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[Yagharek]

Title: Liberation Maiden
Platform: 3DS eShop (EU, AU, NA). Guild 01 (JP)
Release date(s): Oct 4, 2012 (EU, AU), May 31, 2012 (JP), TBD (NA)
Price: £7.19 (UK), €7,99, $12 (AUS), TBA (US/C)
Players: One player
Genre: Shooter/Action/Arcade
Developer: Level 5 and Grasshopper Manufacture

Synopsis:

Players take on the role of Shoko Ozora, who rides out on her Liberator, Kamui, to free the country of New Japan from invading forces. Shoko will face powerful opposition from an arsenal of ground forces, culminating in thrilling showdowns with the enemy's massive mechanical Conduit Spikes.

Featuring breathtaking animation by Bones using fully voiced dialog and contributions by an all star cast of artists, designers and musicians who bring AAA production value to the downloadable space.

Reviews:

Nintendo-Gamer - 79/100

Liberation Maiden is a solid shooter with top-notch presentation (the cut-scenes by anime studio Bones are superb) and frantic action. It’s by no means the longest game in the world so only high score fiends will get the best out of it, but if you fall into that category this is well worth your £7.19.

Verdict: Suda51's shooter is brief but enjoyable. High score-beating is the order of the day if you want to get the most out of it.

Edge Online - 6/10

Released in Japan as one quarter of Level-5’s Guild01 compilation and now on the European 3DS eShop, Suda 51’s Liberation Maiden has a fittingly eccentric narrative setup, sending the young, female president of a futuristic Japan out to do battle in a flying mech suit. What follows, however, is surprisingly restrained: it’s a relatively straightforward airborne thirdperson shooter that carries strong echoes of Q-Games’ Star Fox Command. Suda’s familiar brand of dark, knowing humour is conspicuous by its absence.

Video Impressions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZFteHyBqqU
(Credit to http://www.latest3dsgames.com/ - no affiliation, just a useful video for those wanting to see it in action)

My General Impressions:

I picked this up the other day on a whim. It was shown briefly in the EU Nintendo Direct but only in the form of the initial level's opening anime cinematics. You play as a young woman in a mech suit who happens to be President of Japan. This might be a modern day allegory to King Richard the Lionheart or it could be a simpler case of explaining why she gets to fly expensive robots instead of dealing with the Legislature.

Liberation Maiden plays loosely like a cross between Rez/Sin and Punishment 2/Zone of the Enders. Without namedropping those three games for no good reason, it plays mechanically very similarly to them. You navigate your character in a 3D world but are limited to moving left/right or strafing. You have no vertical movement. All movement is by the circle pad.

You fire at enemies by sliding the stylus across the screen as a virtual trackpad, and lock onto them Rez/S&P style. Release to unleash a volley of fire. The more shots you release the less shields you have, so there is a bit of a risk/reward theme at play.

You can also switch between normal movement and strafing (around a central point of focus) via the left shoulder button. This can either be set to toggle or hold. I advise people to use toggle to minimise hand cramps.

People in the EU Nintendo Direct thread reported that it was not friendly for left handed gamers. Useful metric for comparison seems to be Kid Icarus Uprising. If you are a lefty and could play it without the CCPro you will probably fare ok here. If not, might be better to wait for a demo.

Visually, the presentation is nice, visuals are quite good for 3DS, perhaps a step up from Ace Combat 3DS for those who have played it. Mission details and objectives are updated during the action, and it's a really user-friendly game to get into.

Overall I'm happy I bought it, here's hoping others who jumped in can add details for those waiting to see.

But wait, there's more:

Liberation Maiden was released as part of Guild 01 in Japan. Two more games from that package are releasing on the eShop in coming months.
Aero Porter (by Yoot Saito - Odama and Seaman) and Crimson Shroud (Yasumi Matsuno - Final Fantasy XII and Vagrant Story).

Note: Due to the low key of this release, it is quite difficult to find much in the way of media and details on the game. I bought it blindly, but if you have any more details and impressions that would be useful for the OT, please let me know. Thanks!

 

[Rich!]

Brought it the other night when it went up on the eshop.

Pretty fun.

 

[Hours Left]

I'm really only interested in Crimson Shroud, but I might pick this up to support the release of further Guild Project games if the price is right.

I'm just happy to see that they are giving the games a shot outside of Japan, it's too bad that they are skipping one though. :/

 

[Poyunch]

What happened to that airports sim? I wanted that.

edit: Oh it's coming, good. Stupid NoA.

 

[Mpl90]

A very good game, indeed.
And now it's first on the European eShop most recent chart. Good

 

[RelentlessRolento]

want badly... still wish all games from guild01 were westernized

 

[EatChildren]

It's okay. Nothing particularly wrong with it, a pretty simple shmup and would probably be more enjoyable as part of the complete Guild01 package.

 

[Phife Dawg]

It's OK, nothing ground-breaking or anything but fun nonetheless.

The ass shot of the president on the mecha in the opening sequence had me laughing.

 

[Pikma]

I'll join you guys!..... once they release it in NA.

 

[G.O.O.]

