Future Tactics: The Uprising (GCN)

Review by: Nemorian

Reviewers Score: 5 / 10

Posted: November 1, 2007

Title: Future Tactics: The Uprising
System: Gamecube
Genre: TBT/RPG
Difficulty: Medium
Score: 5/10

A game I've heard little about, so I figured I'd write a brief review for it. For those unfamiliar with that term, TBT stands of Turn-Based Tactical.

Graphics (5/10)

While the graphics aren't that bad, they aren't that good either. The character models are pretty well done (though Low's arms are a bit bizarre), my biggest gripe about the characters is that there's only about 7 or 8 different types of enemies. The landscaping is decent for the GC, but there are a few glitches. Sometimes the characters jump onto a ledge that clearly isn't there, a section of the cliffside in episode 2 is a prime example of this. The characters can jump halfway up the cliff and land on something invisible. On a few other episodes, the levels are so dark I couldn't really tell what the layout of the map in places, and it gets confusing.

Sounds (3/10)

The music is okay for a while, but it eventually began to get on my nerves. I forget how many battle themes there are, but there wasn't enough variety to keep it from driving me nuts after about the fourth episode. The sound effects were few apart from gunshots and explosions, but those were done well enough I can't really complain about them. The voice acting was... questionable. A couple of the voices were okay, but others were just annoying. Still, some of the lines are funny despite the VA issue.

Storyline (7/10)

It starts out being rather cliché. Family of three (Father, Low and Pepper), living off somewhere to avoid monsters, Father gets killed, and Low takes it upon himself to take care of his sister Pepper, yadda yadda yadda. I doubt you can call yourself a gamer and not have seen this before, or something similar. It leads off in the direction of killing immortal monsters, to save the planet or die trying. Also a bit cliché, though it does have a couple twists along the way, like where the monsters came from since they basically just appeared out of nowhere, the origin of something they acquire in the first half of the game, and the "Stranger's" secret.

Gameplay (6/10)

The story is divided into episodes, and you can read the journal before each one that can give a little more backstory about what's going on, or what to get ready for in the next battle. There's one battle per episode, as with most games like this. Episodes are usually beaten in one of two ways: Get all characters to a certain point on the map, or kill all the monsters, occasionally protecting someone as you do. You're limited in each episode, since you can't choose which characters you use for each one, which can be really annoying if the monsters are level 20-something and one of the characters you're forced to use isn't even in the double digits.
In battle you can use two main types of attacks, line of sight and ballistic. Line of sight is just what it sounds like, you switch to a first person view to aim the character's weapon in three stages. In the first you try to get it to the general center of the scope, then in the other two you get more exact with the crosshairs. Your damage depends on accuracy, as much as what level you are... bonus damage for headshots, of course. Ballistic is more of a radar aim and much more imprecise, you only have two things to do before firing, setting the distance and direction. Both kinds of attacks require timing to pull them off, so I can't recommend it if you don't have good reflexes. I think there are also melee attacks, but I've never used one. In my experience the monsters keep their distance, only closing in if the character in question is on the brink of death to deliver the killing blow.
Speaking of the monsters, that's one of the problems of gameplay. It seems like they are both extremely stupid and accurate. The monster and character could be at opposite ends of a map, the character mostly hidden behind a rock, and the monster would somehow pull off a headshot. Other times they shoot regardless of what stands between them and their target, from objects to walls to their own allies... I've seen them kill each other a number of times, and walk into their own landmines without even trying to avoid them. It's helpful if I'm outgunned, but still annoying that the AI is that stupid.
As you kill monsters stronger than your characters, they gain exp and in turn gain levels, as is the standard in RPGs. However, strewn about the episodes are skill upgrades you can find. The skill you get depends on the character, each character can get five skills but always the same ones and in the same order, plus they have to be a certain level to be able to use them. Say your character is 5, but the skill is for level 7, you can still use the upgrade to get it but you won't be able to use it until you gain a couple levels. Simple. If your character has all five skills, but you use an upgrade kit on them anyway, it acts as a first aid kit and restores them to full health.
The battlegrounds are almost fully destructible, which was one of my favorite things about the game. The ground gets cratered from ballistic attacks, which can give your characters a decent place to hide if there's nowhere else for cover. Some objects, like certain rocks, can be shot and knocked around. This can be very useful in taking out enemies that seem to take your attacks with little damage, just blast a rock or car onto them and squish, no more monster. Or if there's a deathdrop in the level, like the one where you're trying to cross a bridge, you can use a ballistic attacker like Scallion to blow a hole in the bridge right out from under the monster's feet.
Other than that, the game is pretty short. Only 19 episodes total... 20 depending on how you look at it. There is a battle mode for two-player conflicts, or against the AI, and you can unlock things for it during the story mode. However, unless you have another TBT nut as a friend, you'll be stuck battling against the same daft AI in that mode as well.

Replayability (4/10)

During the first playthrough, you move all your characters, the enemy moves theirs, and so on until the battle is done. On the second, it alternates. One of your characters, then one of the monsters, making things a bit different. You could also try out different skill upgrades and look for any kits you might have missed since most are buried or hidden in some other way. Still, I don't know how many people would be up to playing through again after beating it. I sure wasn't, unlike when I play certain other games.

Overall (5/10)

Decent graphics, annoying music, occasional chuckles, okay gameplay and a storyline punctured with some clichés. I make it sound quite grand, don't I? Still, if you're a die-hard TBT (turn-based tactical) fan like myself, it's worth a rent... it'll probably only take that long to beat it anyway.