Robot Alchemic Drive | |
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Developer(s) | Sandlot |
Publisher(s) | Enix |
Director(s) | Takehiro Honma |
Producer(s) |
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Designer(s) | Ryuji Fukuyo |
Programmer(s) |
|
Artist(s) |
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Writer(s) | Takehiro Honma |
Composer(s) | Masafumi Takada |
Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Action |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Robot Alchemic Drive or R.A.D., sold in Japan as Gigantic Drive, [lower-alpha 1] is a 2002 action-adventure mecha fighting video game developed by Sandlot and published by Enix for the PlayStation 2. The game is set during an alien invasion in Japan, with players controlling a giant robot to combat the aliens as humanity's last line of defense.
Created as a homage to the super robot anime of the 1970s and 1980s, Robot Alchemic Drive is unique among mecha games in that most gameplay is not directly controlling the mecha (such as in Armored Core ) or in combat sequences (such as Sandlot's similarly-themed Earth Defense Force ), but rather by controlling the actual human pilot of the mecha, with visual novel-like dialogue progressing the story between fights. [1]
Robot Alchemic Drive was released in Japan on August 29, 2002, and in North America on November 5, to generally positive reviews, but did not perform particularly well commercially and is now considered a niche title.
The protagonists that the player may choose between are two males and one female (Naoto Tsukioka, Ryo Tsukioka, or Yui Tsukioka), but the character is only referred to as "Chairman" and the choice bears no impact on gameplay. There are three different robots to choose from: Vertical Fortress Vavel, Airborne Dominator Laguiole, and Gllang the Castlekeep.
It is possible throughout the game to affect the story of a particular character. For example, Nanao's storyline may be affected by the destruction of certain buildings while on missions.
Enemies, for a short number of episodes, are the same. The only difference is the change in color and weapons. They become smarter and more aware of what the main character is doing as the player progresses through the story. Players also unlock all of the Volgara in the two-player versus mode after beating the game with two of the three protagonists.
As the seventeen-year-old sole inheritor to the Tsukioka family and their bankrupt weapons company, the game introduces the player to a world where all crewed space exploration projects have been put on hold indefinitely due to a material called "Space Nectar" that poisons and kills any organic life in space. Earth is safe because of its atmosphere, but it seems that humanity is doomed to an isolated existence. When machines known as Volgara begin destroying the Earth, the player must pilot the only weapon on Earth capable of standing against the invaders. Along the way, lives will be changed, history will be made, and the origins of the Volgara will be revealed.[ promotion? ]
This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience.(May 2024) |
The Hero/Heroine: The player-controlled character, a seventeen-year-old junior at the public Senjo High School and the sole heir of the prestigious Tsukioka clan that has gone bankrupt. Tsukioka Industries, a weapons manufacturer, collapsed while funding the construction of the Meganites, which the hero must control to save his/her hometown. There are three characters selectable: Naoto, Yui, and Ryo, but their stories are all similar.
Nanao Misaki (三咲 奈々穂, Misaki Nanao)Voiced by: Moyu Arashima
Dr. Hourai (蓬莱 博士, Hourai-hakase)Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka
Dr. Herman Wiltz (ヘルマン・ウィルツ, Heruman Wirutsu)Voiced by: Jūrōta Kosugi
Keiko Konan (木南 薫子, Konan Keiko)Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino
Saki Kyono (京野 沙希, Kyono Saki)Voiced by: Yū Asakawa
Ellen Bulnose (エレン・ブルノーズ, Eren Burunōzu)Voiced by: Yuka Imai
Masaru Misaki (三咲 勝, Misaki Masaru)Voiced by: Atsushi Kisaichi
Tomoe Kawasaki (川崎 友絵, Kawasaki Tomoe)Voiced by: Sayuri Yamauchi
Mika Banhara (番原 美香, Banhara Mika)Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu
Souya (奏也)Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi
Captain Shin'ichiro Kurosugi (黒杉 信一郎, Kurosugi Shin'ichiro)Voiced by: Jōji Nakata and Private Takeshi Yamano (山野 武, Yamano Takeshi)Voiced by: Makoto Higo
Kyoji Otawara (大田原 恭二, Otawara Kyoji)Voiced by: Takashi Nagasako
Robot Alchemic Drive was developed by Sandlot, a company created by former employees of Human Entertainment. The game's engine was originally intended to be for a game based on the tokusatsu series Tekkōki Mikazuki and even received a playable demo, though the full game was later cancelled, likely due to the commercial failure of the show itself.
The characters of the game were designed by Toshihiro Kawamoto, the character designer of the Cowboy Bebop anime series. Development of Robot Alchemic Drive took approximately 16 to 18 months to complete. Much of the game's use of incredibly large robots was inspired by anime. [2] The game was aimed at both casual and hardcore gamers, as well as fans of action games and robot games. The hardest part of development was reportedly handling the sense of scale involved with the robots. [3]
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | 79 of 100 [4] |
Publication | Score |
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Electronic Gaming Monthly | 8 of 10 [5] |
Famitsu | 30 of 40 [6] [7] |
Game Informer | 7.75 of 10 [8] |
GamePro | [9] |
GameSpot | 7.5 of 10 [10] |
GameSpy | [11] |
GameZone | 8.5 of 10 [12] |
IGN | 7.3 of 10 [13] |
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | [14] |
X-Play | [15] |
The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. [4] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of two eights and two sevens for a total of 30 out of 40. [7]
By its second week of sale in Japan, Robot Alchemic Drive had sold 17,888 copies. [16]
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