Saturn Sakura Taisen

The title translates into the Cherry Blossom Wars. Sakura is also the name of the main character in the game and she is the pivotal role in this interactive/strategy-action game with excellent graphics, an intricate storyline and tons of mech combat. This game has been covered extensively in the Japanese gaming magazines and it has been rated very well based on the beta discs that have been available to members of the press for the past couple of months. The main game is an interactive movie where you socialize with other characters and go about your schedule. This is where Sakura goes about her daily routines and experience social situations with her friends, rivals, and peers. The other part of Sakura Taisen is a 3-D isometric view action/strategy game where you control a mech. The graphics in this part of the game are gorgeous and remind me a lot of Front Mission on the Super Famicom, only the graphics are much more detailed and sumptuous looking. I loved Front Mission and it was one of the only games that I explored and actually finished in the past couple of years. Front Mission had a great storyline, characters that you came to care about and addictive gameplay where you went on missions with a bunch of robots. The battles in Front Mission involved a lot of strategy where you faced off against whole armies of enemies with about 8 to 12 of your own mecha. In some cases, the odds were overwhelmingly against the Front Mission crew but with proper planning and tactical moves, the crew could come out on top. The fun thing was the ability to continually upgrade and improve your mecha with better armor, more powerful weapons and even arm yourself with two weapons so that you could attack twice during a round. That was a good game. Sakura Taisen reminds me a lot of Front Mission so I am pleased to see a game like this make it out on the Saturn. The addition of the interaction scenes in Sakura have the potential of making this one even more detailed and involved in the character develoment department than Front Mission. In the battles in Sakura Taisen, you and up to four of your comrades will go up against mech enemies on the field of war. During the movement phase, your mech's movement distance is highlighted so that you know the limits of where you can travel. Once you move next to an enemy mech or within the vicinity of the mech, you can choose to attack with your weapons and the enemy mech will do likewise. Its a lot of fun and I will be spending a few hours during this coming weekend to explore Sakura Taisen further.A special limited edition set of Sakura Taisen will also be available today (Sept. 23, 1996) which includes a white colored Saturn mouse, a mouse pad and a laminated portrait sheet of the main characters in the game. Fans of Front Mission should definitely check Sakura out for its gameplay and its superb graphics. My highest recommendation.

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