More than Meets the Eye

There are more than a handful of older cartoons that I would have thought would make the jump to the video game medium long before UFO Robo Grendizer; but here we are. If you aren’t familiar with Grendizer, I really wouldn’t blame you, the original anime ran for 74 episodes back in the 70’s but the series is actually SUPER popular in France. And with a 2024 reboot of the original series planned, French publisher Microids and developer Endroad has blessed is with a bit of an amuse Buche in the new game UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves.

In Grendizer the game players will be dropped into the shows of young crown prince of the planet Fleed; Duke Fleed. Look, yes, his name is the same as the planet it was a whole thing back then; you all remember Planet Vegeta right? The planet Fleed is being invaded by the planet Vega and their King, who is also named Vega (we just talked about this… it was a different time) because he is a bad ruler and has made his planet unstable due to the overmining of Vegatron. (I just… this is why the movie Avalon felt safe to do this ty- never mind) Vega sends his finest troops led by General Blaki (blackie), I laugh out loud every time someone says his name in the game.

MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch
Price I’d Pay: $39.99

The gameplay picks up during the attack where players will take control of the legendary Grendizer. Game play can be broken up into three distinct types, and when players are in control of Grendizer in his bipedal form it’s a 3rd person brawler. Players have a very large open world to explore initially, which only gets bigger as the game goes on. The area is littered with markers that are all missions the player can take one, when playing the prologue on Fleed this turns into a tutorial where players are introduced into the many weapons of Grendizer. His shoulder boomerang, gravity canon and others are all mapped to a button on the controller, its governed by a meter that is displayed beneath Grendizer’s health. Engaging in hand-to-hand combat replenishes the meter, and let me tell you the combat is sweet.

I played on Xbox so the X button throws punches and kicks and using the Y button uses the mighty robot’s staff with a crescent blade on each end. One of the cooler graphical things I saw is when players use the shoulder boomerangs or the staff the actual crescent blades come off of Grendizer’s shoulders, and when the attack ends, they materialize back. It was a very cool nod to properties like Power Rangers among others who deploy weapons from their actual armor or outfit and it was dope to see displayed here.
Speaking of graphics, I was pleasantly surprised by The Feast of the Wolves; it really evokes the style and colors from the 70’s anime. Everything from the rocks of Fleed to the trees of Earth all look really good. In fact, the only issue I had was around the 3rd area that unlocked for some reason I would just a whole screen stutter. As I moved through the world it would continue and even when I was in combat, it eventually stopped but would start again. I could find no rhyme or reason and it only happens in the one area and the only thing that is different is players have the professor flying around the giant robot in a flying saucer/car.

Speaking of that flying saucer, as I said UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves has three distinct play styles and one of them sees players control the flying saucer from a top-down view in a shmup type game mode that sees players blasting enemies while dodging a screen full of colored balls. I am not ashamed to say that I sucked at these levels but I was able to pass them due to the game’s generous health drops. The other game type here which was just as unexpected is a Star Fox style rail shooter that sees players merge Grendizer with his flying mode in a really awesome montage sequence that is directly from the anime. Players will do ‘barrel rolls’ to dodge while blasting various enemy ships from the invading Vega empire. As a lover of space sims, I wish I could fly around the open world maps in this form and have more control but I ended up really enjoying the combination of all these game modes on display here.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how amazing the soundtrack is in this game. First off, all when players walk up on an enemy one of the various fight tracks will start, again sounding like it was pulled from the original anime just recorded for current day. But the BEST part is that each of the tracks have an ender, so once players finish the last enemy the track wraps up in a heroic flourish that makes the player feel like they’ve accomplished something. I am telling you as much as I loved the combat in this game, and as much fun as I am having with it, I love it in part because the music is so damn good.

UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves was a treat for me as a fan of the many genres and music on display. Even not having been familiar with the source material I loved the characters and art style on display here and will be tuning in when the reboot launches in 2024; I am very curious what’s done with the themes and story in the current day. I’ve said this a lot but 2023 has been just crazy for video games, and I am here to tell you that Grendizer is an extremely good game with a few minor blemishes but its more than worth some attention in this overly crowded year.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.