War Tech Fighters Xbox One X Review

War Tech Fighters doesn't have a much of a compelling story but where it excels at is its giant robot combat. Having players pilot and customize their own War Tech and face hordes of enemies. The objectives quickly become tedious and the interface can be confusing but the combat in War Tech Fighters is where the title shines. Those who enjoyed titles such as Zone of the Enders and Strike Suit Zero will find a lot to love with War Tech Fighters.

War Tech Fighters has you in control of Nathan Romanis, an expert pilot who has the backing of his entire team. Living in one of the outer colonies the Zatros empire is seeking to expand and conquer all who don't encompass the nation. Hence, it's your job to push them back while constantly being outnumbered and outgunned. It's your standard, stop the corrupt empire anecdote with the conventional protagonist who can complete the unthinkable. What made the entire story a laugh riot was the terrible voice-acting.

You're given the option between 3 War Techs, giant mechanized robots that take inspiration from Japanese Animes such as Gundam and games like Zone of the Enders. These robotic suits come equipped with a turret, missile launcher, heavy cannon, shield, and sword. Controlling these giant robots is mostly easy, with everything linked to an energy meter.

The energy meter governs your boost and ammunition, recharging when not using said abilities or when you perform an execute attack. This prompts a cinematic kill for a specific enemy when near death such as stabbing it with your sword or a jump kick. Managing this meter becomes critical during the later levels as you'll need to dodge and return fire against hordes of enemies and powerful War Techs. Using your standard cannons locks on to specific targets while more advanced weapons like the missiles need you to remain locked using your targeting reticle. Sometimes you can choose to engage in close quarters combat with other War Techs. In this mode, you get up close and use basic light and heavy swings coupled with blocking and parrying to kill the target. If you fail to so, the battle resumes in aerial combat but if you manage to finish the target a cinematic of you slicing the target plays out.

The soundtrack does offer a healthy dose of rock. It definitely plays into the atmosphere of intense combat and lots of explosions. It's clear the developers wanted to capture the chaotic combat found in giant robot battles and the music score does the job of cultivating that climate. 

The interface does take some time getting used to. Navigating the menus is not easy, especially when upgrading. Your War Tech can be upgraded in the head, arms, torso, legs, shield, and sword. Each one providing powerful options to your weapons and defense and requiring resources gathered from completing missions. Which also net you experience based on your performance. There's also researching new items, training, survival mode, and the ability to replay levels for extra resources if you need a boost against the harder missions. But like I said, understanding the entire upgrading process takes some time.

What really causes War Tech Fighters to get stale is the objectives. While the scenery changes, each of the environments plays mostly the same. There are some environmental hazards such as remaining in high altitude when near a planet but nothing really stands out. The objectives also get stale very quickly. You'll end up performing much of the same actions such as destroying hordes of enemies, hacking into specific nodes, or investigating areas. The combat is fun but when you're performing the same actions over and over even that becomes dull.

War Tech Fighters doesn't have a deep enriching narrative or intricately designed levels. Instead, it is all about facing off in giant space battles against hordes of enemies, customizing your own robot of death and doing it all over again. It's a simple yet enjoyable title that does set out to create large scale fights using giant robots and successfully does so.
 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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