Review: Battle Engine Aquila (XBX)

Battle Engine Aquila (BEA) gives you the chance to pilot a futuristic tank that can change from a spidery-looking walker to a sleek jet fighter.

The story commences on a planet not too dissimilar to Earth called Allium, where rapid climate changes have caused the polar ice caps to melt, oceans to increase, and land to become a valuable commodity. Two nations (the Forseti and Muspell) have prepared for this, but the Muspell have launched a sneaky invasion on Forseti land in the hopes of expanding their beleaguered territory. The Forseti have designed a Battle Engine that handles like as a cargo loader and have called on the considerable talents of a lowly dock worker, Hawk Winter (loader by day, champion loader-racer by night) to pilot it. The story is interesting and spliced with decent FMV before and after your missions; but with few twists and predictable plot-lines, it rarely attempts to inspire.

While the story is a bit of a letdown, the gameplay attempts to make up for it. Each mission begins with a cutscene and a mission briefing explaining the objectives, although occasionally these will change during the mission via radio transmissions, which also give updates on how the rest of the battle is going. Each mission has a set of primary objectives, and achieving these is enough to complete the mission, but fulfilling secondary objectives will unlock alternative missions. These are generally just variations on the standard types (eg. defending your base/carrier, protecting convoys, and a few times taking part in an attack on Muspell-held territory) but there are drastic differences later on. Whatever the actual objective is, it usually involves destroying all of the enemy forces. There are a few different weapons in the game, from lasers to machine guns and missiles, but most of these are very similar to each other.

The level design is one area that BEA does very well. Playing the game gives you the feeling of being a smaller part of the whole. With or without your contribution, the battle rages on around you; enemy tanks will clash with your forces, reinforcements are brought in by transports, and bombers sweep across the sky protected by fighter escorts. Each mission feels like being in someone else’s RTS game. However, as you are the most powerful unit on the battlefield, your actions have considerable influence - as you can wipe out whole units of enemy forces on your own, or save one of your own units from being wiped out. Enemy forces will focus their attacks on you while allied forces will rally around you and attempt to provide support. Each of the missions is varied enough to keep you entertained and offers an engaging challenge.

The controls are well thought out and after a few tries everything becomes instinctive. The Battle Engine is very manoeuverable on the ground, but a little difficult to control in the air for anything other than flying straight. The Battle Engine has two bars: an energy bar that acts as a shield in walker mode (and as fuel in jet mode), and a life bar. Jet mode quickly uses up energy, which is recharged while in walker mode. The life bar quickly depletes when getting shot at, but you can find repair pads to recharge both bars instantly.

The in-game graphics are very well produced, sometimes bordering on the impressive. There’s no noticeable slowdown at any point in the game, despite on occasion there being large numbers of allied and enemy units on screen. The explosion effects look good and the landscape is generally vast, with rolling plains or islands surrounded by immense oceans. The sound effects serve their purpose well, and you can usually hear the sounds of a chaotic battle taking place all around you. The music is atmospheric but also generic, not really standing out very much.

The multiplayer options are good, offering three different modes. There’s the usual one-on-one “beat ‘em up” mode (each player controlling a Battle Engine), as well as a co-op mode - where both players are on the same side with the objective being to wipe out the enemy - and the final mode has two players on opposite sides. An option to play through the main campaign in co-op mode would have been nice. Completing mission objectives unlocks various “goodies”, which range from design art, mission videos, unit specifications and even a couple of Battle Engine races.

While the game offers surprising depth in its level designs, the gameplay is usually the same - just a fairly generic shooting game. There are other annoying factors, like the way enemy forces always unrealistically focus their attacks on the player (ignoring other forces), and some of the missions are incredibly difficult, especially later on, creating a sense of frustration. But possibly the most annoying and ridiculous of flaws is the Battle Engine’s Achilles Heel: it can’t withstand water. Get the Battle Engine into the drink, and it’s game over. As most of the levels take place in or around islands, this can be a very difficult proposition to overcome.

Battle Engine Aquila can be very entertaining at times and meets all the ground rules laid out for the mission-based sci-fi genre, but it doesn’t actually break any new ground. While the overall idea is innovative, the gameplay itself isn’t. However, there are a lot of missions to get through - 26 standard missions and 16 branching ones - so you won’t be finishing this in a weekend. Regardless, the game is more of a renter than one to buy, as you will experience pretty much everything it has to offer within a few hours of play.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Gopinath Chandran