I thought I'd make a few posts about games I've played recently.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Battle Orchestra is a multiplayer 2D fighter (with 3D models), like Smash Bros but Evangelion branded. It's for the Playstation 2 and has been released in Japan. It's by BROCCOLI, so you can hear Gendo say "Broccoli" every time it starts. :D The cast from the original TV series seems to be intact, though Ogata Megumi's performance as Shinji... sounds more like when she played Kyuu from Tantei Gakuen Q. -_-;
The graphics are redrawn and I don't really like the new designs - Shinji and his father have huge foreheads like they were the main guy in FLCL, they could fit a mecha in there. Rei is fluffy and moé and cute. Asuka is a werewolf. Only the yellow version of Eva Unit 00 is available. The music has been replaced, the only recognisable piece in the game is a new recording of "Tamashii no Rufuran" used as the opening theme. The moves seem limited. The Angels look and act so funny, it's great. They look even more like sock puppets and inflatable toys than they did in the series, and the black-and-white stripey floating ball Angel goes around punching everyone. Everything can be defeated with the tactic of "kick and punch and shoot it", none of your messy impenetrable shield / AT-Field business. More than ever it feels as though Eva was a tokusatsu show, man-in-a-cheesy-hero-costume fighting man-in-a-cheesy-monster-costume, as giants battling in the city, in 2, 3 or 4 player battles.
I like Eva games for that reason. They're light-hearted fun. ^_^
I played through Shinji's story mode that ends with him fighting Kaworu in an Eva (!) and Asuka's story mode which ends after she beats 9 mass-produced angels.
Oh and Gainax are sooooo interested in reinforcing the idea that Eva fans must spend more and more money to get new Eva stuff... you don't directly unlock new things to play with when you (for example) complate story mode. No, there's an in-game shop, and when you play, you win some money to spend in that shop, and when you complete something you may unlock new items in the shop. (e.g. characters to use in VS mode or BGM or whatever) -_-;
We saw Kensuke piloting an Eva in the demos but haven't unlocked him yet. The Gunbuster is also in there (another reason to want this game!), but we haven't unlocked that either. :(
