RB puts you in the shoes of Jack Archer, in the cockpit of an awesome looking 'Veritech' fighter - This massive machine is a cross between a humanoid mech and a jet fighter, and you can transform between its 3 different variations at any point during a battle. The main use of the Veritech is as a walking, chain gun toting death machine, but by tapping the D-Pad you can instantly change to either of its transformations. The Jet Fighter is an F-14 look-alike that packs a cannon and homing missiles, and finally you have a sort of hybrid of the two, the 'Defender', which can fly and fire slightly less effective missiles, but still has the manoeuvrability of the walker. It's entirely up to you which one you use (most of the time), but in some cases you'll be forced to switch between them for certain objectives. The controls are very easy to get the hang of; the walker and the Defender can strafe with the shoulder buttons, targeting enemies is done with either the B button or the C-Stick, weapons are assigned to X and Y and each of the variations have an extra feature that can be used with the Z button (one of which is a very cool sniper mode).

The mission-based structure of the game offers a lot of variety as you progress, and there's seemingly hundreds of escort, rescue and reconnaissance missions, as well as the occasional full-blown war for you to play your part in. The combat is fast paced and exciting, and the enemies (a 40ft tall alien race called the Zentraedi) all respond well to your attacks and the surroundings. At times there's a huge amount going on on-screen, with explosions, missiles and debris flying all over the place, but you'll never see even a hint of slowdown. To call the graphics basic would be stupid, compared to something like Mechassault they aren't particularly realistic, but RB looks just as good, if not better than the anime, and the game's cel shading is easily on a par with that of Cel Damage or Jet Set Radio.

   

The areas you navigate on your missions are usually varied, spacious and good-looking, but one of the main locations you have to visit is a quite bland and uninspiring cityscape. The samey streets and relatively enclosed space don't offer much eye candy and the fact that there's a frustratingly low invisible ceiling on the scenery doesn't help either. There's the occasional bit if destructible scenery, which explodes in a satisfyingly large plume of smoke and fire, but the majority of the buildings are solid so the illusion of freedom is false, which is a bit of a shame.

Robotech Battlecry really surprised me, it's an incredibly easy game to pick up and play and the action is always entertaining. There are a few problems with it, which I thought developers had finally learnt to remedy (including a shockingly steep learning curve), but a very playable 2-player deathmatch mode with some nice arenas and a bundle of unlockable extras will ensure a decent lifespan - providing you can stick with it long enough to complete the tougher levels.