<rankendrake> Don’t worry, according to what I read… Izen multiplies like bacteria, so there’s unlimited of her to go around

Most people will probably have heard of Gadget Trial by now. If not, then some explanation might be in order: Gadget Trial is a bishoujo game that plays something like Advance Wars. (For those who have no idea what AW is, it’s a sort of turn-based military strategy game, with units moving around a square-based map, and attacking each other via short cutscenes. There’s quite a bit more, but then it gets into irrelevant details.) The demo (in Japanese) can be obtained here, as well as the rather amusing demo video trailer. An unofficial English patch, for the demo and the full game, can be found here.

The game is very clean, at least up to Mission 6 (which is where I’ve played until). I didn’t see anything that would even be considered remotely risque, although I’d hesitate to say that little kids can play this game, simply because this is a game about blowing things up, albeit cartoon violence (no blood or gore). There’s a few bits of dialogue which goes into great detail about being “murderers” and “weapons of mass destruction”, played up for laughs. So it’s safe in terms of sex, safe in terms of the depiction of violence, but maybe not so safe in terms of violent words.

The premise is that this is some time in the future, after the last world war of unspecified number. The ETU has developed the E-series robots, which look like cute girls entirely because this would raise troop morale. I defecate you not: that’s the actual reason given. Of course, being that the E-series is supposed to replace generic human soldiers, I’m not sure whose morale is supposed to be raised. Anyway, of these robots, there’s the White version (ie yours, the player’s), and the Black version (ie the computer opponent). The White version has emotions and personalities and such (can think for themselves, but are more difficult to control), while the Black version are more like typical emotionless robots (completely obedient to commands and has slightly better processing power, but incapable of improvisation). Now, the military has decided to pit these two versions against each other in practical trials, in order to decide which version will be mass-produced.

In short: White team vs. Black team. Both attempt to blow each other up. Kill everyone that’s not on your team or capture your opponent’s buildings for the win.

Usually I don’t like to play turn-based strategy games, since I lose incredibly easily. This is largely because I have problems sacrificing my lesser units for temporary gain, as is essential in basic strategy and tactics. It took most of my meagre gaming ability to get to as far as I am, and I believe there are about 20 or so missions in total (no tutorials as such; it’s mostly on-the-job training). The thought of seeing all the bishoujo game scenes between actual missions was more or less the only thing keeping me going at times; the power of moe compelled me.

A bit more background: there are ten basic sorts of E-series robots, and you get to control five of them, which make up White team. The other five are Black team, and are essentially bizarro versions of the (robot) characters with a different colour palette. For all that your White team have their own personalities and are essentially sentient beings, they seem perfectly happy to blast their counterparts into smithereens, and be blasted in turn. This could be because they do, in fact, reproduce “like bacteria”, which I can only assume means by mitosis. Yes, this technically makes them organic, but the game keeps calling them “machines”, so I would say that this is an expanded definition.

The E-series can equip “reinforcement units”, which are special suits that let them do different things, and are necessary to even start fighting. It’s the game’s way of letting all the units in the game be essentially the same set of characters, while also introducing them one at a time: “That reinforcement unit isn’t ready yet, check back later.”

Everything about the E-series is played up to seem many times more powerful than anything we have today. The E-series itself is meant to completely replace normal military units (a single E-series artillery unit is supposedly able to wipe out an entire brigade of standard tanks, and is, with the equipment, only slightly larger than a normal human), which doesn’t really mean much, since everything you fight is also E-series.

The game has the usual bishoujo anime humour, and the intermission cutscenes can take some time to go through. The main characters are fully voiced, but the minor characters (Random Tech et al) are silent, speaking only with the text box. There’s one character who’s voiced but not listed in the official site’s character listing, one Colonel Fujimoto, who’s the overseer of the trials (and fits the “kindly old man” archetype). He’s not really that significant, at least not yet, although a bit of dialogue near the beginning suggests that he’s on the verge of retiring, but something may come up to change those plans.

The rest of the characters are fairly amusing, yet generic. They’d be perfect for some other random bishoujo game that doesn’t involve them sending clones of themselves into battle to have their heads asploded, and the fact that this is, in actuality, what happens, makes it all the more hilarious.

Major Shitoshi Mihara (seiyuu: Tomokazu Sugita)

This is the Main Male Lead, supposedly representing you. He’s an experienced soldier, and has apparently served ten years in the army. He’s also voiced by Tomokazu Sugita in all his Kyon-ness, and his personality is kind of like a mix of his various roles laden with snide sarcasm and short temper. It’s awesome.

He has no compunctions about putting White team through all sorts of inhumane training, although he stops short of outright cruelty, and he never does anything White team can’t actually take. He gets easily frustrated with the personality conflicts of White team, and occasionally wishes that they’re more like Black team (ie complains less).

Izen (seiyuu: Ryou Hirohashi)

Pronounced “Aizen”. She’s your infantry, and comes in three flavours: light infantry, heavy infantry, and medic. Light infantry are your basic infantry unit, heavy infantry are slower but marginally more powerful, and medics (which I’ve not yet had the chance to use) can’t attack or defend, but can heal any other units. Only infantry units (but any of the three sorts are fine) can capture buildings.

