In late 2020, Degree-5 shuttered its operations within the West and successfully ended its enterprise exterior of Japan, leaving Western followers of franchises resembling Yo-Kai Watch and Professor Layton questioning if they might ever see English variations of latest entries of their favourite sequence. Thankfully, the corporate has since reinvigorated its efforts within the West and one of many new tasks to emerge is Megaton Musashi W: Wired. As an enhanced re-release of a beforehand Japan-only motion RPG, this mech battler brings loads of fashion, appeal, and uncooked motion to the desk, marking a robust return to type for Degree-5.
Megaton Musashi W begins by introducing us to Yamato Ichidaiji, a lonely and headstrong teen haunted by unfocused recollections of a home hearth that apparently killed his little sister. Yamato has a penchant for selecting fights with different youngsters within the quiet suburban streets of Akagicho, typically touchdown him in sizzling water with the legislation, and he’s quickly provided a method out of his authorized troubles when he’s approached by some mysterious brokers who see nice potential in his combating capabilities. Yamato begrudgingly accepts their provide to affix their “Oblivion Bay” program, solely to rapidly be taught the terrible fact that he’s been unknowingly residing his complete life in a fortified shelter on a devastated Earth, which was ravaged when aliens known as Draktors invaded and killed almost your complete human inhabitants. The aliens are hellbent on ending the job, however they’re held at bay by the fists and firepower of mighty piloted mech robots known as Rogues, one in all which is granted to Yamato to proceed the battle.
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Although it could actually come off as being a bit of too reliant on drained anime tropes, Megaton Musashi W largely spins an fascinating yarn right here. There are some real twists because the story unfolds and the ethical grayness of the central battle comes extra into focus, whereas the characters observe predictable however earned private progress as their story arcs and relationships develop. The plot is in the end nowhere close to as engrossing or formidable as one thing like 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, however what’s right here is nonetheless fairly satisfying and offers the alien-punching motion simply sufficient emotional weight.
Gameplay is in the end cut up into two main sport sorts: visible novel and hack ‘n’ slash. Within the former, you merely information your present character round varied semi-3D environments and strike up conversations to progress the central plot. You additionally later have the choice to interact in aspect narratives that delve extra into varied help characters, a bit just like the Social Hyperlink system in latest Persona video games. Though the precise gameplay right here consists of little greater than operating round to set off the subsequent cutscene, we nonetheless appreciated how these segments slowed down the tempo and gave you time to understand the worldbuilding and solid; it actually helps elevate Megaton Musashi W from feeling hole and superficial, like a lesser Dynasty Warriors launch.
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Once you’re not busy making mates, you’ll end up on the controls of a godlike Rogue robotic, blasting your method throughout the ruins of a scorched Earth as you ship livid justice to the alien invaders. Right here, you might have a wide range of floor and air combos you’ll be able to chain along with myriad melee and ranged weapons, whereas you may as well set off as much as 4 equippable lively abilities that kick off some particularly flashy and devastating assaults which all however clear the battlefield. The ability fantasy right here is off the charts, and whereas Megaton Musashi W can typically really feel prefer it skews in direction of being a bit too straightforward for too lengthy, it typically feels fairly satisfying to filter out the enemy hordes and blow up large alien bosses in spectacular set piece moments.
After finishing a mission, you’ll be completely soaked in all types of colourful loot pickups that simply fulfill that monkey-brain want for cooler, shinier issues. Every little thing from weapons to cosmetics to armor is at play right here, and also you’re nearly all the time assured to get a bit of loot that’ll assist spherical out your Rogue’s construct again on the hangar.
It may possibly really feel a bit of overwhelming typically with all of the gear choices at your fingertips, however we appreciated how there’s a robust Monster Hunter-esque design philosophy right here of selecting the correct software for the job. Relying on the mission, you could have to utterly change your loadout to account for the distinctive enemy weaknesses you’ll encounter, and though the commonly straightforward problem means you don’t have to maximise your fight potential each time, lots of the latter missions and problem ranges will put the strain on you to place extra thought into your construct than simply going with no matter has an even bigger quantity.
