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The first thing I thought when I saw this game was, "You’ve got to be kidding me". Banpresto’s Panzer Bandit is one of those games that pokes out its little head from between your legs and yells "Boo!" - it’s either a rude shock or a pleasant surprise. Panzer Bandit is a two-dimensional fighting game that can be fought on two separate planes, and is capable of supporting up to four players.
I have not finished fully translating the text of the instruction manual, but given that this is a fighting game, the plot is really of little importance. For those who care, the situation in the game is rather unique: the hometown of the four protagonists has been invaded by a rather large flying whale that carries numerous baddies on its back. The four protagonists in this tale are some kind of elite team whose duty is to dispatch the invaders with all due expedience. The protagonists are lead by a young blue-haired boy called Koh, who is perpetually aided by a big floating robot. Others in the team are Kasumi, a knife-wielding lady who is aided by a robot cat; Miu, a little girl who rides on top of her beloved mech; and Ein, the android who is armed to the last toenail with guns, grenades, rifles, and so on.
I really loved the presentation of this game. There are many traits and characteristics that have been borrowed, yet Panzer Bandit still manages to stand on its own quite well. The character and robot designs are dynamic and original, and bear an uncanny resemblance in style to Giant Robo. Even one of the bosses, Jingorou, bears a strong resemblance to Cloud of Final Fantasy 7. Needless to say, the graphics of Panzer Bandit reflect those styles - crisp, fast, and simple. The graphics in this game are not rich in detail or pre-rendered, but rather, the attention is paid to maintaining the flavour, individualism, and charisma of the very original-looking characters.
The graphics of the remainder of Panzer Bandit are of a similar standard to the main characters. They are crisp and simple, and all are very individual in design, especially the boss characters. As said before, the detail is not in the rendering or the shadows, but in the original the character designs. The backgrounds, like the sprites, are also simple by comparison to other pre-rendered games. It’s the design, not detail, of the backgrounds that really catch the eye. As a fighting game, Panzer Bandit is completely loaded with on-screen sprites at times. Thus far, I’ve only seen very slight slowdown in some rare instances in the two-player mode. In other words, Panzer Bandit graphically passes every test. The presentation and graphical designs of this game are so unique that I’d swear that it was intended for use on an anime feature film.
The sounds of Panzer Bandit are actually quite average and down to the bare bones. In a fighting game of this type, however, it is not disappointing. Each character has their typical *grunt* each time they throw a punch, there are the death-cries, and there are about three sounds for the body-blows. It sounds very basic, but believe me, it doesn’t really matter once you get into the game. But before I forget, there are also a couple of humorous effects added in, but the example that I’m going to give wasn’t really intended to be funny: some of the little white guys that you beat up sound just like the Isz in the Maxx.
The music of Panzer Bandit reflects the frantic pace of the game, beating yesterday’s breakfast out of one goomba after another. The only drawback is that it might get a little too repetitive for some people.
Gameplay is the core of Panzer Bandit, and it is also where the game shines very brightly. The characters fight in a two-dimensional environment and walk across the screen accordingly - but they can jump between the foreground and background, as in the Fatal Fury games. Controlling the characters couldn’t be easier. The interface is very similar to X-Men vs. Streetfighter, although it is simplified by the fact that there are two buttons for attack (quick and heavy), one button for an attack on both sides, one button for the special weapon, and one button for jumping to and from the foreground and background. There are also some special moves that can be performed by double-tapping in a direction and pressing an attack button, but they can also be performed by pressing one of the shoulder buttons. The heavy attack button also doubles as a throw button when the enemy is close enough. The characters can dash across the screen, perform double jumps, and they can hit an enemy no matter where they are positioned on the screen, so long as they are within attacking range (ie. multiple hits can be performed in the air and also on opponents who lie wounded on the ground).
The best part is that there is no uniform method of constructing a combo. As long as you press the button at the right time (ie. when the enemy is within range), your hit will make contact. Each and every blow can be visually accounted for in the fight. There are even counter moves that can be observed, which are performed by pressing an attack button at the instant an enemy attacks you. The result is that you can have a combo of five hits, all of which were counters. The slower one eventually bears the brunt of the final attack. And to cap off, your companion that follows you around acts as a special weapon, such as providing homing missiles, laser guns, and so on. These weapons can only be used if a certain meter next to your energy bar isn’t empty - which is easily replenished by beating people up with your bare fists. In the end result, a player can create some devastating-looking combos, complete with fireballs, just through plain button-bashing. While this sounds very unchallenging, it is amazingly fun. The fun lies in consciously creating a good combo without having to resort to the "let’s bash brain" mentality. I’d certainly imagine the soon-to-be-released SD-Streetfighter game to be similar.
The simplicity and addictiveness of the gameplay is optimised by the sheer number of people/things you have to fight. There are constantly things running up to you from the foreground and background in a bid to kill you. The game gets even more crowded and frenzied in 2-player games. Who knows what would happen in a 4-player game!
The only drawback I can think of in terms of gameplay is the fact that it can get a little monotonous. The simple reality is that there ARE hordes of people/machines/aliens to bash up, and that there ARE only so many moves that you can perform. I’m sure most people wouldn’t think much of it.
Finally, the game itself offers a Versus mode. In a fighting game that focusses on offence and very little defence (performed by not pressing anything), the battles get very, very frenzied.
To conclude, this game is Captain Commando, Fatal Fury, TNMT-Turtles in Time (you can throw enemies off the screen), and X-Men vs. Streetfighter all rolled into one. It is a fighting game that combines the finer elements of the interface of many great fighting games. It has great character designs. The game plays flawlessly without any hint of noticeable slowdown. The game is chock-filled with things to kill. On the other hand, the graphics might be a little too simple for some people who prefer lots of detailed images. The action might also be too monotonous for some. Personally, I love this game because of its addictive and easy interface, its simplicity, and its character. I can appreciate that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I strongly recommend everyone to at least check this game out as an alternative to the more mainstream fighting games.