A extremely fun and memorable game that everyone should try if they find it!
Steambot Chronicles is just a fun game. I could end it there, but that wouldn't make a good review would it? :P The story talks about a boy called Vanilla who wakes up with amnesia and gets awaken by a girl called Connie. He sees a wrecked ship, and can't remember it, but Connie says he must have been in that ship and swept onto shore. You play as Vanilla and find out what happened to yourself, and finally find the truth. On the way, you'll be doing a lot of side-quests, rescuing Connie, playing music, and always land yourself in a trouble (such as missing a train, not enough room on a train or taking someone to a place because the train broke down) so IREM can add those precious minutes to your total game time at the end. The story overall is ok, but is too fluffy and generic for my liking.
Starting with the gameplay. The gameplay is great with a couple of flaws here and there, such as the confusing control scheme which when playing through in your first 2 hours or so will be very hard to adapt to, and plus that putting parts to your "Trotmobile" (machines that walk and do various tasks) can be rather confusing for a newcomer. However, once getting past the rather hard learning curve, everything falls into place and you find yourself in a fun game with difficulty that is just about right for most casual players, and may be even easy for players that play a lot of RPG's or action games.
The game world is easily one of the most memorable parts for me, as it is very insiprational and has nearly everything, from the desert to towns with walking trotmobiles and port towns. Nearly every type of environment is covered in this game, and the graphics are very solid in bringing out the best in these environments. Up close, character models are rather poor but the "anime/celshade" style makes up for this, and makes the environments and the characters really shine out. However, this all comes with one consequence, slow down. The slow down isn't as bad as it is made out to be in the GS review, however it is noticeably there but it won't affect your game and will not certainly put you off it.
The sound varies throughout the game. The voice acting is very good, with voice actors saying their lines very well, and is very top notch. The singing (done by Nadia Gifford) is ok/good, the lyrics are a bit weak at times and the vocalist is ok (it's not great) but it fits the game really well, and the score is done well by background instruments. There are 5 tracks in total, with In Your Voice being the most memorable as it is easy to hum whilst you're walking down the street (yes, I've done it countless times :P ) . The music when you're walking about town however and entering buildings is very generic however, and there's really nothing special about any of them. The game also plays host to a very horrible song called "Music Revolution", which I'll leave you the honor of listening too...
This game is selling for £15 in GAME (for UK) and is reported several times to be in bargain bins in the US. It's well worth it. If you want a decent RPG to sink your teeth into without fear of the game finishing in less then 10 hours, then this is the one. With a cheap price tag and solid gameplay and style, there's no reason to get this. For me, I really enjoyed this game. It was very fun and very memorable and whilst things could have been improved in areas, the end product is nothing short of great. - Review written by OsotogariThrow (check out my blog!)