also been ditched for the simple old school 1 unit system. It keeps things less complicated, however is also a negative. Due to the large number of series in this game, players may find it hard pressed to cram their favourites into their deployment lists later in the game when you have access to all units. For most of the game you’re only allowed to deploy 15 units, which is only about a quarter of the total roster.
The sub order system lets you keep pilots you haven't been using useful
To make up for it, there’s a new system called Sub-Orders where you can send pilots who you didn’t use in the previous stage, on special missions which have different effects. These include Training, which give pilots 20PP, Patrol, which adds 2 to their kill count, Simulator gives 500XP, and finally the ‘fund procurement’ option, which gives you credits based on the levels of the pilots you assign to it. You can only assign up to 5 pilots for each category, giving you a total of 20 pilots who you can still level up passively. I think it’s a great idea which should be considered for future SRWs.
Minus a few squares, that's the entire map
I suppose of the limitations of the PSP is due to the small screen size, the map is now back to it’s 2D roots, with big SD heads to represent the units. As a side effect, I just can’t shake the feeling that the maps feel small compared to other SRWs (even W and L). I’m guessing the size of the map also has to do with the number of units you can deploy and the number of enemies. Some of the final maps do get larger though.
Despite being a portable, the game is one of the longest SRWs ever. A normal playthrough is 50 stages, but there are 7 routesplits in the game, making it over 70 stages in total which you’ll need to replay at least twice to see everything. These route splits are also well planned, especially the ones at the very start of the game, because it lets you pick which units you want to recruit early.
The start of the game also focuses exclusively on the debut series’, not getting any of the units from the Z1 or ‘ZEUTH’ until midway through the game. It keeps things fresh, whilst making the old units feel new again when you finally do get them. A minor down point is that only the main characters of returning Z1 series make the cut, which is fair enough considering the large number of new units in the game.
No Waverider crash? Surely you jest!
Now, my complaints. Despite some new additional attacks, fans of Z1 series may find that that their favourite returning units may have had their most powerful attacks ‘mysteriously’ dissapear from their attack list. Examples of these are Z Gundam’s waverider crash, Destiny Gundam’s Full Combination Attack and Sol Aquarion’s Sword attack and the list goes on. The storyline reasons for these removals is that after the heroes crossed over dimensions to the Z2 universe, their mechs weren’t operating at full power. This seems like a rather cheap solution to have some upgrades in store for old units when Z2.2 is finally released. The worst part? The attack data is actually still on the UMD (as proven by youtube videos). Hopefully the will re-animate some of these.
Units which also had combination attacks with battleships, like Zambot 3 and Strike Freedom/Justice will also lack these attacks, which could also be seen as a nerf.
Music for returning series is also a bit of a dissapointment, with only 1 BGM each. If you don’t happen to like the song they’ve picked, then you’re out of luck.
Another problem is the miniscule deployment size. Removing the Tri-Squad system really hurts, considering the number of series and units that were already in Z1. Compounded with the fact that for most of the game you can only deploy 15-17 units at most, and when put into perspective with the game’s gigantic roster, means you really have to play favourites when selecting who to deploy. Frequent route splits relieves this problem temporarily, although after splits finish you’ll find yourself with another 5-10 units you’ll probably never have the space to send out.
Although the game is 50 stages, I also feel the game concentrates too heavily on the Original story rather than the various anime series included. There are quite a number of missions spent fighting generic Invaders from Getter and Dimensional Beasts where the sole purpose of the stage is to recruit ZEUTH characters from Z1.
I also have an issue with the new Full Upgrade Bonus system. While the inclusion of a unique unit bonus is a cool idea, some of these unique bonuses are things which the unit should already have anyway, or previously had in Z1 by default. Worst offenders are Gundam units, things like Z Gundam’s Biosensor, Nu Gundam’s Psyco Frame and Hyaku Shiki’s MAP attack are only usasable AFTER the unit has been fully upgraded.
Despite this, I believe that Z2 has trumped Z1 as the best SRW game ever made on any system, but I also have a feeling that Banpresto were holding punches back for the Z2.2 “Sasai-hen” chapter later this year. My only hope now is that they can up the ante even more when Z2.2 is finally released.
See my playthrough of the game at Let’s Play! Super Robot Wars Z2.
Best SRW game ever on any system eh? I’m tempted to agree with you but I haven’t played enough SRWs to know =P I think Banpresto’s got a winner with srwz2 though it’s a bit of a pity the 2 games weren’t combined because it feels like the geass and gurren lagann units didn’t reach their full potential. Btw the last boss was a b**ch, be careful not to collect too many SR points unless you’re very very confident. I had 20 fully upgraded units deployed in the final mission and they bashed at the boss till all their spirit points were gone, then had to resort to a kamikaze final attack (the boss has 100% hitrate regardless of stats and regens 15,000+ hp per turn) which resulted in 16 destroyed and Simon getting the last hit in.
@mshaydown
Which conversation options did you take before the final fight? Apparently if you take the bottom 2 choices “strong opponent”, the boss becomes level 99 with extra upgraded stats.
@mshaydown
I don’t know you are exp enough, but if there is no turn restrictions, never been a boss fight that troubles me at the last stage (so far hardest is GBA OG secret mission). SRW always have infinite loopholes. and… 15000/turn is nothing lol.