Future Tactics: The Uprising (PS2)
Turn-based strategy action for a mere $20.
In Future Tactics, you control a character named Low in an alien-overran Earth. Low has lost his father to an attack from these aliens, simply named Creatures. So far, they couldn’t be stopped because they posses regenerative powers. Fortunately, Low has discovered this and is now powered by the Immortality Engine. He has set out to free his fellow humans from the Creatures.
The game’s combat system is rather simple but effective. Your characters have various special abilities and weapons, which you can use on your foe. The battle scene has an area in which you can freely move around in, and designates who you can attack. Once you do attack, the circle gets smaller, but you are still allowed to move so you can hide behind something and evade an upcoming attack from the enemy. Among the weapon types are blasters, which you can manually aim, and ballistic weapons which clear a decent amount of an area. The game also features items, which can upgrade your weapon to make it stronger or more accurate. If fighting isn’t your team, you can heal or shield yourself.
The game features destructible environments that are just waiting to be destroyed. A simple shot will have a huge effect on the environment. You can destroy buildings, force a crater on the ground or roll a boulder with a simple shot. This adds some depth to the game since you can plan these attacks, although some of the more effective things like rolling a boulder aren’t player-controlled or very reliable. There are also times where there isn’t stuff to destroy – these missions really bore the game. Here, if you aren’t strong enough to win without hiding, you need to keep at it until you are.
Once you’re done with single-player, you can use your various unlockables in the game’s multiplayer mode.
The game’s visuals are straightforward with vague character detail for the human characters. The aliens fare a bit better, but not by much. The environments, although simple in architecture, have plenty of stuff to see, a lot of which can be destroyed. There is glass to shatter and walls to crumble, adding something for you to notice. The outdoor environments don’t feature much of this, which is a shame. The game’s audio is quite forgettable, and is way too repetitive. The voice acting is strong and sounds legitimately although the cheap script doesn’t help it much.
Future Tactics: The Uprising is pretty successful in its goal of blending action elements with more traditional turn-based strategy. The addition of character development and the cool destructible environments are also highpoints. Nonetheless, the basic premise is very straightforward and isn’t likely to satisfy more than casual fans of the genre. That said, the game is only $20 and for that amount, it’s a pretty good deal if you can deal with the simplicity.
-- Jose Liz
06/18/2004
