It's almost like a plague these days, TV shows based on cute Japanese looking kids collecting small monsters, robots or whatever to fight against less cute, evil Japanese looking kids. Most of these are then licensed into a very cheap GBA game, sometimes an uninteresting console title and after that a heap of almost identical sequels with new collectables. Of course there are acceptions, some of these games don't just take a TV license and turn it into a quick way to make more money out of it. Gotcha Force is one of these exceptions. Firstly because it's not based on a TV show for kids, but also because it's actually fun to play. It's not the turnbased rpg or platform deal you usually get with these type of games, Gotcha Force is a teambased 3D combat game. Don't run to the stores yet though, it's still a game made for kids, it's pretty simple and not the most varied game around. Still interested? What are you waiting for? Read on!

 

Gotcha Force's story is as simple and uninteresting as you'd expect. The earth is in danger, a group of really small robots called the Death Force are planning to take it over and rule over us puny humans The fact that we humans are at least ten times as big as most of the Death Force doesn't seem to scare them at all. The Death Force aren't new to the planet take-over business, they've done it before with G-Red's planet. G-Red is a Gotcha Borg and he's come to earth to prevent the Death Force from doing more evil deeds. He asks schoolboy Kou (or any other name you enter of course) to be the leader of his Gotcha Force that'll defeat the Death Force once and for all. At least untill Capcom plans to do a sequel.

Graphics:

The graphics in Gotcha Force won't surprise anybody. If you've been living in a cave with an N64 for six years, you'll feel right at home playing Gotcha Force. The textures and models are all very simple and the explosion and other effects do their job but not much more than that. The character design is pretty good though. There are over 200 Gotcha Borgs to collect, and they all have their own look, from Japanese samurais to giant Transformer-like robots and weird mechanical angels complete with wings. All the surroundings are a lot less creative unfortunately. Since your Gotcha Borgs are very small, all the fights are situated in places like bedrooms, classrooms and playgrounds, but apart from a few props (think of schoolbooks and sandbuckets) all the levels have more or less the same look.

 

Sound:

So the graphics aren't the best you've seen, the sound is even worse. During the story sequences and the fights there is voice acting. The story is told through text on your screen, and at the beginning of each sentence you read, the person that's speaking will shout out something like "Hey!" or "Okay!", which gets very annoying after about one time. The voices you hear during the fight are done just as bad, but you'll be to busy fighting to take too much notice. If you haven't turned off the sound yet, you'll notice that the music isn't anything to write home about as well, it's just your standard Japanese exciting action music you'll forget the minute you turn of your Cube. There's one part where the sound doesn't irritate, the sound effects are done well. They're not spectacular, but they get the job done; missiles have impact and punches sound like big hunks of meat being smashed against a wall.

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Gameplay:

As you've read earlier in this review, you play a schoolkid called Kou and you command a Gotcha Force, a group of Gotcha Borg robots. Over the course of the game you collect a lot of these Gotcha Borgs, but you can only use a few of them in each battle. Every Borg requires a certain amount of Gotcha Energy, and since you only have a limited amount of this energy you'll have to choose which ones fight and which ones stay in your Gotcha Force box. The Borgs you can choose from are a varied bunch, there are really strong and big robots that cost a lot of energy and there are small weak ones that often are very fast and cheap. It's a lot of fun to try out different kinds of Gotcha Forces, there are a lot of possibilities to try out. Do you win a lot of battles with long range shooting robots, or are close range samurai swordfighting robots your kind of guys? A lot of your missions allow you to team up with a computer controlled ally, so you also have to keep your ally in mind when you're forming a Gotcha Force. Unfortunately though, when you've found out what kind of team suits you best, there's not a lot of excitement left. You'll encounter new enemies and unlock new Borgs, but after a while you'll just stick to your winning team, and after you've seen a few of the bigger Death Borgs you won't be surprised by new enemies easily. It's a shame Capcom didn't do more with the story or the type of levels you fight in, because the teambuilding aspect of Gotcha Force is very nice.

 

Playability:

Because Gotcha Force is aimed at kids primarily, it's very easy to control. camera is automatically locked onto an enemy, you can cycle through them with L and R. You jump with A, most Borgs can do two extra jumps in the air and some even more. Standard attacks are done by pressing B, if the enemy you're locked on is close to you you'll do a short ranged attack, if he's far away you'll automatically shoot him with a long range attack. X is your special attack button, every Borg has it's own unique special move, ranging from throwing bombs or shooting enormous missiles to healing an ally with a giant syringe or attracting every neaby Borg with a huge electromagnet. Some Borgs also have a charge move under B. G-red for example, the first Borg you'll command, has a stronger projectile attack if you charge B. Most of the Borgs have a limited supply of long range projectiles and X special moves, but the ammo meters refills very quickly if you stop shooting. If a meter runs out of ammo, just try to switch to another type of attack for a while and you'll be fine. Your enemies naturally have the same arsenal of moves at their disposal. Your best defense against most attacks is your ability to dodge very fast. By tapping the control stick quickly you make your Borg jump in that direction. You'll get warning signs on the screen for all incoming long range attacks, so learning to dodge quickly is very handy.The controls all feel fine, there's just one problem. The camere stays locked onto an enemy at all times, which can lead to difficult camera positions. Imagine looking through the floor at your Borg's feet, a situation you'll find yourself in every time an enemy flies over your head. Very annoying.

 

Lifespan:

There is a lot to collect in Gotcha Force. You can find over 200 Gotcha Borgs for your Gotcha Force box and unlock a fair number of allies to fight with. The game isn't really varied enough to keep it fun untill you've unlocked every single Borg, so it's doubtful you'll have the patience to do so. The multiplay modes add a little to the lifespan of the game, but playing with or against human players isn't too different from playing with computer controlled ones. Also, every player that wants to unlock and play with his own Borgs has to bring his own memory card. A memory card only allows one player to keep his profile, which is very troublesome for kids who have to share their Cube with a little brother or sister.

Final Say:

Capcom have tapped into the Pokémon collect 'em all market in an original way, that's a good thing. They even made the battles in the game chaotic but fun to play and threw in an impressive number of different Borgs to fight with. It's really a shame they couldn't think of a way to keep the battles interesting for a longer time, the lack of variation really kills the game. Well, that and the messy graphics and sounds. That being said, Gotcha Force will probably be a game a lot of kids'll like a lot, if they hear from it at all of course, since there's no TV series and toy Gotcha Borgs to know it from (yet).