Supposedly, one of the main selling points of the Super Robot Taisen series that it often incorporates characters from other popular Namco franchises into its story. Therefore, for example, if you are a big fan of KOS-MOS from the Xenosaga games, you in for a real treat when you play Endless Frontier. Thankfully, Endless Frontier doesn’t rely on using its guest star power as its whole reason for existing, but instead concentrates a creating a really great gaming experience that just happens to have some nice fan service elements on the side.

The story for Endless Frontier is proving to be quite interesting with many varied threads that will hopefully all come together into something truly memorable. As the cast of characters continues to expand and the variety of locales I can visit grows ever larger, I cannot help be continually impressed with it. I’m not trying to gush or anything, but so far, I’m really enjoying the story and the often hilarious dialogue that accompanies it. Sure, I could probably complain about how some of the dialogue seems a little too localized and may not be as accurate as the otaku in my might prefer, but to be honest, I can’t really bring myself to carry. I’m just having too damn much fun.

Visually, the game can be broken down in to three distinct graphical styles. The world map and dungeon crawling sequences are the lowest of the low in terms of art, sporting a blocky 8-bit style. Towns and dialogue sequences utilize series a character art images that cycle through a variety of poses and expressions, but aren’t actually animated. To be honest, the game doesn’t really start to impress until you begin getting into battles. Characters models during battle sequences a decently detailed for a BS game and each character has nice variety of battle animations. The best part about battles though (aside from the awesome battle system) is the short animated sequences that appear whenever you activate a special move. Other than making your monster beatdowns look totally awesome, they’re also a great source of fanservice with lots of attention paid to each character’s particular assets.

Speaking of the battle system, I have been extremely pleased with the overall depth of the gameplay and variety of options available to me in any given situation. In any given battle sequence, I can choose attack skills, activate special moves, use spirit magic, activate support items, chain attacks together, and even call in other characters for support. In fact, I can do almost all of that and more in one turn if I have enough energy in my action bar (which I can replenish using items in the same turn!). The sheer amount of options available make every battle a blast to play, but unfortunately, that very same depth also makes for a rather steep learning curve at the beginning of the game. Still, once you master the system you’ll find yourself humming along through battles manipulating characters, activating items, and sifting through battle menus like a maestro conducting a symphony. It all just flows and makes for a fun, fast-paced experience.

The only real complaint I’ve had with Endless Frontier so far has been the complete lack of any sort subtitles to along with all the voice work in the game. All the characters are incredibly chatty, but it doesn’t do me a bit of good since I don’t understand a word their saying. Since most of these vocal work occurs when dealing with vendors and during battle sequences, I’m pretty sure I’m not missing anything, but it still would have been nice if Atlus would have taken the time to incorporate some sort of translation into the game.

Other than that one lonesome complaint, everything else in the game has been a blast so far. If things continue the same way for the rest of the game, I do believe you will see a very positive full review at some point in the future!

-LC1