Coming from Tribute Games, the studio behind titles like Mercenary Kings,
Panzer Paladin is all about piloting a giant mech and tearing through your foes.
It's a game you can instantly hop into, but once you actually start to dig into some of its systems,
it quickly becomes apparent that there's more to this action side-scroller than meets the eye.
The story begins with Earth suddenly being invaded and overrun by demonic forces.
With the planet on the brink of destruction, it's up to an android named Flame
to drive back the invaders with the help of her mech, GRIT.
By no means is story the focal point here, but
the plot is more interesting than expected which is a nice surprise.
Visually, the game looks great.
Stages are bright and colorful, characters are crisp,
and the cutscenes inspired by 80s anime are a pleasure to watch.
The music also does a good job setting the tone, particularly the main theme.
Though you technically play as Flame, you spend the majority of the game controlling her robot pal, GRIT.
Piloting GRIT feels great thanks to tight controls
and a versatile moveset that includes upward and downward thrusts and a nifty back step.
You can also hop out of GRIT at any time and explore if you wish,
but outside of a few specific areas,
it makes more sense to stay in your much more powerful mech.
However, if your mech does run out of life, Flame is able to eject
to give you a little extra time.
One of Panzer Paladin’s most interesting ideas is its weapon system.
Throughout the game, you constantly collect and break weapons.
While the idea of breakable weapons is nothing new, what makes it stand out here
is that each one has a spell tied to it that can only be cast
by breaking that weapon.
However, spells don't activate simply by using a weapon until it wears out;
you need to intentionally destroy it by holding down both triggers.
It's a simple, but interesting mechanic that gives you a lot of freedom to choose how to use weapons.
For example, you could use a weapon until it falls apart or
you could wait until it's almost out of durability,
then forcefully break it to still get the benefit of the spell.
Alternatively, you could hold on to a weapon with a more powerful spell,
like healing, to get you out of a tough spot down the line.
Besides being used in combat, weapons are also required to upgrade health between stages,
and to activate checkpoints, so you generally want to have a few in reserve.
Similar to the Mega Man series, stages can be tackled in any order
and they take place in different countries from around the world, like Mexico, Russia, and Japan.
Stages play out as you'd expect with plenty of platforming and enemies to fight,
culminating with a boss at the end.
The level design never goes above and beyond, but there are a few shake-ups here and there,
like sections where you're forced to go on foot as Flame,
as well a few level-specific mechanics like the carts in Tanzania.
They aren’t the most impressive stages, but they all look great and are fun to fight through.
Many stages also have you face off against a mini-boss called The Horseman
who has his own Proto Man-style jingle that plays whenever he appears.
Fighting him is enjoyable at first, but you encounter him way too many times,
making these conflicts feel more like speed bumps than exciting duels.
Like most games in this style, each stage has checkpoints,
but when you get a game over you need to restart the level from scratch.
However, since there are only two checkpoints per stage,
the trek back from death can feel pretty brutal sometimes,
especially between the start of a level and the first checkpoint.
Luckily, if you're having trouble with a boss, the second checkpoint is generously placed close by.
The bosses themselves all feel distinct from one another.
In Greece, you battle Medusa, who can turn your mech to stone,
forcing you to get out of it.
Then, in Japan, a giant skeleton summons ninja demons.
While most of the fights play well, one particular boss uses a debuff
that slows your character to a crawl, and in our first playthrough,
a bug caused the effect to persist even through several deaths,
only going away after a game over.
The issue hasn’t repeated when we’ve retried the boss fight, but it’s a pretty frustrating error.
Outside of the main campaign, there's a fair number of things to play around with like
speedrun and tournament modes with leaderboards.
If you're feeling creative, you can design weapons at the blacksmith
and even share those weapons online.
Plus, completing the game unlocks remixed mode, which is essentially a new game plus
with a few extra elements added to make things more challenging.
Even with a few frustrating aspects,
Panzer Paladin is still a solid choice.
Going through each of its stages and ripping enemies apart is a good time overall.
The additional modes add some nice longevity, and its anime-inspired presentation is wonderful.
It's time to suit up and save the world.
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