Vanguard Bandits was a game my brother and I played a lot as kids. It had amazing Japanese mechs coupled with branching storylines and colourful characters. So I was surprised to grow up and find out not a lot of people got to play this amazing gem of a game. For the Nostalgia Soul series, I'll discussing everything but the graphics except to note if it stood the test of time and instead of an overall section, it will have 'Does it still hold up' section. Now let's get started!
Plot: The plot to vanguard bandits is a tale of politics and badass mechas! You meet Bastion who lives in seclusion with his father Savaro and in the first scene we see Bastion and his father fighting off bad guys in Mechs called ATACs. They fend them off and meet two girls named Ione and Reyna who join their adventures against the evil Empire.
Now here's where it gets interesting. During points in the game, if certain criterias or choices are made the game branches off the main storyline into a completely new one with completely different party members, fights, choices and storylines.
Opinion: Vanguard bandits has an amazing amount of replayability for a game made in the late 90s. The first few times I played it as a kid, I only ever went through the main storyline only to accidentally stumble upon one of the other branches replaying it as a teen. Each story line differs considerably from the other and friends you made in one, might try to kill you in another. 4/5 Soul
Setting: The setting for vanguard bandits is weird in a way. Here you have all these amazing fighting robots, and then they fight in a very medieval setting. It's explained that the robots are excavated from ruins of old but other than the robots and ruins, there are no signs of modern technology or even remnants of them. 2/5 Soul
Character(s): I'm not going to talk about each and every character the way I did with my Tales of Xillia review because there are too many to count spanning all the different storylines, so I'll stick to the main character and how he interacts with the rest of the massive cast.
Bastion is a typical mid 90s Shounen anime character, he's hot headed but kind and grows in different ways depending on the branch you pick. The characters that surround him never feel one dimentional aside from a select few like the Loli character who's there to be cute and pilot a massive ugly robot. There's also this amazing princess character who pilots this gigantic blue heirloom ATAC. 4/5 Soul
Gameplay: This game incorporates tactical RPGs ala Final Fantasy Tactics and a dating sim. After every fight you're able to shop in the town you're currently in and interact with each character to improve their impression towards you which may or may not have an effect in the story and their growth. The tactical rpg genre is a dying genre with modern games opting for more fast paced combat and gameplay but if you're nostalgic for the genre, give it a go. 3/5 Soul
How does it hold up? Vanguard bandits is a fun game but I can't sit here and lie to you and say my judgment is not marred by nostalgia because it is. But then again it's the point of the series. My advice is pick it up if you're feeling nostalgic for the genre but have already played and replayed Final Fantasy Tactics a million times and need something new (old). 3/5 Soul
Join me next time when I review Final Fantasy 13!
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