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There’s greater than easy weapons and armor to think about in development, as there’s additionally an infinite Sphere Grid-like ability tree you’ll be able to develop with supplies you nab from fallen enemies. Right here, you’ll be able to unlock and improve lively abilities to make use of in battle, together with a litany of passive stat boosts that provide varied situational advantages. To maintain you from getting too overpowered, nevertheless, it’s important to set up these parts on a Motherboard to utilize them, and right here it’s important to have interaction in some strategic puzzle-solving as you determine tips on how to greatest optimize what number of items you’ll be able to cram into restricted area. Once more, there’s a ton of depth to dive into right here with the way you load up, which retains missions from getting stale as you repeatedly experiment and improve completely different construct sorts.
Although the single-player content material is greater than ample, there’s additionally a multiplayer part for many who need to hyperlink up with others both in co-op missions or aggressive matches. Co-op missions assist you to have some allies provide you with an edge within the harder battles, whereas aggressive matches toss you right into a medium-sized area for 3v3 deathmatches. Although this on-line idea is pleasing in principle, we had a tough time discovering gamers to attach with, even throughout peak instances and with crossplay enabled, and the small participant pool results in loads of balancing points the place you aren’t being matched with others of an identical ability stage.
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For instance, one of many first aggressive matches we participated in (with crossplay enabled) took over 10 minutes for the matchmaking to search out simply 5 different gamers, one in all whom was a Japanese participant who had no-lifed the sport and nearly singlehandedly annihilated our staff of contemporary gamers whereas their two allies received in occasional hits. Thankfully, the multiplayer feels extra like a pleasant further than the principle focus of the expertise, however we nonetheless want the lobbies have been extra populated so this part might be given its probability to shine. Because it stands, there merely aren’t sufficient logs on the hearth for multiplayer to really feel like one thing you try a few instances after which by no means return to.
As an ‘final’ launch that collects all of the content material from a number of Japanese-only Megaton Musashi video games, there’s a lot to dive into with Megaton Musashi W, to the purpose that it could actually typically really feel overwhelming. We have been most incessantly reminded of the Monster Hunter sequence when enjoying by way of, as there are loads of parallels as you retain taking journeys across the Ferris wheel of upgrading your character, speeding out on temporary and pleasing missions, then returning to seize extra upgrades with all of the stuff you bought out of your run so you are able to do it once more. That is the kind of sport that, if it actually will get its hooks in you, will simply final you for dozens of hours as you grind out gear and clear missions.
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Megaton Mushashi W does function some microtransaction and reside service components, although these fortunately aren’t too invasive. There are issues like a battle cross and each day login rewards to drive participant engagement, although we famous that the rewards being provided are largely restricted to improve supplies and cosmetics. It feels a bit of misplaced having such issues in a story-driven motion sport like this, however it in the end appears like their inclusion is comparatively innocent.
As for its graphics, Megaton Musashi is an impressively clean and well-animated visible feast that comfortably matches the extent of high quality that Degree-5 has maintained with most of its releases. The visible novel sequences are characterised by excessive manufacturing worth anime cutscenes, easily animated character sprites, and dynamic, comedian book-esque panels, whereas the mech battling parts are full of explosive ability animations that dazzle. We’re happy to notice, too, that every part runs at a clean and constant body charge, and although the decision can really feel a bit of fuzzy across the edges in handheld mode, it’s good to play a brand new Swap launch that does not crash or drop frames in all places.
Conclusion
Megaton Musashi W: Wired proves to be a robust return to type for Degree-5, providing up addictive mech-battling motion that appears like probably the most slept-on launch of the 12 months. Its heartfelt story, dumb-but-fun fight missions, and in-depth character development provide up an expertise that’s robust to place down, even when some components—just like the lackluster on-line—drag it down a bit. When you’re in any respect a fan of motion RPGs or that distinct Degree-5 appeal you’ll find in all of the beloved firm’s video games, we’d encourage you to choose up Megaton Musashi W as quickly as attainable.