When we got Eureka 7 Vol. 2: The New Vision in the mail a while back, I realized that no one on staff really knew what Eureka 7 was. Sure, we had seen the promos for its airing on Cartoon Network, but an entire show based around surfing robots just seemed…well, lame. It was with great trepidation that I began watching the series (in it’s original Japanese glory), but by the end I was pleasantly surprised, as it turned out to really be an incredible show, with an awesome story and amazing characters.
With that newfound fandom for Eureka 7, I loaded the first Eureka 7 game into the PS2, and got familiar with it. After finishing it, I thought to myself, "Surely the second one has to be better, right?" Well, slightly. And that’s a shame.
The game once again revolves around the character of Sumner Sturgeon. Like the first game, Sumner is once again faced by the object of his desires, Ruri. The game basically revolves around Sumner and his borderline psychopath desire to be with Ruri. For the story to advance, you basically have to rely on Ruri telling Sumner what to do, and without a single word of complaint or questioning, Sumner will usually do it. It’s similar to the relationship between Renton and Eureka from the show — if Eureka was a dominating woman with the logic of a high schooler who gave out orders as if she were a 19th century dictator, that is.
While the story is a little absurd (and lame) at times, the developers did do a great job of telling it — for some this may be the biggest strike, or the biggest plus. Throughout the game, you’re treated to numerous cutscenes (as well as voice acting this time around). In total, the cutscenes probably compromise about half of the game’s total time, making it seem much more akin to an interactive story than a flat-out video game.
When you get into the missions and see how the gameplay handles, you may consider that a huge benefit. While the combat and movement are slightly upgraded from the first game, The New Vision really doesn’t offer anything worthwhile that hasn’t been done much better before. The on-foot missions continue to frustrate (at least you get to use Moondoggie, though), and the LFO combat is surprisingly boring and slow-paced. When you think of giant robots fighting in the air, you’d expect some fun battles with a lot of action — especially if you’ve watched the show. Instead, the aerial combat is much closer to a WWI/II flight-sim, as you spend a majority of the time circling around in the air until you see your target, then fly in, attempt a quick strike, and continue circling.
To their credit, the framerate and on-screen graphics in The New Vision are improved upon New Wave. In the first game, when a lot of effects were filling up the screen (or when there were more than two or three enemies…) the game was faced with noticeable slowdown. In The New Vision, however, there really weren’t any moments where I got so frustrated at the graphical lag that I almost threw my controller through my television.
If you’re a fan of Eureka 7 and want to know more about the Eureka 7 universe, you should at least consider renting the two Eureka 7 games. (Keep in mind they’re a prequel of sorts to the show, and Moondoggie is the only real link in the second game to the show.) If you go in with the mindset that these are interactive anime rather than games, you may not be as disappointed by the end result. As a game, Eureka 7 Vol. 2: The New Vision suffers from a plethora of problems, ranging from bad combat, to a corny story, to a bunch of un-fixed bugs. As an interactive anime, however, you’re getting ~5 hours or so of new video about the Eureka 7 universe. Is that worth the price of purchase? For some, yes. For most gamers, however, most certainly not.
