TBT Ring of Red

When I think of rare games, my mind always seems to end up fixate on Japanese titles for some reason; and that's why for the most part, I don't think I will have that sort of collectable feeling towards many ps3 games outside of maybe games like Ni no Kuni. My first game to share on TBT will be Ring of Red. Released in Japan in September 2000 (March 2001 in NA), it was out pretty early into the life cycle of the ps2.

Ring of Red is an interesting strategy game because it has a pseudo action segment mixed in with the turn based strategy. It takes place in an alternate history in the 1960's, which sees Japan turned into a modern day Korean. After World War II, Japan didn't surrender, and the U.S. took over the south side, while Russia took over the North. Boarders were drawn, and you can see where the Korea reference comes in. Now the other part of the alternate history that comes into play is the best part, skirmishes involve giant walking tanks, which is pretty bad ass.

I remember playing this game a good 10 years ago when I found it lying around a game store used. As you will come to learn about me, I love my mech games (I am a huge Gundam fan), so the theme drew me in. Anyway, back then I had a bit of trouble with the game. It ain't easy, and having recently played it again, I can say I didn't approach the game properly the first time. Think about any RPG you've played...  Alright, now who is the strongest character in that game? It's the main character right!? Wrong. Ring of Red is actually quite balanced when it comes to the mechs. There are 4 difference types: short range light-armoured recons, mid-range balanced types, long-range slow guys, and melee units. They all work in a rock-paper-scissors sort of deal, but none of this is really explained to you… but I suppose it's kind of obvious.

So as I've said, I recently replayed it, and I can say it isn't as hard as I remember it being; but man, most missions are long. Once you obtain all your units (which is a total of 8, 2 of each type) you are constantly outnumbered as you are in most turn-based  games, but I don't remember any other game sending so many reinforcements at you. It felt like they sent them every single mission. Missions take anywhere between an hour near the beginning of the game to about 2-3 hours near the end, and this is in large part due to the pseudo action combat.

Pseudo action combat.

The way the combat works is mainly for flair haha--it does look cool though! Each mech has its own ideal range, and in combat you are on a dueling plain where you can move forwards or backwards. Pretty simple: you want to stay inside your optimum range, while avoiding your enemies. Your best bet is to do match ups (long range vs. melee for instance). You sort of move back and forth on the plain until your cannon is loaded, then you go into this sweet looking aimer view, and wait for your hit percentage to go up and then shoot. While the developers went through the trouble of making combat look cool, that is in fact all it is since if you clearly hit X while the reticule is off the enemy mech, you can still hit it because it's only using the percentage... Bummer I know (hence why I’ve coined combat as being “pseudo” action-like). Battles are suppose to be about 90 seconds, but they can last a while longer once everyone starts using special abilities, and when there are like 20-30 enemies you have to fight, it can take a while to complete a mission. At least you're able to save and quit mid mission.

In the end, this game will always be a classic. The setting is interesting, the walking tanks are pretty original and there is just so much they put into the game, I didn't even talk about the soldiers you get to bring with you, adding a layer of customizability to your individual mech strategy. If you're a fan of turn based strategy, I would highly recommend picking it up. It was actually made available on the PSN in 2011 ($9.99 in NA). If you have a ps3, go play it!