It is thousands of years in the future, and humanity has scattered its seed among the stars. After thousands of years in isolation, society split into six subspecies that mistrusted each other. Seemingly stirred by the warp engines of these new civilizations, swarms of biomechanical entities attacked and decimated the shattered human race. Survivors gathered on Earth and united against the Armada, each bringing a unique philosophical and technological perspective to the table. But is the Armada really "bad?" You select one of the races and begin your quest to save humanity and battle against the Armada.
Best described as a combination of Asteroids, Diablo and Sinistar, Armada involves each formula in a formula that winds up being refreshingly simple. Players choose from one of six distinct races (each with differently armed ships), plod about their home base for a bit talking with allies, and blast off into space to take on the Armada. As the player destroys alien craft, they gain experience points and monetary credits, which are used to purchase deadlier weaponry, stronger armour and other various scanning and tracking tools. As missions become assigned at the home planet, players are taken to the far reaches of the vast game universe to complete tasks (usually of the seek and destroy sort) and progress through the game's stages.
Armada's graphics may not be innovative, but they are certainly compelling. The heated battles in space are incredibly addictive. Enemy debris can be scanned for salvageable technologies as well as credits. In this sense, Armada reminds me of several games rolled into one. First, it feels like the original Sinistar arcade game - in that the universe scrolls in all directions around your ship. And in a way, blowing up Armada ships is akin to blasting apart the asteroids in Sinistar - in both games, this leaves behind valuables that you need to collect.
Ships, planets, explosions and space stations all look terrific. There is a tiny bit of pixelation on the negative side, which is present if scarcely noticeable. The effects are plentiful, and the frame rate is seamless. Even with tons of ships onscreen, Armada never slows down.
Aurally, Armada is nearly flawless. Laser fire sounds high-tech and precise, explosions are deep and full of bass, and dying aliens emit various slightly echoed shrieks that nearly permeate one's consciousness. The music score is unobtrusive and eerie while in space, triumphant when returning to town after completing a mission. Voice acting is top-notch and will have a player repeatedly scanning friendly ships to hear the same sound bytes over again. In all, an excellent opportunity to keep the stereo up loud.
My one concern with Armada is that it is in many ways a shooter, and eventually, it can get a bit repetitive at times and is also pretty friggin' hard in some areas. Thankfully, between multi-player and ship upgrades, as long as you keep a clear mind about your objectives, there is plenty to see and do, and you can always get strong enough to overcome adversity and keep moving. On top of that, you can easily log a good 30 hours on Armada by yourself, which is more than enough in my book.
Armada is a phenomenal effort from the crew at Metro3D, combining solid control and presentation with heavy plusses in the areas that count: gameplay and longevity. It is easily one of the most diverse titles in the Dreamcast line-up.
