‘The wise men say, “There is no end to the truth.” ‘

For as long as humanity can remember, our universe has been engulfed in a tragic, planet-consuming war. The endless bloodshed revolves around three valuable and limited natural resources.

Mech Platoon, a Game Boy Advance release from KemCo, continues the legendary Mech games. Does it advance well to the GBA? Yes. This is a game that was sterling on the PC, but works well on the handheld platform. This is not only combat, but strategic battle.

There are several options when it comes to game play. After completing the tutorial section of the game, you must align yourself with one of three factions – Leon, Trampler or Minos. Once that is done, you are whisked away to a distant planet, to fend off or defeat opposing forces, collect resources, and advance your force’s technology by building research labs.

This is all stock stuff for the RTS genre.

Controls in this game are a bit more complex than the typical GBA-platform product. But it does fall in line quite nicely with the Mech universe. The control pad will allow movement throughout the map board, while the A button inputs command selections, while the B button cancels them. The R and L buttons allow for fast scrolling, or allows players to scroll through units. The Start button will allow players to bypass some of the cutscenes or open the mission menu, and the Select button, clicked on during the game, opens the radar screen.

Graphically the game is well realized. The animation is quite good, and sending mechs all over the game’s map board, to destroy the opposition (the grenade mechs lob explosives), mine resources or build up your base can be enjoyable.

The sound features nice little sound effects coupled with an irritating musical score. The game comes without an options menu to turn off the music. Yes, you can simply turn down the volume control, but then you lose the effects as well.

Another setback is the manual for the game. For example, when you start a real game, you will be instructed to form your units. The manual is not very clear on how to do this. Here is one line from the manual that makes little sense: “You can use your unit up to eight units.” What does that mean?

The game does feature some solid challenges. If you align yourself with Trampler, you will be transported to a planet called Ravine. Your first mission is to destroy all Minos warehouses – oh, and you have 15 minutes to do it. It’s not that hard to do, but you will have to focus and pursue your game plan doggedly. The missions getting tougher as you go.

This game has challenges, some solid animation, but has to overcome some obstacles.

Gameplay: 7.5
This is a mission-based game that moves well once you enter a level of play.

Graphics: 7.5
The little mech units are well animated. The environments are not that intriguing, or detailed, but they serve the game play well.

Sound: 6
The music is annoying and can overwhelm the effects.

Difficulty: 8
The manual can be more of a hindrance than a help, skipping lightly over topics that should be explained better. However, if you have had any experience with this style of game, you should be able to work through the obstacles.

Concept: 7
A little elementary, but still this game takes the Mech series and transfers it reasonably well to this platform.

Multiplayer: N/A
Game Link cables will allow you to hook up to other Game Boy Advance units for multiplayer gaming.

Overall: 7
This game could have used an options menu. You may think that simply turning off the sound is viable, but if you are working in another area of the gameboard, and you have off-screen units attacked, those explosion will let you know you need to find them and coordinate a counter-attack. The animation is fine, the environmental graphics simplistic, but this still manages to be a nice RTS for the GBA platform.