DAEMON X MACHINA Review – Let’s Mechin’ Go!

DAEMON X MACHINA was first introduced into our lives at E3 2018 with one of the most badass game trailers ever. It was a shock intro to the Nintendo Direct at that time, and it had a lot of people buzzing. It released the next year to moderately high reviews, but with the rumored development of a sequel on the way, I thought it would be great to retrospectively review the first and see how it still holds up two years later. Since Nintendo Link is a young site, we will be doing some retro reviews moving forward, so look out for that.

Now, does DAEMON X MACHINA blow our socks off like the trailer once did? Or do these mechs need to charge their batteries a bit more as they prepare for the sequel? Let’s find out!

DAEMON X MACHINA tells the story of a world recovering from a major catastrophe. The moon has crashed into the planet, and the wreckage has been emitting a strange energy that is turning all artificial intelligence sentient and turning them against the human race. As you can probably guess with these types of games, this radiation has also strengthened the abilities of some civilians, including your character (Which you get to customize thoroughly). You offer your services and help to lessen the threat of the AI takeover, and you do so in your trusty, strong-as-all-hell giant mech.

There are loads of mercenaries to meet, and the game kind of expects you to remember all of them, even though you will only connect with certain ones every 10 missions or so. All of the characters and their respective voice actors are fun, lively, and add a whole lot of strength to the character lineup. Although your avatar serves as a shell of sorts, the supporting cast elevates the story and dialog really well and help to keep things glued together. This is a pretty complicated story by any measure, but thankfully as the game progresses, certain characters get more spotlight and the story begins to make a lot more sense.

I wouldn’t say DAEMON X MACHINA accomplishes a lot with its storytelling, but it is interesting and keeps your attention throughout. The character interactions during missions adds a lot of flavor, but overall, this is a game a lot less about the story it is telling and more about that sweet, sweet mech action thanks to Kenichiro Tsukuda, who produced the Armored Core series. The mech designs were even done so by Shoji Kawamori, who created the mechs in the Macross series. With mech masters like these two at the helm, you know the combat is where DAEMON X MACHINA shines.

One of the problems of this set up, though, is that the action sequences are used to further the story, so paying attention to what the other mercenaries are saying while you are taking out enemy AI is a bit distracting. The conversations are happening constantly through combat, and it does make you wish that the majority of the dialog was subject to cut scenes and home base interactions.

As far as the combat goes, though, this is some of the best in the mech genre. It is easy enough to understand for casual players and complex enough to satisfy the seasoned veterans, and the unique approach to scavenging parts from fallen mechs adds even more intrigue and strategy to the gameplay. There are some awesome encounters with the many enemy AI, and some of the better fights belong to the quicker mech-like enemies and the larger-than-life giant robots. Although the latter is a bit more lacking than I had hoped for, the bigger battles are some of the highlights of the game and the ones that will truly test your combat skills.

Progressing through the missions and advancing into the higher letter grades will present some more powerful punches and longer-winded battles, so from Rank C onward may be a bit of a stretch for the casual player. However, I still think that good prep and practice will help anyone, and DAEMON X MACHINA offers a wide array of tutorials, lessons, and help if you need it. Even in the midst of combat, it is understandable that you may forget certain controls (Believe me, I did quite a few times), but thankfully pausing and looking at the options assists you in reminding which buttons do what and how to access reserves. Considering how complex your arsenal is, the controls are quite user-friendly, and you should be taking down the enemy in no time.

Customization is another great part of DAEMON X MACHINA. Right at the start, we build our avatar with Monster Hunter-level of options, which is quite nice, especially since the design carries over into all of the cutscenes as well. On top of that, customizing your mech is so much fun, as you are constantly picking up new gear in the midst of battle, and you can equip them between missions or sell them in order to gain more currency and buy something on sale. Parts are one thing, but throughout the campaign, you will earn different designs, patterns, and such to further customize the mech, and deciding on colors ups this even more. These are not the most complex creation tools, but they are the right amount, especially considering all that you can customize.

The cutscene animations are beautifully rendered, and I am a huge fan of the more detailed cell shade style they went with. The characters and mechs, particularly, look phenomenal, and again, the fact that your avatar and designed mech flow near-perfectly into these cutscenes makes them even more special. As far as the stages go, though, things could look better… a lot better, actually. Most stages are pretty bland and do not offer a whole lot to be mesmerized by, and even your home base could use a bit more to liven it up.

I would say this point hits a couple more issues, because the attention to certain detail is incredibly high while other important areas is incredibly low. This unfortunately makes the overall graphical presentation kind of mediocre, because although the mechs look straight-up gorgeous, the areas that they are flying around and shooting enemy AI in are anything but. These stages really do suffer because of the lack of detail, and despite the fact that moving and flying around in your mech is every bit of fun and entertaining, the chore of going into the next mission knowing that the area is not going to be anything special kind of hurts the anticipation of entering the mission.

Outside of the actual combat, another area where DAEMON X MACHINA shines greatly is in its sound. The action is elevated by the excellent effects used with all of the weapons, the jet boosters, explosions, and everything else that makes the things happening around you feel even bigger and more legit. Not only that, but the voice work is pretty stellar, especially when we are talking about the Japanese voice actors. The English team is fine and they definitely do their jobs well, but the Japanese voice team is top tier and everyone delivers great performances.

However, my absolute favorite area of DAEMON X MACHINA, without question, is the soundtrack. During many of the missions, the hard rock soundtrack is just perfectly in-sync with the action on screen. The combination of mech combat and heavy guitar riffs is not something I would naturally put together, but in this case, the two are married wonderfully. As far as action games go, this is one of the best soundtracks to come out in years.

The only other major area of the game is in its multiplayer, which is a rather dead community right now, sadly. Not only that, but it is actually a great part of the game and loads of fun! Doing missions cooperatively is quite enjoyable, and I really liked exploring with my friends. However, the best fun is in the VERSUS mode, which pits you against another player 1 vs 1 or you can team up with a friend and take on another team in 2 vs 2, and this is where DAEMON X MACHINA should have marketed hard on, as this is high quality, arcade-like mech competition. Hopefully this is an area the sequel will do even better!

DAEMON X MACHINA is a solid mech action title with a decent story and a wide variety of interesting characters. It is weighed down a bit due to its bland settings, small and closed off stages, and convoluted story that seeps into the action making it hard to listen to while you are taking out enemy AI, but overall, this is a solid first entry in a series and one that has great potential moving forward.

With the prospect of a sequel, it would be great to see this world expanded a bit more. I would love for the multiplayer, especially the VERSUS mode, to be at the forefront of Part 2, and I think the story mode would benefit greatly from a fully cooperative experience.

Either way, if you have never played DAEMON X MACHINA and have been wondering if you should, let me just say that this is definitely worth your time if you like mech action. This may not be everyone’s cup ‘o tea, but it is definitely worth a sip.

If you are willing, welcome to your battlefield.

DAEMON X MACHINA Review provided by Nintendo Link
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Marvelous Entertainment
Release Date: September 3, 2019
Price: $59.99, £49.99, €49,99
Game Size: 6.9GB