Future Tactics: The Uprising Review

Developer	Zed Two
Publisher	Crave Entertainment
Genre	Strategy

The strategy RPG genre has really taken off over the past couple of years; at least in the console world. Games like La Pucelle: Tactics, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, and Final Fantasy: Tactics have all introduced console gamers to a relatively new world of gameplay. The appeal for those bored with normal turn-based RPGs is that the strategy involved allows for a little more excitement and interactivity than simply “point, click, wait your turn, repeat.”

It’s refreshing to see that the genre has reached such a mainstream status that even bargain titles are given the strategy treatment. And that’s just what Future Tactics is: a bargain title. For the admission price of $20, you’re given what amounts to an entry-level strategy title, that if it doesn’t bore you too much with its repetitive gameplay, should get newcomers geared up for something a bit meatier.

Gameplay - As the title implies, Future Tactics takes place in a futuristic setting in which “creatures” have taken over the land. Bands of humans are left to fight for survival and to rid their world of these…”creatures”. The game begins with the hero, Low, and his father, who is cleverly known only as “Father”. You can see right off the bat that the game tends to be a bit on the generic side. After Low’s father bites it, he and his sister Pepper are out for revenge and, eventually, peace.

Those of you familiar with the strategy game format will fall right into familiar territory. Battles are turn-based and each character can move within a certain range and choose from two types of attacks: Line of Sight and Ballistic Trajectory. The Line of Sight incorporates an unusual targeting system in that the player has to guide a constantly moving target over the enemy and stop the target at just the right moment. It’s a bit frustrating at first because the target is extremely sensitive, but after a bit of practice it actually works quite well. Ballistic Trajectory switches to an overhead view and allows you to damage a group of enemies within a certain range.

At the end of your players’ turns you can rest, defend, or heal. However, you have to recharge your defense before using it again, and healing makes you vulnerable during the enemy’s turn.

Future Tactics does a number of things right. For example, it allows you to fast forward through the sometimes painful cut scenes. The game mechanics are also quite imaginative and clever for a budget title. Adding an element of surprise to the game is the fact that some objects are destructible, allowing you to blow a boulder off a hill and land on an enemy.

However, it also does a few less forgivable things. The aforementioned cut scenes come to mind. Also, the AI is relentlessly idiotic at times, even to the point where enemies often kill themselves by accident. And perhaps most unfortunate is that the game is mercilessly repetitive. Later levels don’t get harder or varied, they just get longer and test your patience more than your skills. Enemies don’t get more intelligent, they just get larger health meters. The levels themselves are also relatively uninspired and redundant.

Luckily, Future Tactics does have a two-player mode that almost makes up for the monotony of its single-player experience. And this is especially good news for those who will be disappointed by the bumbling AI. Two-player mode plays just like the single player mode, and new objectives are opened by completing certain stages in the single-player mode.

Graphics - Future Tactics has a very clean – if drab – cartoon look that looks almost as though it belongs on the Saturday morning lineup. However, nothing is richly detailed and many levels look as though objects and obstacles were placed almost haphazardly. Again, one must keep in mind that this is a budget title and should not expect high production values. What you get with Future Tactics is a very clean, higher detailed N64 or PS2 title, graphically speaking.

Sound - It’s hard to pick a side with the soundtrack; you either tolerate it or hate it. We hated it. It came off as very generic and repetitive, with the same sequences looped eternally. Our recommendation is to shut off the soundtrack and turn on your stereo. Doing so may cause you to miss the voice-acting, which – while competent – is nothing to be missed; not through the fault of the actors, but mostly due to the blandness of the storyline.

Bottom Line - I can’t be too hard on a title that is admittedly for the budget shelf. For a game with obviously lean production resources, Future Tactics does an adequate job of introducing newcomers to the strategy genre. It has some very unique and inspired game mechanics (the targeting system, for example) and does a number of things well. With that being said, newbies should be made aware that there are much deeper strategy RPG experiences out there, and many of the older ones (Final Fantasy Tactics) can be purchased at the same price. And for that very reason, it’s difficult to recommend this title.

Review by John Luedtke