Pretty But Repetitive –
Released back in October 2012, Liberation Maiden was the first game to be released in the GUILD01 series of games, preceding Aero Porter and Crimson Shroud. Suda51 of No More Heroes and Lollipop Chainsaw fame has brought AAA production values to this downloadable title but gameplay falls short with repetition.
It looks more complicated than it really is
Liberation Maiden is similar to Kid Icarus Uprising; it is a 3rd person shooter that uses the touch screen for attacking. The player moves via the circle pad while rubbing the stylus over the touch screen to “paint” enemies to launch homing lasers. Strangely, the L button is used to strafe which will make play control difficult for lefties but unlike a typical shooter the player has the freedom to fly around each stage instead of being restricted to on-rails movements. Each stage involves fly, shoot, kill, repeat until all the enemies have been destroyed. Boss battles are really nothing more than strafe and shoot either; as long as you keep moving you will be fine. Taking down shield generators is not as exciting as it should be but at least the player gets rewarded for destroying random buildings.
One thing that this sci-fi shooter gets right are the high presentation values. The game looks great and even features fully animated anime sequences, a nice touch considering this is a downloadable title. However, the gameplay is often interrupted by lame dialog segments and pop-up windows; just let me play already! There are also fluctuating difficulty spikes, using the touch screen to fight, swap weapons and gather shield information isn’t intuitive, and the entire quest ends before you know it. High scores are also limited to local leaderboards only.
Liberation Maiden has great assets
For a discounted price, Liberation Maiden isn’t bad if you are looking for a short lived burst of fun; it is not often you get to play as the female president of Japan who single handedly defends her country from a flying mech.
Not As Good As: Kid Icarus: Uprising
Also Check Out: Odama (Gamecube)
Wait For It: GUILD02 series
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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