Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament Review

The hell with mind-blowing battles with huge machines and advanced weaponry—when it comes to giant robots, the first thing that comes to mind is something much more utilitarian.  Nothing says giant robots like using them for mundane tasks like chopping wood and delivering newspapers…right?

Right?

Apparently the folks at Irem Software Engineering think so, because that's exactly the nuts and bolts (but, interestingly, not at all the concept) of Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament.  As a spin-off of the PlayStation 2's action/role-playing game Steambot Chronicles, this game places you in a stripped-down iteration of the original's universe, and commands you to go forth and, uh, battle.  The mechs in the Steambot world, called Trotmobiles, are the central part of a tournament fighting culture throughout the world.  And nowhere is the sport more prevalent or popular than in Orion City, the very place where you decide to make your name as a Trot driver by competing in the town's tournament (and subsequently where the entirety of Battle Tournament takes place).



When you arrive in the city—a  small and sort-of 1920s European-style hamlet similar to somewhere you might find in Valkyria Chronicles—you  meet your mechanic, Venus, after saving her from a Trot driver with a bad attitude.  From there, you learn that in order to compete in the tournament you have to make a name for yourself by doing odd jobs around town, which earn you money you can use to upgrade your Trot while simultaneously boosting your reputation.  Despite being called Battle Tournament, these tasks, and the resulting process of making a name for yourself, are really what the game is all about.  Granted, competing with your Trot was handled the same way in the original game, but without the ability to travel the world or a decent overarching story, having to take jobs is a hell of a lot more noticeable.  What's left is a game that's part Mega Man Legends (or any number of other action RPGs) and part Harvest Moon, sadly with little of the depth, exploration, or social mechanics of either.

So while you may be itching to get enough money to customize or beef up your Trot and battle with it, there's a lot of work to do first.  This involves a process of going to the employment agency, where current jobs are listed.  After you take a job, you have to speak with the person who posted it in town to get more details about it (think FFXII's hunts, only on a microcosmic level).  Following that, you're free to go about your work, whether it's gathering lumber, giving someone a ride somewhere, or harvesting berries.  When the job's done, you have to check in with the person who posted the ad again, then collect your money at the employment agency.  Unfortunately, this gets as tedious as it sounds, and because you can only park your Trot in certain locations in town, running back and forth can quickly get old.



The jobs themselves are more fun, if mindless.  Your Trot handles easily, and has the ability to dash, jump, and combat enemy bandits wandering in the dungeon areas.  Jumping and dashing raises fuel consumption, and weapons attached to arms will deteriorate over time, though Venus can repair them at her Trot repair shop in town.  Because of the large, open dungeon areas and lack of any kind of quick-travel or warp system, though, you'll likely have much more fun destroying baddies on your way to and from your job destination than actually doing what you came to do (which usually doesn't take long anyway).  What really hurts this aspect of the game is the repetitive nature of the tasks available.  Cut wood, mine for ore, bring wood to town, harvest berries, transport wine, transport water—it's all very similar, and most of the time any story elements present are threadbare at best.

What can be fun about Battle Tournament is customizing your Trot.  Every time you advance a rank in the tournament, new items arrive in Venus' garage.  A Trot's arms, legs, front grille, back parts (things like flatbeds and barrels for transporting liquids), body, and windshield areas can all be customized and tailored to fit your needs.  Weapons range from simple swords, tools, and melees, to guns and bazookas, and as the game progresses, you can give your Trot four legs, metal tusks on its grill and dual missile launchers if you want to.  The variety is fun to tinker with (if not entirely necessary to progress) and is by far one of the most enjoyable parts of the game.



However, Battle Tournament, it seems, really enjoys shooting itself in the foot.  Repeatedly.  Because as much fun as making a custom Trot is, the amount of actual tournament fighting you do is very, very slim, especially when compared to the amount of menial jobs required.  The story is almost entirely throwaway, despite the surprisingly endearing personalities of Venus and your character, and the repetition of your employment tasks (even on the rare occasion where you're not in your Trot) will wear on you.  Additionally, the drawn characters used to convey the narrative are overused (meaning you'll find a lot people with the same drawing save for different colored clothes).

And seriously, for a game that's supposed to be about tournament battling, I spent a grand total of less than fifteen minutes in arena fights.  That's less than a tenth of the time it takes to get through the whole game.  I'm not sure what may cripple Battle Tournament more: the losing battle to boredom that will probably crop up at some point, or the somewhat superfluous function of pimping out your Trot. 



Regardless, some diehard mech fans or Atlus faithful might have a modicum of fun with this one.  The shaky Story mode almost makes it seem that the real purpose of the game is just to battle other players through the included ad-hoc multiplayer.  At the very least, you can take solace in using your Trot to work for a living in this harsh economic climate.  I guess.


Fun factor: Nothing says giant robots like using them for mundane chores!  Oh, there's some battling too, but mostly not in a tournament setting.  You'll have more fun in multiplayer, probably.

Game length: You'll blow through this one in 10 hours or less.  Pretty paltry for any kind of RPG.

Difficulty: As long as you upgrade your Trot, Battle Tournament never gets hard.

On the negative side: Repetition, repetition, repetition.  They probably should have called this Steambot Chronicles: Give me a Damn Job, but that's not so catchy.

Bang for your buck: Do you really, really like customizing robots?  This might be worth it, if it was $20.  Anything more than that puts it in rental territory.