I was able to get my hands on a review code from Bandai Namco for their PlayStation 4 game, Chroma Squad. Chroma Squad is a tactical role playing game inspired by the likes of Saban’s Power Rangers.
At the start of the game, you have four difficulty options to pick from. “Casual” lets you sit back and enjoy the story. “Interesting” is for players who are more familiar with role playing games, but you won’t have to think too hard.( in game writing, not mine)”Challenging” will test your tactical abilities and “Heroic” will show you’re the master of Chroma Squad. You’ll have to start a new game if you want to change the difficulty so choose wisely!
Long story short, you play as a team of stunt people that quit their jobs of being stunt people for a “Power Rangers” style TV show and decide to start their own. Before you quit your day job, the director of your old job gives you the basics of fighting and controls and this is basically your tutorial. It isn’t forced on you because it’s the director giving you directions/motivation in the scene so it never has the tutorial vibe to it.
You get the basics of the controls in the tutorial and then you’re thrown to the wolves, getting to run your own company/TV show. At the start you get to hire a group of five actors to play the roles of Chroma Squad and even though you have no idea how to make a TV show, you get booked for a season. You play through episodes and there are directives to achieve in each episode to gain more of a following/audience.
The more following the show gets, the more money you will make each episode and that bodes well for the success of the show. You’ll be able to buy better weapons for the cast as well as better costumes. Everything you do could have a positive or negative effect on the show. You might get an email from an ad agency that can get you more followers but you have to keep your audience at a certain number each week. If your number falls below that number, you’ll lose the agency and you’ll have to get a new one. One issue I have is that it appeared that you couldn’t sell items that you bought in the shop. I bought swords for my actors but I wanted to equip them and then sell the old stuff for more money but that wasn’t an option. That type of thing is basic RPG stuff and it didn’t appear to be possible.
During each episode, you start out in human form while the premise for the TV episode is explained. Right before the battle starts, you’ll find out what the extra options during battle are, such as winning in three turns or hitting the boss monster every turn. Chroma Squad is a tactical RPG where the location on the board and strength is key. You’ll be able to use Teamwork attacks/abilities during battle to fight with an extra ounce of strength. Teamwork moves will also allow you to move further across the board as well. During battle, you’ll be able to Chromatize, getting into your Chroma Squad costumes, and heal your HP. You’ll also have different weapons and abilities than your human form so make sure you purchase the right weapons in the shop and use the skills tree in the studio. These abilities could be the only way you’re going to defeat the monster.
Near the end of season one, you get the ability to transform into your signature-fighting robot, the Mecha. Fighting with the Mecha is straightforward as it feels like an old school flash game. There is a gage on the screen that goes from left to right and you need to hit it right; the right being super effective hits. You have the option to defend or use a special move to inflict more damage but the basic attacks did plenty for me.
There were times in battle where it was hard to tell where the cursor was and where my attack was going to land. You get one attack per round and you get two movements per round. If you screw that up by say, not being able to see where the cursor is and move into another movement phase, you can’t go back and reset the attack, like in other RPG’s.
I’m giving Chroma Squad for the PlayStation 4 an 8.5/10. I would like to thank Bandai Namco for the Review Code.