The premise and the thing that makes R.A.D. so unique is this: you do not control the robot itself, rather, you control the person who controls the robot, called a Meganite. You do control the robot, but only after finding a good vantage point which to see the battle from with your character and then switching controls to the robot and watching the carnage through the "hero's" eyes. But that's not the only thing that makes this game unique, since there's also the well thought-out, control scheme. It does however have a bit of a learning curve. Here's how it works: R1 moves the right leg forward. R2 moves it backward. Hold them together to turn the robot to the right. L1/L2 do the same, for the left side of the robot. The D-Pad tilts and turns the upper body. Triangle shoots lasers. Circle shoots missiles. Square transforms the Meganite it's alternate variant depending on which of the three selectable Meganites you select. Hold R1 and L1 together to charge up and shoot bigger missile and lasers and do various special moves. The analog sticks are used to hit the enemy in close combat in a variety of attacks, a very important and awesome feature of the game. The story is this: everytime there has been a manned space mission, all of the crews died while in space. Scientists eventually figured out that this was all due to a substance called the "Nectar Radiance" floating around in space. Suffice to say the Nectar Radiance destroys all life forms. Soon after a man named Tsukioka started an organization called the Trillenium Committee, which was to ensure that mankind would survive until the year 3000 and then be replaced by the ultimate form of evolution: giant robots. Tsukioka goes broke building the robots, dies, and the Committee is "disbanded." Meanwhile, a new threat has arisen. Many scientists are theorizing that an alien civilisation called the Volgara have already attained this perfect point of evolution. There is now a threat that the Volgara, who are now giant robots, will cross the "Nectar Barrier" and destroy the Earth. The Trillenium Committee decides to put weapons on all of its robots, just in case. A Volgara Laborer appears in a Japanese city called Senjo and now it's time for the hero to come to the rescue by controlling the Meganites and destroying the Volgara invaders. R.A.D. features over fifty missions and about seven cities and landscapes, all being quite large. In each level, you have to destroy the enemy, but to avoid being repetetive, some levels ask you to protect a bus full of people trying to evecuate the city, protect certain buildings, or sometimes, your Meganite stops working. Then you go into hero mode to find and destroy the signal jammers which are keeping your controller's signals from getting to the robot. Even though these are there to make things more interesting, it doesn't really change the gameplay that much. I'm not saying it isn't fun, but the main objective is always the same: destroy the other robot. For example, the bus you have to protect is stalled in the middle of the street. All you have to do is use your robot to pick it up, take it a block or two in the opposite direction of the Volgara, set it down and then go kill. Nothing too extreme, but the game is still very fun. Level destruction is rampant throughout the fully destructible levels, and it is extremely satisfying to land an uppercut on a Volgara and see it careen through a skyscraper. R.A.D. also features an enjoyable multiplayer option. There's only one mode of play, and its an all-out brawl, but it's still a lot of fun. You can use any Meganite or Volgara you want to in multiplayer, and interesting strategies are created when the players Meganites decide to target the poor heroes on the ground. There are some "downsides" to the big robot destruction fest, however, as the sound will definetely get on some people's nerves. The voice acting is, suffice to say, pathetic in many places, and you will either get a huge kick out of or be absolutely disgusted by it, depending on your opinion of such things. Also, there is a rather convulted series of romance and relationship issues through all of the robot carnage, and some people may be put off by the whining, confusion, and angst which characters may express at different times. A plus, however, is that if you do become interested in the characters and do (or fail to) certain tasks, your actions during the game will lead to a variety of different paths and endings as the story winds on. All in all RAD is an awesome game with many nifty features and a surprisingly long single-player campaign which should keep any giant robot fans busy for quite a good amount of time.
Ahhh, RAD. No, that’s not a slang term from the 80s; it’s the acronym for a new mech sim from Sandlot. You choose from one of three characters with relatively interchangeable stories and horrific voice actors. After some... Read Full Review
RAD could've been a good game but is plagued with downfalls. The graphics aren't good, the characters are annoying and I didn't like the controls. The visuals could have used a lot of improvement , and the voice acting... Read Full Review
