Ring of Red
This one almost has me hooked.
The Konami dev team is a bit unusual with many veterans who worked on Iron Storm for the Saturn. That game was a straight strategy game with a wide scope. Ring of Red is much more ambitious. It’s set within an alternate post-WWII history and the combat is presented as a tense tug of war.
Instead of accepting the unconditional surrender of the Potsdam conference, a defiant Japan struggles for a few more years, eventually leading to its division into three states. Somewhere along the way, tank-like mechs are invented. The main character, Masami, is a half-Japanese, half-German recruit who appears reluctant to accept his Japanese heritage, preferring to go by his last name, Weizegger. This setup really has me curious to see where the story will go and I’m surprised to see characters written this well.
The combat also surprised me with its innovative melding of tactics and real-time action. It’s like two steps away from Valkyria Chronicles. You move your mechs around the map just like in Fire Emblem or Advanced Wars, but once you attack, you are put into a tug-of-war. Here, you have the option to move forwards or backwards, send troops to the front or rear, or line up a shot on the opponent’s mech. You’re never guaranteed to hit. Instead, you manage the probability of a hit through positioning and time spent aiming. It can actually be tense and exciting at times. Unfortunately, more often than not, it winds up feeling slow and drawn-out.
I’m uncertain that more strategy will be introduced or if I’ll be left to repeat these long waiting games. But I’m intrigued by the plot. I think I’ll play one more mission before I decide to put it down for good.