I consider myself a casual anime watcher: when I'm up late playing Team Fortress 2, I like some background noise, so Adult Swim is a nice filler for me. Other times, I'll watch the subs if the anime shows real promise (Haruhi, Shana, Lucky Star), and last year I cried manly tears each week to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. You don't need to like anime to enjoy the series: all you need is a love for all things hot-blooded and manly. In a world where the protagonist of every anime is a tremendous pussy, this anime challenges you to KICK REASON TO THE CURB! TO THE IMPOSSIBLE! FIGHT THE POWER!

Sadly, anime adaptations of games are piss poor, and the only safe bets are fighters (DBZ, Bleach, even fucking Inuyasha) and when an anime tries something different, it's either a poor beat 'em up, or a text adventure that stays in Japan (seriously now; Shana gets a DS game and it's a text adventure. The fact that I can't jump around slashing shit is absoludicrous). Konami decided it was time to make a DS adaptation of the anime, and decided to take a really different approach. It's not a fighter, it's not a novel, and it's not a beat 'em up. Like Gurren Lagann itself, it grabs bits of games, shouts "COMBINE!" and jams them altogether. But do they lock in place, or is it an indecipherable Transformer, bent and contorted into something unplayable?

Please forgive this posts' lack of images; I can't seem to find any good ones, and the site won't let me copypaste them. Here's a link to see the game for yourself:

http://www.konami.jp/gurren-lagann/game/



Plot

Regarding the plot of the game, it seems pretty ambitious. There's a counter on my save file that counts each battle, up to 145. I'm on 26, and I just witnessed the death of...well, you know...

Anywho, that's a pretty good sign, since it seems like the game actually covers the entire series. If battles 1-25 cover episodes 1-8 (at least, I think that's right. Someone double check that for me), and there's still OVER 100 battles after, then yea, this better cover the entire fucking series.

Another important note is that the game adds quite a bit to the plot. I can't read japanese, so it's hard to tell how much of it is just filler missions, but it goes out of the way to add two new characters to the beginning of the game, has them in a few conversations, then yanks them out when the "real" plot (the actual anime plot) kicks in. They're not too intrusive, but they add something.

EDIT: These characters actually appear in the DVD included with the game. It was supposed to be aired, but was scrapped, presumably because of the 2ch incident after ep 4 aired.

The other thing worth pointing out is that the game takes the plot and moves it at its own pace; most of the missions in the beginning have you playing as Kamina in the Gurren, acting out some of the earlier battles, and a few battles that weren't in the anime. The beginning definitely feels slower, and I don't think you get to actually combine Gurren and Lagann until the 6th or so mission, maybe later. But then in other parts, the game might blast through it.

For instance, that episode where Rossiu, the village, Gimmy, and Darry are all introduced is hardly shown. You crash into the village, talk to some people, fight one battle underground, then the kids join you to the serface. You don't even meet (or see!) the head of the village, but I hated him, so having that part be brief was awesome.

Graphics
The game's graphics are really pretty. Conversations use portraits of the characters, which get the job done. Some scenes use actual snippets from the show, but sadly lack any actual animation. This is a shame, because it could have really used it to liven things up a bit. Even Lunar Knights and Mega Man ZX Advent had cutscenes.

While navigating your tiny, sidescrolling map, you'll see a few sprites of the characters standing there. They don't ever do anything besides stare at the screen, so it's pretty boring, and Kamina's sprite looks a tad odd. Simon and Boota animate pretty well, however, but since nothing ever happens on the map, it's pretty bland. It'd be nice to see the sprites act out scenes and stuff. The new characters used are done by the animators, so they don't look out of place, which is swell.

The 3D character models is where the game really shines. Gurren, Lagann, and the rest of the Ganmen look great. Watching Gurren perform the WHO DO YOU THINK I AM KICK is a treat. The attacks all animate really well, and are pretty faithful to the show, though the game gives you a shitload of moves that were never in the anime. Gurren Lagann gets some unique weapons, like a rifle, a rocket launcher, and a few others. Regardless, the moves from the anime are performed just as you expect.

The last complaint I have is that the environments are all pretty bland; if you fight in the rocky areas in the beginning, you fight on a flat arena with a rock texture everywhere and a canyon as a square fence around it. Other times you fight on a battleship, or near the infamous volcano before the death of you-know-who, but it's all the same thing. Some obstacles would have been nice.

Sound

The sound's pretty strong. Sadly, the game lacks full voice acting, which is another shame, because the few bits where they actually do use voice acting has the cast performing all their lines. Attacks are announced, so performing GEEGAH DORILLU BREAKAH is as loud and noisy as you expect. Some scenes have the characters yelling or whatever during the important parts, but no full chunks of dialog are delivered. Bummer.