Suda 51

8 €

=> bought

And it's pleasant ! Not great but nice. Also, is it just me or is the 3D effect pretty weak on this one ?

 

[grimshawish]

Its alright; nothing too special. Its a fun game to play but the movement and camera don't really quite 'work'. You'll be chased by a missile but the game changes focus of the camera downwards when you fight - expecting you to be targetting enemies on the ground. Missiles go out of vision and out of aim far too often.

The bosses are where the games most fun though.
Decent game - but I can't describe it as 'must have' tbh.

 

[Nemesis_]

No online functionality at ALL?

Like, leaderboards and such.

 

[Zornica]

why is the € price missing from the OT? it's 7,99 btw

I think I am gonna wait for crimson shroud..

 

[AkimbO_Arcana]

Thanks for making the OP.

I'm enjoying this game, pretty much all I've been playing since it went up.

And yeah UK's only one country of europe. Most of us payed 7,99€.

 

[Celine]

why is the € price missing from the OT? it's 7,99 btw

I think I am gonna wait for crimson shroud..

Me too, especially since Nano Assault Ex is coming soon ( should be a more robust shmups experience... ).

 

[mocolostrocolos]

Played two missions.

It's very enjoyable but it has the same problem that Kid Icarus, not very handy.

 

[Qurupeke]

I'm gonna buy it this week. It seems the best out of all the Guild01 games.

 

[Yagharek]

why is the € price missing from the OT? it's 7,99 btw

I think I am gonna wait for crimson shroud..

Couldn't find this info, thanks for clarifying

 

[electroplankton]

It's okay. Nothing particularly wrong with it, a pretty simple shmup and would probably be more enjoyable as part of the complete Guild01 package.

It'd probably be more enjoyable as an anime.

 

[Bumhead]

Me too, especially since Nano Assault Ex is coming soon ( should be a more robust shmups experience... ).

When is Nano Assault out?

Interested in this but the price point is a little higher than impulse range for something with so few impressions or media around. Will keep a close eye on this thread, though.

 

[Yagharek]

When is Nano Assault out?

Interested in this but the price point is a little higher than impulse range for something with so few impressions or media around. Will keep a close eye on this thread, though.

You're right. There is a disturbing lack of info on this game, its basically a case of people buying and reporting on what they find on the game. Then further down the line people later on will be able to look in here and find out if its for them or not.

Without a demo, its impossible to gauge without making a blind jump. It's the absolute worst way to market a game. Some like me will take a chance and be happy with it, others (see the EU Nintendo Direct thread link) bought it and hated it for the same reasons they couldn't get into Kid Icarus.

I'm going to add impressions and details from other people to the OP as they come in. More of a public service than anything.

 

[Celine]

When is Nano Assault out?

Out before the year end, a firm date wasn't given.

 

[AkimbO_Arcana]

Wait... I never followed the KIU OT, because my 3DS was broken when it released and then I felt so LTTP that I played it on my own.

But there is hate for this game????

 

[grimshawish]

Wait... I never followed the KIU OT, because my 3DS was broken when it released and then I felt so LTTP that I played it on my own.

But there is hate for this game????

Some people find the controls uncomfortable. I call them mad
But no its generally hugely loved/praised; I haven't seen many people who dislike the underlying game - just the controls.

 

[axisofweevils]

As a lefty that had no problems with KIU, I do find the control scheme here uncomfortable. (I used the ABXY buttons to move in Kid Icarus - something that isn't an option here.)
The game is still fun though.

 

[KDR_11k]

Circle pad, stylus and L button can be pretty uncomfortable, I guess it depends on your hands so not everybody suffers from it but prolonged periods of time make my left hand cramp up. You only have one hand to hold the system and one of your fingers has to hold down the shoulder button, leaving three fingers to grip the underside of the thing. Even using both wrists to prop the thing up doesn't reduce the necessary force enough to avoid discomfort. During the Greater Spike fights the L button becomes unnecessary so I can reposition my hand, much more comfortable then.

 

[@MUWANdo]

You're right. There is a disturbing lack of info on this game, its basically a case of people buying and reporting on what they find on the game. Then further down the line people later on will be able to look in here and find out if its for them or not.

Without a demo, its impossible to gauge without making a blind jump. It's the absolute worst way to market a game. Some like me will take a chance and be happy with it, others (see the EU Nintendo Direct thread link) bought it and hated it for the same reasons they couldn't get into Kid Icarus.

I'm going to add impressions and details from other people to the OP as they come in. More of a public service than anything.

There's no info because they released it, like, five seconds after announcing the English release.

 

[GameCenterXDS]

Really glad NoA got this out here. Love these Japanese SHMUPS/action games and want to see them all come out here and any game Suda 51 and Grasshopper works on!

 

[whalleywhat]

Mostly just interested in the Matsuno game.

 

[vall03]

so the simplest impressions so far, its like Kid Icarus where you either love it or hate hate it because of the controls?

