Us here at Type 2 Gaming love our video games. We might also add that growing up in the 80’s, and being a boy, meant that this show was, for some of us, our lives! With that being said, when we found out that XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) had a Voltron game coming, we wanted to try it out. I, Mr Belding, am going to dive into the game a little bit below, and give my opinion and, being a princiPAL, a grade! So “LETS GO VOLTRON FORCE”
The game is entitled: Voltron: Defender of the Universe, by game publisher THQ. You get a birds eye view of the environment as you and your lion trounce through various terrains. When you fire the game up, you are automatically thrown into a nostalgic dream land. The theme music comes blaring out of your speakers and your heart warms. The intro was actually pretty cool. THQ looks as if they used old footage from the original series to kind of give you a feeling that you are back in the mid 80’s watching your favorite lion kick some baddie tail!
The start up screen has a pretty standard layout, but the awesome kicker is, wait for it, (timpani roll) you get to listen to the theme song!! (Sorry I really enjoy it). Sometimes before the morning announcements I play it on the PA. Anyway, you will see the standard options when you start the game; Single player, or story mode, multiplayer mode (local or “co-op”), quick match (matches you up with another XBL player), custom (choose your own type of game rules) and private.
Lets talk about the single player story mode. Upon selecting this mode, you then get to choose your lion! There are five (5) different colors to choose from, each with their strengths and weaknesses. You also get to choose your difficulty, which I found very amusing. The three difficulties you can choose from are; Nanny (yes, nanny), Lion Heart and True Defender. For someone who is very new to video games or is just casually playing, you would probably do Nanny and will get laughed at by your friends at school because seriously, you’re a Nanny.
You start out, after you picked your lion, defending your base from the baddies! Here you also get a short tutorial on the controls and how to defeat the enemies that you encounter. The controls are pretty standard as well. You will use your LEFT stick to move your lion around the map and your RIGHT stick to shoot your weapon. The direction in which you aim your right stick is the direction you will shoot. The A button (green one) will show you what objectives you have. Again they show you this at the beginning before you go on your rampage. The trigger buttons are also both attack buttons. If you pull on the right trigger you can mark an enemy and pounce on him, where as the left trigger sends a bolt of lightning out and destroys most of anything within you path! You can view these controls in the opening screen options.
Alright lets go over a few more things that happen when you are in battle! For one thing, you will notice your HUD, or heads up display. In the upper right you will see a star and a number in the middle. The number represents your “lives” and, as for the star, you will find pieces of it around the level. Once you have collected five (5) pieces you get an extra life. In the lower left of your screen is the life meter. If you have taken significant damage, your lion will “freeze” and you will hop out. Here you are in survivor mode, where you will have to survive until your count down is complete. You are allowed to shoot with your driver, but its better to just run around and stay close until you are able to get back in your lion! The screen also shows an arrow on it in which you are supposed to follow so you can finish the objectives and move on.
The multiplayer is pretty fun, mostly because it has what a lot of games don’t have in their co-op versions, except for Gears of War to name a big one. You and a fellow defender are able to play the entire story mode in co-op, which I always enjoy!
Over all its a pretty fun game. It is pretty basic, but for those who love Voltron, you will probably really enjoy it. It’s not very difficult to get a hang of the game, and I’m sure most of you will enjoy it. The game was around 1.3 GB to download, which does seem pretty big, so hopefully you have some space left on your HDD. One of the cooler things is that when you do purchase the game, you get a T-shirt for your avatar, which I’m sporting, on my avatar. So if you want to go through a nostalgic dream, go ahead and give it a try! Its a pretty fun one, but remember to do your homework first!
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