Izen fills the archetype of the ditzy gluttonous happy-go-lucky girl, who relies mostly on her GUTS and POWAH OF LOVE. She eats pretty much anything that can remotely be considered edible, and quite a few things that aren’t (like dynamite, which she says tastes like bean jelly); whether she’s actually digesting them is anyone’s guess.

Izen says whatever’s on her mind, which tends to get herself and the other White team members into trouble. She also spouts lots of rhetoric about LOVE AND PEACE and being kind to Earth and all that, but when it comes down to it, she’s content to head out into the field and shoot bad guys. Which is probably a good thing, considering that infantry is good only for either capturing buildings or cannon fodder.

Nei (seiyuu: Shizuka Itou)

Your tank/vehicle unit. Nei does duty as heavy tank, light scout, and ground-based APC. Heavy tanks rock against pretty much any ground-based unit, light scouts are fast and can shred infantry easily but get overpowered in later missions, and APCs are useful for quick transport of infantry troops but not much else.

Nei takes the role of the Kind Older Sister to the rest of the White team. She’s rarely ruffled, and appears to have infinite patience with the other White team members. She usually stays out of the petty squabbles, but looks out for everyone else’s welfare.

Tank!Nei also tends to get the most kills in missions, since tanks are fast, powerful, and probably in need of a nerf.

Yu-ri (seiyuu: Rika Morinaga)

Your artillery, Yu-ri also comes in three varieties: long-range artillery, anti-air artillery, and rocket artillery. I’ve only had experience with the first variety, which is great against anything at ground level, but has a minimum range, and is defenseless when you get right next to it.

Yu-ri is the requisite loli. Specifically, she supposedly acts as young as she looks, and does things on impulse. She does seem to like blowing things up, and is happiest when surrounded by the smoking craters that were once other units. One gets the feeling that she’s fairly indiscriminate about what she hits (this doesn’t affect game mechanics, of course), as long as it makes a pretty explosion. When not admiring the big booms, she makes full use of her apparent young age to say and do things that no adult would get away with.

Souka (seiyuu: Ryouko Shintani)

Your aerial force. Souka, once again, has three forms: fighter, bomber, and helicopter. The fighter is good only against aerial units (and has sickeningly huge movement range), the bomber is good only against ground-based (or sea-based) units (but is very good against them, often taking them out in one hit), and the helicopter can carry infantry (and has a machine gun for ground-based units).

Souka is blunt and rather arrogant, believing herself to be the “elite” of the team. She loves to fly, and holds this ability to be proof of her superiority over her fellow E-series. Of course, she also gets easily deflated by events around her, usually instigated by Izen or Yu-ri. I suppose she’s pretty much the tsundere ojou-sama of the group. One almost expects her to break into “OHOHOHOHO” and all that.

Hisoka (seiyuu: Kaori Nazuka)

Your navy. Hisoka, as can be expected, has three modes: battleship, submarine, and landing craft. I’ve only had experience with the submarine and landing craft; the submarine is fast and hits respectably hard against sea-based units, and landing craft are very fast, and able to transport any sort of troops. Submarines cannot be hit by ground-based units, but landing craft can, if they’re close enough to shore.

Hisoka can best be described as “creepy”. She speaks softly, almost in a whisper, and she shows the least emotion out of all of White team, most likely on purpose. She likes to do and say weird things that creep people out, and doesn’t seem to quite understand (or care) that actions lead to consequences. And yes, she laughs with “ufufufu~”

Thanks to a comedic misunderstanding in the beginning of the game, Souka and Hisoka are the “murdering weapons of mass destruction” (supposedly since they’re the most powerful and indiscriminate in targeting; Yu-ri cheerfully denies being as dangerous) duo. This irritates Souka, who probably wants to be known for more noble things, but Hisoka takes every opportunity to refer to herself as such, and include Souka in it as well.

Major Yuuki Wakabayashi (seiyuu: Minako Sango)

Wakabayashi is the opposing commander of the Black variety of the E-series robots. She’s quite bitchy, and revels in the preferential treatment that the top brass gives the Black team, such as first choice of equipment. She also hates to lose, and lords her superiority over White team. Yes, she’s a lot like Souka in that sense, except that Souka is marginally nicer. She doesn’t have any active malice against most members of White team, although she does seem to have a fairly intense (if rather one-sided) rivalry with Major Mihara. The E-series White team speculate that this may be due to Unresolved Sexual Tension.

And there you have it. Gadget Trial isn’t especially deep or thought-provoking, but it does have a substantial dose of moe. Which is what this blog is about. The mecha-musume and mass destruction and wacky dialogue are neat extras, really.

On a final note (pun unintended), the soundtrack for this game has a radio drama on it, with Mihara and Izen on “Good Morning ETU”, as well as various ETU-related commercials. It’s hilarious, especially if one imagines Kyon in Mihara’s place. The theme song of the game, “Go Go Girl!!”, is very upbeat and happy and cheery (without being overly hyper), and it sounds as though it would fit well with some Saturday morning cartoon, which adds to the crack. You can hear it in the demo trailer, available on the same page as the demo.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 12:04 pm and is filed under first impressions, gadget trial, games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.