 

[KDR_11k]

It has 2D movement in a 3D environment (you can move left, right, forward and back and turn left or right) normally and along a sphere (always strafing) during boss fights. You attack by drawing a lock-on cursor over enemies like in Rez. Levels are a bit larger open spaces but the primary objectives always happen in smaller areas, if you fly around you can find secondary objectives for bonus points. You do three primary objectives (each ending with a miniboss fight) and then attack the boss.

I find getting hit rather erratic, missiles seem to dawdle around a bit before hitting you so you get a good chance at shooting them down and you hardly ever take hits during normal play but bosses often have big beam lasers that make it hard to judge where you get hit and where you don't, they'll also take off like 90% of your losable deflector drones (basically a shared shield/ammo bar, it can't fall below one ring but you take health damage then) when they hit and it can take some time to recover from that during which your attack power is severely limited.

 

[Nemesis_]

Vooks.Net review is in.

Liberation Maiden is not your usual Grasshopper developed game, no; it’s something that’s notably more basic than anything else the development firm has put out. To clarify – I enjoyed Liberation Maiden for the three hours or so that I played it, but I question whether it was really worth the price of admission considering how little variation there is. I’ve also felt like I’ve played so many shooters like this before, quirky Suda humour or not. This is a hard one to objectively rank – if you like Suda’s work and score attack games, you’ll probably love this. But if you don’t like at least one of these things, Liberation Maiden will probably be something you could safely miss without repercussion. Tread carefully.

3 / 5

 

[Boerseun]

I may pick this up, but Crimson Shroud has me more excited, to be honest.

 

[Tenki]

In the first level, with only the missiles I was kinda lost, but in the second level, once you get the

Spoiler

laser beam

the game gets better. I wish I had more time to spend on it

 

[Parakeetman]

It's okay. Nothing particularly wrong with it, a pretty simple shmup and would probably be more enjoyable as part of the complete Guild01 package.

Truthfully its the only interesting game of the bunch. Had it sold it back after 2 days with it.

The weapon shop one I can see some people enjoying that one. The RPG was such a wasted project which could have been cool if it wasnt more of a choose your own adventure novel than an RPG. And the airport one just was not my thing.

 

[awilliams213]

As a fan of Eureka Seven, Macross, Gurren Langan etc. this looks fun. I will buy this for NA when its released.

 

[SpaceBridge]

I may pick this up, but Crimson Shroud has me more excited, to be honest.

Has there been any gameplay video?

 

[panda21]

i bought guild 01 and find this practically impossible to play as a left hander. the lack of frankenstick support or left handed mode means you have to aim on the touch screen using the stylus with your right hand which i really cant do.

shame cos it seems cool

 

[jufonuk]

so going to buy this

i bought guild 01 and find this practically impossible to play as a left hander. the lack of frankenstick support or left handed mode means you have to aim on the touch screen using the stylus with your right hand which i really cant do.

shame cos it seems cool

Prehaps not

 

[chickdigger802]

Keep on reading the title as Liberate Madden: Air Force 1


Would play that.

 

[cullenx]

the only one I want is Crimson Shroud. Sorry.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I wonder if there is control customization in LM.

Crimson Shroud seems interesting but my question is how long would it be.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Bumping this topic to say that the NA version will release on October 25th.

Sorry if old.

 

[MrBS]

Just picked this up on the NA store, lets see how this goes.

 

[zigg]

Got this early today. Love it!

If you don't like to replay things, though, you're gonna feel cheated by the "length."

 

[nluckett]

Pretty fun! Great production values.

This feels like an old Sega Arcade game. It's flashy, short, has tight controls, a bizarre but awesome story/cast/theme. Digging it. Totally worth the $7.

 

[Kerub]

Damn, the last boss is difficult! The difficulty spike (heh.) was really brutal, I've barely died in this game but I'm having a lot of problems with this boss.

EDIT - phew, I beat it now. I had lots of fun with the first playthrough once I figured out how to play it comfortably. I'm going to try hard mode now!

 

[idlethreats]

Oooh, didn't realize this had an OT. I DLed and beat it last Thursday and was surprised to find that I really enjoyed it! I'm not really in to shooters but I wanted to support the localization of a niche/Level 5 game (and +1 for female protagonists) so I did my duty and bought it and played it straight through in one sitting. Pretty short and sweet. The gameplay is pretty repetitive, so it definitely would have worn out its welcome if it'd lasted much longer. The production values were pretty good for a small handheld title though - I thought the voice work was top notch (really liked Shoko's voice) and the animation was nice.

It's bit a steep at 7.99 USD but still worth the download, I think. I'm definitely excited for the rest of the Guild 01 offerings now.

Random, but Liberation Maiden is now my favorite 3DS menu icon. "We'll fight for our people!" Ha, idk but I like it for some reason.

 

[Kerub]

Hehe, there was some REALLY cheesy dialog in there.

 

[cand]

I really loved the game. It's not a complete package but as an introduction to a great universe it's really good. It will be awesome if this series get a full game later happening before or after the events of this game. The concept and the music got me from the start. I recommend for people that like to have good experiences. Don't recommend it for the "I think the industry is going down and I'm bored, Mass effect 3 sux" gamers, cuz they will complain and nobady cares...