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Virtual On Marz Pre-Release Probed
Cacophanus writes "There's a rather comprehensive review over at Tokyopia for Sega's upcoming release 'Dennou Senki Virtual On Marz' for Playstation 2. It is worth mentioning that the game isn't released in Japan until this Thursday (29th), so have a gander on how the latest (non-Sega hardware) incarnation fares, especially considering that the game lacks any TwinSticks (the regular interface for the series)." There's a good fansite for this cult mech one-one-one fighting/action game series at Virtualon.net, too.
From the article:
... to the fumbling idiot, the Virtual On series was really more of a "high-speed prison shower scene."
The crux of Virtual On's game design is that of vector based dash attacks and close combat moves within a fixed arena. More specifically the dash attacks are pivoted around your opponent, in that you are locked onto your target, and the ensuing high-speed tactical ballet is very much a hallmark of the series.
This would have been useful information back when I was starring as a "projectile recepticle" with the Oratorio Tangram release. I eventually came to think of myself as a training dummy for the CPU. I don't read Japanese, but I always imagined that my computer-controlled opponents ended most battles not with taunts, but rather with something along the lines of, "I am owing you debt of gratitude for standing polite while I practice happy combos."
In retrospect, I guess I should have done a little light reading on the subject. I never quite managed to grasp the subtlties of its rather novel gameplay physics, which the above description now puts into much better perspective.
"High-speed tactical ballet"
/* Pleurez, pleurez, mes yeux, et fondez vous en eau! La moitie de ma vie a mis l'autre au tombeau. - Corneille */