Written by Litton Raysoul
Title: Damascus Gear: Operation Tokyo
Developer: Arc System Works
Publisher: Arc System Works
Price: $14.99
Genre: Action, RPG
Also Available On: PSVita, Steam
The year is 2097. The world is in ruins as giant enemy mechs goes haywire. Only you, the hero, can defeat them using your own mech, equipped with a beam rifle, beam sword, and a very powerful back cannon. But of course, you need to do some errands because you are a newbie, and most of the people don’t really care about you. And for some reason, there is a mech tournament, because a global war is too boring for them I guess. This sums up my experience in Damascus Gear: Operation Tokyo.
This game is a top-down hack-and-slash shooter hybrid, wherein you customize your mech, accept missions, and destroy enemies along the way. Most of the missions are set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, which is overrun by enemy mechs called RAGE. Upon starting, you are provided your own mech, and you will need to accept some very simple missions. The controls are easy, as each of your weapon is assigned to a button. This is not a twin-stick shooter, so you can’t aim while moving. This is quite a hassle because I sometimes accidentally fire at the wrong direction. The ammo is unlimited, but you need to check your weapon’s cooldown, or you will just be firing blanks. When you are low on health, there is an instant repair button which would replenish your HP. As long as you have extra repair kits, it is easy not to die. After all, enemies are not really that complicated – which is not really good because every encounter is either easy, or it is just tedious because they have high HP. After every mission, you will be rated according to your performance.
Outside of the battles, you can equip your mech with parts obtained during your missions. You can also customize its name and the color for each body part. If you have some extra parts, you can sell it on the shop, where you can also buy other parts for your mech. Your mech has 3 slots for weapon: one for each hand, and one for your back. The weapon selection is pretty wide. For my playthrough, I have selected a beam rifle and a beam sword. During the later stages, you can equip a back beam cannon, which is very powerful, and can decimate a number of enemies in a single fire.
During the course of the game, you will be introduced to the people within the organization that hired you. Most of them are rude to you because the plot says so. During my course of play, there is nothing substantial that happened, aside from you are a tournament participant, which is really weird considering that the world is in peril. While each of the people that you encounter have a personality, they are quite forgettable. As a fan of mecha anime, the story did nothing to me. Aside from that, the biggest gripe that I have for this game is its repetitiveness – and that includes the combat and the visuals. Your attack patterns are the same, and you can use same tactics to defeat enemies. With most of the missions taking place in a ruined Tokyo, the maps are recycled and looks very dull. The music is also forgettable at its best. The gun and explosion sounds doesn’t help it either.
Even with all those criticisms, this is still quite an enjoyable title. If you are in for an arcade-like mech action experience, then you can try this game. Battling your way through an army of giant robots still feels good. Just don’t expect some deepness in either the story or the gameplay, or you will be disappointed.
The Good:
- Fairly good customization
- Controls are easy to learn
- Fun gameplay
The Bad:
- Graphics and Music are not really that good
- Gameplay might get too repetitive
- Story is not engaging enough
Review Score: 6/10
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