The music's all there, which is great. When the base is attacked, you'll hear the familiar "oh shit a fight's a brewin'" music start up, or you'll hear the triumphant fanfare where it needs to be. A few bland tunes are thrown in for the map sections, but seeing as those don't last for more than a minute, it's not a huge crime.

Gameplay

The gameplay can be described in two words: fucking weird. I already explained how nothing happens between battles; you're basically holding the B button to shoot through text to advance the plot. The battles are a whole different beast, and it's hard to categorize it.

Basically, you're on a map, usually square. You've got somewhere between 1 and 4 enemies on screen, and you either need to survive, or kill them all with your hot-blooded fighting spirit. Everyone walks around in real time, and you need to use the radar on the bottom screen to keep tabs on the action. Each attack has its own ATB bar, ala FF's 4-9, and when an attack's bar is full, it's ready to be used. But in order to use it, an enemy needs to be within the attack's range, which varies depending on what it is. Some have a long thin cone, others are a small circle around you, or a sector to your left or right. You need to watch these areas on your screen, and use attacks when the enemy is within range.

When you chose an attack, the action stops, and you enter a short timed, Paper Mario-esqe minigame using the touch screen. WHO DO YOU THINK I AM KICK requires connecting two colored wires, Heavy Machinegun has you tapping the strand of bullets that run through in order to manually load 10 bullets to be shot at the enemy, Lagann's Drill attack requires you to spin a gear, etc. If you succeed, you do optimal damage. Fail, and you do shit damage. It works, and works well; you'll be confused the first time you see the game, but it's easy to figure it out. The character performs his attack in a flashy manner, damage is dealt, and you get taken back to the map.

The other part of the combat system is customization. You're given a few different slots for GL, getting more attack slots as you progress. You start off with a ton of different moves, each with a different attack range, minigame, and body part association.

See, each attack requires a part of the mech: right and left arms, right and left legs, body, and head. If you get attacked, a body part prevents damage, but loses one armor point. When it has no points left, it's broken, and any attack associated with it won't work. Breaking your right leg means no WHO DO YOU THINK I AM KICK, so you'll need to rely on the rest of your equipped moves. As you progress you get more armor points, represented as one of three squares. Attach it to a body part, and it'll last longer, so you need to pick your moves and allot your armor wisely. It's a pretty clever system, and it works well. Some attacks, like Kamina's minigun, have the Gurren eating up one of these squares (literally. He lifts it and the Ganman gobbles it up) and using the gun to shoot it out. This means you need to consider if you really want to sacrifice part of your armor points to use an attack. Use it to much, and you might lose a move for the rest of the battle.

Controlling the Ganmen in battle is a bit frustrating. First of all, you're ALWAYS walking foward. You can run, and you can sprint/boost, but you can't just stop. Because of this, you're constantly trying to align yourself to use certain attacks, but the enemy moves the entire time, too, so now you need to sloooooowly turn around, then turn around again and continue marching forward. God help you if you end up face to face with the other guy; he'll just get a bunch of cheapshots on you at point blank range, and when you try to run away to create space. Turning is either done with the face buttons/Dpad, depending on handedness, or the touch screen. It's all pretty shitty, however, and a major bummer. Mech games will NEVER have good controls.

The whole combat system is really unorthodox; it's got RPG elements, but lacks any real experience system. The combat is both real time and turn based, and the minigames make it all weirder. It works, and it's pretty neat, but some people may find it repetitive. It could definately be fleshed out more, but it's not horrible by any means.

Import friendliness/Localization Probability

If you know the anime, the plot is all familiar. Choosing moves can be confusing, but if you look at the radar diagrams and body part labels for each, it's really easy to figure out. Obviously, you need to experiment with all the moves and see which ones work best, but the diagrams and charts are easy enough to figure out that you don't have to try each individual one.

The anime itself is being released sometime this year, and hopefully Adult Swim will pick it up, which seems highly likely according to different sources. If the anime gets enough viewers (tell all your friends about it!), then the game seems pretty probable for a release either late 2008 or early 2009, depending on when they finish all 27 episodes. Wait a bit before buying it, but if you MUST get your TTGL fix, "acquiring" it on your R4 (not that you own one of course!) is fine.

Overall, it's a pretty fun game, and a love letter to fans of the series. It's unorthodox, and the combat could use a few control tweaks, but it's not a total disaster. 7/10 as it is now, 8/10 if the localization has decent voice acting and possibly refined controls, though I feel that's a bit generous.