WarTech: Senko no Ronde sets players in a not so distant future where humans have colonised new galaxies throughout the universe. In this world Earth has become a planet exploited for its natural resources. As nations struggle for control of this valuable asset, a violent war has erupted, filling the skies with Mechs. These Mechs will ultimately decide the fate of the world through aerial combat.

WarTech: Senko no Ronde attempts to combine a shooting game with a fighting game, but ultimately does neither terribly well. The game opens with a fantastic narrated introduction. The artwork is brilliant and really sets the scene for a wonderful game. The introduction however appears to have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the game.

At the heart of WarTech: Senko no Ronde is a 2D shooter that plays like a side scrolling one-on-one fighting game. During battles you have a small arsenal of different attacks you can use. Your Main Weapon Attack is your standard attack. You’ve also got your Sub Weapon Attack which, depending on your character, will produce a variety of results from homing missiles to spread bombs. In conjunction with these and other minor attacks is B.O.S.S. Mode, which for a short period enables you to perform extremely powerful attacks as a B.O.S.S.

This may sound all well and good; a fighting game with shooting and a decent variety of attacks. But the problem lies in the erratic and random game play. There is no basis or strategy to the button mashing fighting. Firing bullets in all directions with the hope of them not being blocked becomes extremely tedious very fast.

There is a large multitude of modes to play, but they are all as lacklustre as the game play. The story mode takes all of 20 minutes to complete and features subtitles that, if you choose to read, leave you with no chance of winning the battle. The Xbox Live portion features one-on-one battles; however there is a shortage of opponents, and those that are found are generally experts from Japan who will take little time in cleaning you up.

To be fully appreciated, WarTech: Senko no Ronde really requires the right type of gamer, and not too many of those are to be found in New Zealand. If anime-style games with lots of laser sounds and explosions are up your alley then by all means fork out the $120, but for the average gamer, $120 is going to feel like very little next-gen game for a whole lot of coin.