In the case of Gun Parade Orchestra, the Genju consist of wiry humanoid creatures, massive scorpion-like beasts, and other exotic monsters dreamt up by the team at Alfa System. As a recruit of the 108 Security Division which protects the peace in a town located in Hokkaido, players lead a team of armor-suited warriors to beat back threats whenever the sirens ring out their clarion call. At other times, the player/protagonist is a normal student who goes to high school, interacts with fellow students, and lives a relatively normal life.
JAN Code: 4948872151047
NCS Game Notes
* Before the title screen, a command line interface appears and the gamer logs into the Doll Player System...
* The intro to the game shows a classroom followed by an overview of a town. The camera pans down on a close-up of a street and focuses on an abandoned teddy bear lying in the street. Maybe it's a reference to innocence lost. The camera shifts to a mish-mash view inside a school where a medley of students are walking. The scene shifts again to an examination of a mech which then appears on a city street while snow flakes pepper the air. The mech marches and eventually meets an enemy mech and raises it's gun hand to fire. End.
* Upon starting a game, one of 16 possible students may be selected as your onscreen protagonist. Each student has a unique storyline and connections to other students in the game.
* In the Now Loading screen, Aomori penguin which is dressed up like a 1930s gangster appears in the lower right quadrant of the screen.
* The game starts in December 1, 1999. In the introductory sequence, an image of the North American and European continents are shown with info about WWII in 1945. The graphic changes to an image of the Earth and Moon eclipsing each other in a view from outer space followed by pairs of red pills that are nestled in a dark place. After the introductory sequence and text explaining the situation, the GPO logo appears again and the continents appear with the date of 1997. Large parts of the continents are colored red with only bits of blue left over although much of the USA and South America is primarily still blue. The map changes to a view of Japan and then updates 1998 events and the early part of 1999 where a squad of students are assembled an in uniform. They're ready to take on the challenges that await them. The intro continues and explains why the students are in Hokkaido with a penguin mascot.
* Once the intro is near end, an image of the character that you selected appears and his/her photo is take face-on and in both profiles for his/her induction. Once the game starts, an out-of-focus camera takes in a scene of three women facing each other in a circle. The commander woman addresses the protagonist - she wears a white uniform with shoulder pad tassels that hang down. Her eyes blink and she moves a little bit while speaking.
* In the next sequence, protagonist automatically follows a teacher out to the hallway and into a classroom. Sit down and learn the lesson of the day. Interaction options appear in the form of selections. Choose an action out of two possible choices at the outset. If you choose a proper action, the game will reward you with a "Your Action was Good" or a "Your Action was Excellent" pat on the back and add points to your experience level. If you goof, you'll know it immediately when the "Your Action isn't Good" message pops up. Points are awarded based on your actions throughout the game.
* When it's lunchtime, follow the other students out into the hallway and explore for a spell. Use the L-analog to move around in a 3D school and press the "O" button to approach fellow students and speak to them. R-analog is not used in the game and there's no way to shift camera views while traveling around town. After exploring the hallways a bit, it's possible to leave the school building and return home while it snows outside. The ground is also covered with snow and apparently, no one shovels the walks or has heard of salt. After a while, return to class and interact some more with the teacher to earn points.
* On the roof of the school, someone has built a snowman which is leaning against the green railing. There's a chance to earn points if you add something to the snowman's face.
* After progressing further, air sirens sound off and a briefing is shown which details five enemy units shown as red wedges approaching the city. A single blue wedge represents the town defense team. If you watch the animation, the blue wedge destroys two red wedges and the other three red wedges flee. The briefing is an abrupt change of scenarios after the calming influence of school life but five students led by your character head off into war after details of the mission at hand are shown.
* At the outset of battle, four human units flank an armored unit. To move, push up on the L-analog and the armored tank rolls slowly onwards as the soldiers follow. The R-analog stick swivels the camera around but it only swivels in a 180 degree arc forwards. There's no way to look behind the tank unless you move the entire tank around to check out what's behind. To fire, hit the R1 trigger and the tank will blow out a little bit of ordnance to take out yellow-colored troll creatures that appear occasionally in the snow. An overhead map on the lower-left corner of the screen keeps track of surroundings while a green circle around the tank keeps your bearings with arrows which show base location and target area. The first mission is a simple search and destroy exercise where about 6 of the creatures are located and destroyed. Commands may be issued to your flanking troops so that they fan out and perform their own autonomous roving search and destroy runs while your tank motors along on its own. After successfully completing the mission, experience points are handed out to everyone in the team.
* After the first mission, life goes on as usual with visits to the town shopping area, school, etc until the next mission abruptly starts again. This time, it's an escort mission where a group is on their way out of town and your crew serves as defense and offense to intercept monsters that are roaming around. The creatures consist of a pair of scorpion-like creatures and one troll beast. Instead of a tank however, the main character is on foot in an armored suit with cohorts that follow on foot and one who is in an armored carrier.
* Locations in town that may be visited include a park, a cemetery, a busy intersection with stores, the back of the school, and a basketball court in the school. Eventually, the penguin in trench coat introduces itself (yes, it speaks Japanese) and it'll shuffle around the school grounds once you've spoken to it.
* Press the SELECT button to view an overhead map of every area on campus and in the town. A selection of areas is listed on the left side of the screen and may may flip through them to see where each location is highlighted on the map accompanied by a photo.
* To get impressions of what people are thinking in the game, press the L1 trigger and a beam of yellow light emanates from your character and hits the target individual.
* Gun Parade Orchestra is interesting. The classroom and interaction sequences are cookie-cutter but the storyline is entertaining. The battle action missions move at a measured pace so they're not comparable to what one might find in a dedicated action game such as Devil May Cry. In the scope of a story-intensive interaction game however, the measured pace meshes well.