U.S.G. ~A New Beginning~

A shooter game on RMXP? What a novelty! Surely this is all just some gimmick and probably barely functional, right? Actually no, it’s really quite good. Let’s take a look!

The player assumes the role of Kyte, a hot-headed young pilot in the U.S.G. project, an organization which is preparing for something called the “True Battle.” Kyte doesn’t know what the True Battle is but he doesn’t care, he just enjoys the fun. Aided by his trusted navigator, Len, who gives him advice during his missions, Kyte must survive a series of tests put forth by the U.S.G center. But when something mysterious begins to happen to pilots and their navigators when they fail their tests, Kyte and his friends begin to become suspicious of the Center’s motives. Just what are they really planning? And what is the “True Battle?”

Balance 3/5:

Since this is a shooter, obviously balance means a little something different here than a conventional RPG. But many tried and true RPG mechanics are still present here. You gain exp for every enemy you destroy, and when you level up you gain skill points which you can invest to improve your health or weapons. Additionally, upon killing enough enemies in any given level you will acquire a charge for your “Rave,” a defensive system that can protect you for a few seconds. Traditional Shooter elements are also mixed with RPG elements, such as weapons having elemental alignments and enemies having weaknesses to them. Hitting an enemy with their weakness stuns them for a moment, which can be quite useful. There are a few missteps though, for example your default weapon cannot go through defeated enemies until their sprite completely vanishes.

Since this is a pseudo bullet hell type game, more emphasis is often placed on dodging your enemies attacks than attacking them yourself. The game actively rewards daring dodges, or “grazing” with additional experience. When you kill an enemy you also turn any bullet they had on the screen into exp, so sometimes it pays to wait for the perfect time to get that kill shot.

Overall the game is of pleasing difficulty even for novice shooters like me, and it offers much higher levels of difficulty for veterans. It boosts supremely responsive controls and a variety of evolvable weapons to give you many ways to deal with any given threat. Since you can return to any level at any time and grind for more experience, its likely that any player could clear the game with enough patience.

Level Design 4/5:

Level layout is fairly standard for a shooter game, about halfway through the level you will encounter a mini-boss, get a chance to recover some health, and a chance to change your weapons if your current configuration isn’t working for you. At the end of the level you will face the giant boss which will really test your skill. Aside from this, a few levels mix things up a little bit, in some you must dodge obstacles like walls of flame in addition to enemies.

Characters 3/5:

Most characters fall squarely into well-known and established archetypes, from the hot headed pilot main character and his somewhat more grounded female partner, to a large oafish fellow who merely spouts two word sentences. The characters seem to repeat themselves often but there are occasional hints of character growth and development as they discover new secrets about the project. I suspect the dialogue suffered slightly in translation since the “read me” is written in two languages. However, the fantastic original art used to portray the characters is stunning and helps the characters’ personalities and emotions to come across.

Storyline 3/5:

The storyline mostly centers around the relationships between the various pilots and their navigators as they are tested by the center, presented in colorful anime-esque cutscenes. The story is somewhat slow paced considering that the game is not especially long, but fortunately you are given the option of skipping the story sequences entirely if you’d rather just shoot things.

Music and Sound 2.5/5:

The musical scores for each scene and area are excellent and sounds are about what you’d expect for a shooter, each time a bullet hits something it makes a satisfying little sound, and sometimes sounds are even a hint as to whether a weapon is effective against a target or not. This category is dragged down by Len’s voice acting which, mostly due to the language barrier, is quite grating, and you’ll be hearing her a lot.

Overall 4/5:

Definitely a novel idea for an RMXP project, for the most part executed very well. Shooter fans shouldn’t be afraid to give this a try, and people interested in eye candy will likely enjoy the original art as well.