Bandai Namco Entertainment has recently released a 13-minute long trailer for the PS3/PS4 game Robot Wars OG: Moon Dwellers. And while it can be fair to say that this title had to run a lap through Google’s fairly rough translation engine, I still cannot be entirely sure what kind of game this might be, even after rewatching the trailer approximately five times.
About nine minutes straight into the video, we receive an onslaught of characters displayed in what can only be assumed to be cut-scenes either hacked straight from the game development floor, or courtesy pasted in place of actual gameplay. For about a minute after that, we are provided a view of an over-world map from that of a classic RPG with some base building mechanics mixed in. But before the wild ride takes off again, more flashy character are displayed.
Explosions! Robots! Excitement!
This would probably be a really great episode of Gundam even if I still didn’t know what was going on. But as an interactive medium? I am sort of dumbfounded.
Oh, but did I also mention its fifteen-second splash screen of a red-head in a swimsuit? It’s undoubtedly exploiting one of its own characters for the trope of the busty anime girl.
In conclusion, this trailer made me question the simple notion of advertisement in games. Does anyone actually know how to do it right? We’ll see if anyone’s learned by the time of E3. However, there is something comforting to take out of this trailer, and that is to know that the North American and European markets aren’t the only ones flopping with trailers.
It’s everyone!
