| Mazinger Z | ||||
| ||||
| Developer(s) | Clover Entertainment | |||
| Publisher(s) | Activision | |||
| Platform(s) | Playstation 4 | |||
| Genre(s) | Action, Shoot-em-up, Scifi, Mecha | |||
| Release Date(s) | September 16th, 2013 | |||
| Mode(s) | Single-Player, Mutliplayer | |||
| Age Rating(s) | ESRB = 
PEGI = CERO = | |||
| Media Included | Disk | |||
Mazinger Z is an upcoming action-sci-fi game developed by Clover Entertainment based on the long-running Japanese Mecha series. It will be released on September 16, 2013 for Playstation 4, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PC. It is an attempt to revitalize the Mazinger franchise.
Plot[]
In 1997, Mazinger Z was decomissioned because there was no need for him due to the lack of super-threats across the world. Years later in 2014, the world is at peace, until an alien race known as Exterminos creates giant robots made out of the same substance used to create Mazinger (Super-Alloy Z) to conquer the world and use the humans as livestock. With the world on the threat of destruction, Professor Kabuto, creator of Mazinger Z and founder of the Mazinger program requests to the United Nations that Mazinger be re-activated to combat this new menace. Since the original pilot Kouji Kabuto is too elderly to do it now, they need a new pilot.
They recruit US military veteran William Scheider to pilot Mazinger Z. But, with having no experience on piloting a giant robot, William will need some training. He is given a tour around the base and takes a look at Mazinger Z, the robot he will be using to fight. After several hours of training from Kabuto and partnered up with Sargent O'Neil, William is ready to take on the alien robots.
Mazinger Z is sent out to Hong Kong to protect the city from attacking robots. He eventually defeats them and saves the city. However, William gets back to base, the Extermino leader, Zorgulon, demands that the humans turn over their planet, or the human populations will be eradicated.
The aliens then send out both their ships and their robots to lay siege to Washington D.C. to make their point. The aliens take over the city. Mazinger Z is sent out to attack, but there's too many of them. Mazinger Z is badly damaged. Williams requests a weapons drop from base and they give him a machine gun. This provides him with stronger firepower and he manages to escape for now.
To be continued..
Gameplay[]
Mazinger Z is a mecha-scifi action shoot-em up that features a hub-like, non-linear mission progression. This allows the player to choose which mission they'd like to accomplish and where in order to further drive the story. The missions are mostly short and simple: Protect cities, destroy enemy robots, get somewhere quickly, simple missions that you can understand. But, there are 4 difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Veteran. Easy is good for new players, Normal is great for players who want challenge, but still not too much. Hard is great for experienced players, and veteran is only for those who master mecha games like this. The environments consist of large city environments and some other lush landscapes, such as forests and jungles, that you unlock as you progress through the story. Each environment has 5 missions in total: 3 Story missions and 2 challenge missions. There are 14 different environments in total.
With the power of Frostbite 3 (which will be used in Battlefield 4), the environments are fully destructible. The world is your weapon. You can use buildings as cover from enemy fire. Cars and debris from destroyed buildings can be thrown as projectiles. You can also climb buildings or fly with your rocket boosters to get a better view of flying targets to shoot them down. You can earn medals depending on how fast you complete a mission and gain money by completing missions and EXP by killing enemies.
Speaking of money and EXP, that leads to one of the most important aspects of the game: Customization. You can spend money on upgrades that you can use to increase the speed, strength, ammo, weapons, and health. But, you have to unlock parts by earning enough EXP and it has to be a reasonable weight. Put too many parts and gear on, and Mazinger Z will be too cumbersome and you won't be able to take him into battle until you remove a few parts to reduce the weight. There are different weapon classes: Explosive, Sniper, Rapid Fire, and Short-Range. There are some upgrades that allow you to carry more ammo, some that will increase your strength or speed, You don't also have to just shoot enemies to attack. There's also melee combat. You can punch enemies, kick them, grab them and throw them. And there's online multiplayer, where you can battle other super robots around the world.
The game also has an unlockable free-roam feature where you can explore and shoot buildings down. This is actually useful for testing your new weapons you just equipped onto Mazinger Z.
Characters[]
| Name | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mazinger Z |  |
Whether you consider him an actual character or not is your choice. Mazinger Z is a Super robot that was created in the 1970's to battle the evil monsters created by some villain named Doctor Hell. He has been decomissioned in 1997, but is back in action in 2014. |
| Kouji Kabuto |  |
Kouji Kabuto was the original pilot for Mazinger Z in the 1970's. The picture on the left was him in his younger years, but he's now gotten too elderly to pilot him, which is where our main human protagonist comes in. |
| William Schieder |  |
Sargent Williams is a military veteran of the US Army and the new pilot for Mazinger Z. He was ready to come home to his family after the war in Afghanistan ended, but he is called back on the line to battle alien robots. |
Weapons and Gadgets[]
| Name | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Gun | 
|
This is a basic machine gun built 100 times bigger so Mazinger Z can use it. It has rapid fire capabilities, but it is not the most powerful weapon. |
| Shotgun |  |
This is a wepon great for close range battles and it is pretty powerful in that area, but it won't work as well far away. |
Unlockable Weapons[]
| Name | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Plasma Cannon | 
|
A blaster that shoots plasma grenades that explode on contact with objects. It is a powerful weapon with good range. |
| Rocket Boosters |  |
This isn't a weapon, but it's still useful. It is designed for use on Mazinger Z's back wings to take flight for a short period of time. |
| Rocket Launcher |  |
This is an immensely powerful weapon that is capable of blowing through weaker enemies in one shot and making it easier to shoot down stronger enemies. It is also powerful enough to tear down buildings in one or 2 shots (depending on the building) |
Modes[]
Story Mode[]
This is the primary mode of the game. It features non-linear missions that you can complete in any which way as long as you unlock them. It also features Challenge missions to test your skills. You can earn medals depending on how fast you complete the mission and there's a free-roam mode you can unlock for each level, where you can blow up stuff to test out your weapons if you want.
Mazinger Editor[]
This is the place to upgrade Mazinger Z. Equip him with new weapons and gadgets, and upgrade his skills, such as strength, speed, agility, endurance, and flight duration (which is the amount of time you can use the rocket boosters to fly).
Soundtrack[]
