[PSP] 武装神姫 Battle Masters

As a kid, I loved action figures. Who didn't? Your imagination flew pretty much everywhere as you had your toys confront each other, regardless if it was tied in to the cartoon that the figure was made from, or a totally different universe that you make up on a whim. Even up to adulthood, I still enjoy collecting figures, albeit to a more subtle degree and a significant difference in taste, especially leaning towards the moe side.

Busou Shinki: Battle Masters is a PSP revamp of Battle Rondo, a netoge by Konami that borrowed key elements from the CLAMP classic Angelic Layer as well as the customization aspects of the Armored Core series. The game features moetastic dolls, lots of deadly weapons, and other things that figure/anime/game otakus will certainly rave on and on about.

The Maochao-Type Shinki is a flighty little bugger, but stroke it in the right places (head, chin and behind the ears) and it'll fall asleep.

The year is 2040. The place? Not sure, but it looks a bit like Akihabara. Advances in technology have made the popular robot-doll battle game Busou Shinki more interactive, allowing for real-time control via a virtual reality console called the "Shinki Ride System". You take on the role of... well, yourself, a newbie in the Busou Shinki world. Your registration has been accepted and you just need to confirm your points in the Official Shop so you can formally begin your long trek towards rising in the ranks of the Shinki F-Battle League. Your first Shinki purchase will be none other than the current bestseller model: Arnval Mk-2(The designation sounds silly, I know... but thankfully, you can give your Shinki a cuter name).

 You named your Arnval Mk-2 Shiraha!?! Pfft. Booring.

The Battle Masters plot device is a blatantly obvious wink to it's netoge predecessor Battle Rondo, which merely involved the player dolling-up (pardon the pun) the Shinki then sit back and watch as it fights with another Shinki in a protracted A.I. battle where the doll's abilities and choice of armaments largely determined the outcome. In this game, you have complete control over your Shinki, so gamer reflexes are an absolute must. Gundam Battle series veterans will surely feel at home with Battle Masters' controls, but adjustments need to be made because the response time is a bit subpar compared to the former.

Playing with dolls has never been so much fun. Not only can you dress them up like robots, you can also equip them with virtual weapons of mass destruction. Just be sure to leave them at home when going abroad, airport security's unreasonably paranoid in almost every country nowadays.

Unlike Angelic Layer, Battle Masters' universe focuses only on the Shinki, so human characters take a back seat and are depicted as blue or red silhouettes with no seiyuu. To excel in Shinki battling, you have to constantly face rivals at the only Game Center in town that has the Shinki Ride System. Defeat them to earn more points and unlock new shop items. The rivals get tougher and more numerous (expect some rather unfair 3-on-1 battles later on), so the only way to stay afloat is to step up your gameplay and regularly update your Shinki's equipment with stronger ones that get released from time to time...

 Protip: Wings not only make your Shinki look cool, it also increases defense and some models even allow air-dash, since they all walk so darn slow.

...but wait, there's more! You can't just pile on the big guns and bad-ass armor as soon as you can afford it: All Shinki have an emotional interface feature called "Love System" which grows every time you use them in battle, serving as experience points geared towards a Love Level up. The higher the level of Love, the higher her equipment cost/weapon rank gets; and as suggested by the name, the Shinki will grow more fond of you as her master, resulting in a few galge-style scenarios that are unique to each doll. The Love System also means that they have their own respective personalty quirks, adding to their overall charm.

Master, before I jump into this tourney... *blush* I just want you to know that... I... I... I need a friggin' gatling gun.

If you're getting bored with informal Shinki battles and feel that you're ready to jump to the big leagues in the Official Battle stages, then you just need to sign up for them at the Shinki Center. There are various tournaments being held, with some having strict regulations (one-make Shinki types, weapon class limitations, etc.). The most important ones however, are the F-Rank qualifiers. Despite being the proverbial promising newbie, you're still considered a mere bottom-dweller of the Shinki Battling food chain, so you need to beat everyone in the upper stratum (most of whom are the rivals you play around with in the Game Center) to advance to F3 class and later to F2 and F1. There's no real time limit in this game, so feel free to save up on gear and grind the Love System of all your Shinki to the maximum.

Fine, I'll give you your "friggin'"gatling gun... whew, for a moment there I thought my Shinki was gonna confess her feelings for me or something...

If there's one other thing I can complain about in this game aside from the stiff controls, it's that it wasn't built with custom Kanji memory in the naming department... even if it utilizes the PSP's on-screen keyboard, you can only use Katakana, Hiragana and Romaji (conversion using Triangle is blocked). You'll be a scathing anomaly among the rivals (most of whom have names that are in Kanji, by the way) if you prefer to use a Japanese name... pooh.

Aside from that little pickle, Konami didn't fail to put a bit of corporate BS into the mix, too... there are certain premium Shinki and equipment that will only be available for download at the Japanese PSN Store, which automatically disqualifies a poor import customer like me. The only consolation is you can still complete the game 100% without them... these items are entirely optional.

Hey look, it's KOS-MOS... except she's blonde... and small... AND IN A KONAMI GAME!?! Uh oh... I smell a Namco lawsuit...

Even with those letdowns, I just can't stop playing with my in-game dolls (lol). Given, I'm not particularly fond of mecha musume, but this game might change that outlook of mine significantly. Battle Masters proves to be a very addictive game despite it's rather repetitive nature, and will inevitably suck you in and eat away a lot of your time if you let it.