Retro Review - Panzer Bandit

Can you play a video game that is not in your language and still have fun? The answer is yes, but it will always depend on the gameplay of that video game, for example, during part of my childhood when I played my first Pokemon, was in English, a language that at that time did not understand anything and this happened to me in the same way with other video games, in fact thanks to that, I learned a little more English. However, between the Spanish language and English there are certain similarities, similar words that in a certain way helped me to understand (although some of the things I was able to achieve while playing were by mere luck). But there is a video game that I remember that I didn't understand any of its history, because it was totally in Japanese, but since it was a Beat Em Up, really the history in this type of video games is not so important, because the strong point of the titles of this genre is to distribute fists and kicks to any enemy we have in front of us, in general terms that's what a game of the Beat Em Up genre means, so it's very important that it has a very good gameplay and the game I'm talking about today easily meets those requirements.

Today's Retro Review is about: Panzer Bandit.

I had to do some research on the Panzer Bandit plot, because as I said before, it's totally in Japanese and as I expected, the story of this game is extremely simple, something very characteristic in Beat Em Up, they are video games that focus on their playability, and leave their plot in the background.

Panzer Bandit tells us the story of a world that is in decline and this is because the energy sources around the world are disappearing due to the overexploitation of human beings. Taking advantage of such a situation, enters the scene an organization called Arc, that organization is led by Professor Farada who seeks to own the few remaining energy crystals, so they can control energy consumption as they want and therefore control the world as they are the only ones who have under their power the production of this important resource.

But as is customary in this type of videogames, a group of 4 heroes (that later we will be able to unlock more characters) will be the ones in charge of stopping the plans of the Arc organization and thus to save the world. Generally the Beat Em Up don't stand out for their argument, since in reality it is not something very important when our only mission in this type of games is to distribute fists, kicks (and in some cases swords) to any enemy who has the audacity to block the way, that's why the gameplay in the Beat Em Up is very important, must be dynamic, fluid and above all, fun.

I love this game graphically, Panzer Bandit has a 2D style (like most games in this genre) but has a very characteristic artistic style, as it resembles a lot to an anime, but the delineation of its characters gives it some particular feature that makes it visually nice, ie, is a mixture between anime style and pixel art (it even has an opening totally made with the anime style), which makes it look really good, in fact, to be a game of more than 20 years ago, even today looks spectacular and are very few video games that have been able to overcome the challenge of time to remain current both in its mechanics and its graphic appearance.

Video Author Klarthkun

The sprites of the characters are excellently designed, the union between the anime style and the pixelart style gives some dynamism to the game itself and also, the scenarios enjoy a fairly good level of detail, so that they do not feel empty or flat. Because it is a game of the Beat Em Up genre is of great importance that the animation of the characters have fluidity, and this is something that Panzer Bandit achieves, the movement of the characters is fluid and fast, just and necessary for any Beat Em Up, as we will be in constant motion, dodging and attacking our enemies.

Panzer Bandit is located at a certain point in the distant future, so we will find an atmosphere and decoration according to that moment, but we will also find certain characteristics that resemble the Steampunk style.

I don't have any complaints about the sound aspect, it's really good, we're going to hear a lot of melodies that are perfectly composed for this game. Melodies that fit very well with the theme, action music that will decorate each of the stages we are going to go through (each stage has its own melody).

One of the most important points in an action game, after its mechanics and playability, is the music, because with the music, in a way, makes the player feel motivated to continue playing and in this case, to continue distributing fists and kicks, but another very important feature, with respect to the sound aspect in the Beat Em Up, are the sound effects. There is nothing like listening to the sound of a blow, kick or sword, even an explosion against an enemy, this, at least in my experience, gives greater motivation, because it increases immersion in a particular situation.

Video Author Mr PSOne

Panzer Bandit OST Playlist

Panzer Bandit is Beat Em Up in all rules and as is customary in this type of video games, our main task is to go through each of the scenarios and defeat all those enemies who want to prevent us from advancing. Let's move laterally through a series of scenarios crowded with enemies of all kinds, enemies have different patterns of attack and resistance, some are weaker than others. We will also find the typical final bosses of each scenario, at the beginning the difficulty level will be easy, but as we advance the difficulty will increase, in itself, Panzer Bandit is a game with a curve of difficulty a little high.

At the beginning of the game we will be able to choose between 4 main characters, but then we can unlock more, to have a total of 12 playable characters, in such a way that this gives a very important feature to this game that is the re-playability, having the opportunity to get more characters this motivates the player to want to play again and pass the game to get everything necessary to complete it 100%.

The 4 main characters are:

Kou is the main character, is the most balanced of the 4 and carries a robot that helps him in fights, his special skill is throwing fireballs.

Miu is another of the protagonists, she uses a robot to attack enemies, always this climb to his robot and has great attacking power.

Ein is a robot with a large arsenal of weapons at her disposal, she can use bombs and pistols. She's my favorite character, especially because of her design.

And finally we have Kasumi, she is an expert in the use of the sword and is always accompanied by her pet robot.

Panzer Bandit is an excellent action game, one of the best games that are in the great catalog of the old but beloved PlayStation 1, a 100% recommended title.