Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Alice Gear Aegis was originally a mobile game released a number of years ago. Now getting a sort of extension to the game as a console arena combat type game. Regardless of whether or not you've heard of Alice Gear Aegis before, it's time to see what the series is currently offering with Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix.
So, let's get started with a bit of backstory on what Alice Gear Aegis is all about. Essentially, the series takes place in the future after humanity was attacked by an alien race called the Vice. Now, humans live among the stars in colonies. These colonies are defended by "Actresses", young girls who are able to fight off the Vice by channeling a mysterious power. Actresses are kind of viewed as celebrity type superheroines, where the defense of the colonies is basically like a sort of privatized mercenary style business, where Actresses work for various agencies as a sort of public celebrity. Well, that's not super important for this title really. This time around, a company has developed a program to simulate battles from Actresses. They want to gather data, so they've organized a tournament between Actresses.
Concerto of Simulatrix has a couple of different game modes, but they mostly end up being the same thing. You have a story mode, where you can go through the story mode of all 22 characters, a free battle mode where you can fight how you want, and an online mode where you can challenge others to combat. I'll go through the basics of story mode, as the fights pretty much go the same way. In story mode you have a hex grid layout of nodes, which you progress through sequentially. Some nodes are items, some are single one vs one battles, and some are three vs three team battles. About every third of the map you go through is a tournament three on three battle, finishing out the story on the final node. You get to see some cutscenes occasionally detailing the interactions between the character you've chosen and their teammates. You take on the role of coach in these scenarios, giving...life advice? to the Actresses you're in charge of.
Let's cover the items you can pick up. These are accessories and costumes you can outfit your current character with. You also get some items from clearing the story mode. If you get a double of an item, it will automatically sell for a small amount of cash, which you can then spend at the shop to purchase weapons and gear, as well as accessories and costumes. The accessories and costumes are purely cosmetic, but there are a lot of options for outfitting your different possible units.
So, let's talk about the battles, as that's what you're here for. Combat is a 3D aerial dogfight in a sort of cylindrical arena. Upon starting a match, you will auto lock-on to your opponent. You then have four different weapons to use, as well as a boost to dodge with, and a shield to help protect yourself with. Your weapons are your firearm, your melee weapon, and a weapon tied to your leg and torso armor. Both your firearms as well as your left armour attached weapon can be charged for a, usually, more powerful or changed shot. Your melee weapon has a bit of a dash associated with it, so you can usually get closer to your opponent with it. As you hit your opponent and get hit, you also build up a special bar, which has three gauges. You can consume a single gauge for either a partner attack in team battles or a self improvement usage in a single battle, two bars will perform a clash attack, which is a melee special move, and three bars is the character specific special move.
In battles you have a time limit, which signals the end of battle. If you time out, the side with more health is the winner, although I personally never timed out, as the amount of time you're given is fairly large. More often than not, you will win, or lose, by having either your opponents' or your health reaching zero. In team battles, all three members have individual health bars, and you need to reduce them all to zero. If one of your teammates loses their health, you will swap to the next character. You can also swap between characters in your roster mid battle. This is actually a bit of a strategy, as you have a portion of damage that will recover if the character isn't in active combat.
Combat itself is...surprisingly fluid, although I do have some complaints here and there. It feels like the AI controlled enemies are just...generally better, like they have better homing, they can move away from your shots better, flinch less, and occasionally just do more damage. It can certainly feel extremely frustrating when you get your entire health bar reduced in one combo move without being able to do anything, but you can't do the same using the same moves to them.
Overall though, you're given a wide range of weapons with an extremely varied amount of moves attached to each, all of which can be used to build out your characters how you want. Each firearm also has a type, such as rifle or rocket, which dictates what type of shot you'll use and how it acts. In addition to the equipment, you also can purchase or unlock skills, three of which can be equipped, and have various effects, such as increasing firearm damage at the cost of melee damage, or increasing the rate at which your special gauge charges at. Altogether this presents a fairly high level of customization for your characters.
While the music and visuals aren't particularly anything to write home about, they certainly aren't bad. All of the characters are unique with their own personal and playstyle. Coupled with the amount of costumes and accessories you can unlock, you can basically set up your team to make what you want, both weapon and appearance wise. Character animations are also pretty unique and well designed. One thing I would like to comment on though is that if you're aiming for the platinum trophy, or equivalent on platform of your choice, is that you need to complete every node on every character's story mode board. This is a bit of a rough slog. Not particularly tough, but let me tell ya I was about done by the end of it.
While most of the combat feels pretty decent, there are certain characters or gear loadouts that feels, well, just bad really. Whether it's because the character is clunky, the weapons are subpar, or just aren't what you'd prefer to use, there were a few characters that I found rather frustrating to use. On the other hand, some of the characters felt a lot more smooth, and were really fun to play as. It really is a good idea to test out some of the weapons and weapon types to find out what works best for you. It's also relatively cheap compared to some other titles, so that helps a little.
Overall, Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, the combat can be pretty fun while it's working out for you. On the other hand, sometimes the combat feels really heavy. Coupled with a story mode where the plot feels rather baseline and lacking, the majority of your entertainment will probably come from the online matches you engage in. While Concerto of Simulatrix definitely isn't for everyone, it definitely has a niche enjoyment for those who enjoy it.
Score: 7 / 10
