Battle Engine Aquila

Sam bounces around in a big robot. Need I say more?

In this age of mass markets and cross platform releases the number of console to PC ports is on a par with resignations from the Blair government. But unlike those resignations, most of the ports are unsatisfying affairs as publishers spam all formats with a game that is really only suited to one particular type of machine. And for some reason it's very rare that the best console games will get a release on the PC, so usually we have average games which have had an average conversion job done on them. Lost Toys' Battle Engine Aquila is yet another example of this time honoured tradition.

Battle Engine Aquila features a rudimentary plot to try and get you, the player, involved in the ensuing gameplay. You are a futuristic forklift driver named Hawk, who, it just so happens, is the only person qualified to pilot a newly developed military fighting machine, which for some reason, operates in a remarkably similar fashion to a futuristic forklift. A forklift which turns from a giant fighting robot into an airborne death-dealing menace. That sounds like a good future, if you are a forklift driver. Anyway, the planet you must defend is covered in water due to the melting of its polar ice caps and is under feverish attack from the alien forces of the Muspell.

The story is told in what for me must be the stand out feature of the game, its pre-rendered cutscenes. These must be the most terrible attempts at computer animation seen since Ray Charles tried to render the Creation on a Dragon 32. They are worse than anything seen in an early release on the original Playstation, and must be avoided at all costs. Which neatly allows you to bypass most of the dull and clichéd storyline, although the similarly aesthetically-challenged briefings for the game's 27 missions will still try to foist a little exposition on you.

Getting into the cockpit and into the game things improve somewhat. Battle Engine Aquaila is a simple shooting game at heart. Played from a first-person perspective you have a big stompy robot with which to go and take out the bad guys at various mission objectives around the pleasantly rendered landscape. Battle Engine Aquaila does look quite nice, and running in a high resolution - which is possible without a monster rig due to some decent coding work - there's a reasonable amount of detail and some pleasingly unusual visuals to admire. The range of weapons may be neither inspired nor invoke the fear of god in anyone but the landscapes are a nice collection of islands and seas rendered in a pleasing bluish hue. You can stomp over the trees and enemy troopers, a satisfying interaction, and things don't slow down no matter how much action is going on at once.

Taking to the air is something you can only do for a short while as an energy bar gradually depletes when you are airborne, but it does provide for more of the same kind of action but in three dimensions. Just be careful that you don't run out of juice over the water as this transforming piece of military death machine cannot abide getting wet. Strange, for a waterlogged planet. Similarly odd is the developers belief that you will want to play through the game with the aim of achieving the highest ranks for each mission. As your reward for such expertise and diligence is some concept art for the game, character models, and other totally uninspiring 'bonuses', you would have to develop an obsessive interest in an uninteresting game world.

You can also unlock the expert missions but to be frank I never tried hard enough to get these.

You see Battle Engine Aquila is, barring the cutscenes, a competently made little game. It just does nothing with any real panache and it offers up nothing new to the altar of gaming goodness. You have squad mates which will engage the enemy at your side, and while the AI throughout the game doesn't offer up any howlers you never really feel like you are part of a big, organized group taking the hurt to the bad guys. As the game progresses you get access to new vehicles and weapons, but name me a game that doesn't offer up these enticements and I will personally send you a mint. There's a split-screen only multiplayer mode, which fortunately offers up a co-op mode. This means the two of you can take out the alien scum, which is a somewhat diverting way to spend an hour or two, but again ennui sets in as the repetitive nature of the gameplay draws the mind towards remembering that there are better games in the player's collection.

Battle Engine Aquila is by no means terrible, but then again it is by no means essential. There's a decent amount of mindless entertainment to be had here. If you like the idea of mucking about in a big robot thingy without all the seriousness of the MechWarrior games then you will enjoy what Battle Engine Aquila has to offer. The co-op mode is a welcome inclusion, and the graphics are pretty. But unlike titles such as Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia the gameplay doesn't transport well to the PC as its limited scope and simple action won't overly please the PC gamer.

72%

By Sam Gibson