Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 is a direct sequel to Original Generation, yet it improves on the former game in several key areas.

The story in this second installment of the series continues shortly after the first, but it is not absolutely required for players to have played the first game to enjoy this one–just highly recommended. There are a lot of names and abbreviations thrown around that can be quite confusing, even if one has played the first. Surprisingly, the story for Original Generation 2 is much improved over the original’s. The characters are more developed, a lot of quite good (not wacky) humor is thrown in, and the overall feel is quite epic. The game places the characters in a struggle to deal with the impending threat of alien invasion, while trying to keep various factions on earth from annhilating each other. As mentioned before, the story does throw an awful lot of names at the player, and this can get overwhelming once in a while. Thankfully, the game allows one to press the “B” button to rewind the dialogue in the lengthy story sequences. The story is once again told by character portraits talking to each other on a static background, but the dialogue is done so expertly that it is quite rare that one realizes that this is the case. It’s overall an improvement over the original’s, which was an unexpected, but very welcome suprise.

The rest of the game has some noteworthy improvements too. Battles play out in much the same fashion, but everything feels more streamlined. They often have different win conditions in this go through, as compared to the previous game, in which the majority of missions were simply to kill all enemies. Players must really be aware of the win/lose conditions, as sometimes there are instant-loss scenarios that can end the game prematurely. Combat sessions are set up in grids, and players direct small icons of their characters’ robots and vehicles around the map. The grids in Original Generation 2 seem much larger on average than those in the previous game, and this allows for even more strategy. Some characters have weapons with huge range, but none for close combat, while others have weapons with close range but are only meat shields at range. The individual characters’ play styles seems extremely unique in this go around, and it is yet another very welcome change.

During battles, when a player has closed into attack range, there are battle sequences that take place in the same fashion as those of the first game. The game goes into a mini-scene that shows each unit, then player and enemy units take turns attacking each other. These scenes are animated extremely well, and are easily some of the best visuals to be seen on the system. Animations are so well done that although there is the option to skip watching them (and this option allows players to pick and choose which scenes to watch, an extremely convenient feature), players will find themselves not utilizing it very much, especially when using a weapon they have not seen in action before. Generally, battles in SRT2 are more difficult, and the win conditions can vary, but both of these only serve to make the game more exciting than the elder title.

Customization is still a huge part of Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2. Players can improve mechs, spend money on maxing out weapons, mess around with pilots’ skills, improve a pilot’s combat capabilities, and spend hours simply playing with the stats. The system is easily accessed in between battle sequences.

The flow of the battle works in much the same was as the original’s. Players view a story sequence, battle, view another story sequence, and then have the option to customize, then rinse and repeat the process.

Big guns = teh win.

Graphically, Original Generation 2 is a step above its predecessor. The battle sequences have obvious improvements, with more dynamic movement, and less repetition. They are truly a marvel to behold. Battle maps are larger and more detailed, allowing players to better visualize what is going on. Story sequences still lack anything but character portraits, but this is a gripe in comparison to all the great visuals in the game.

The music is also quite good. Each character has his/her own battle music when attacking, and all the music is actually quite good. The battle music is epic, the “bad guy” music is foreboding, the “base” music is suitable, all the music is fun, and highly replayable. It isn’t as repetitious as the original game’s music either. The music is simply high quality, as are the sound effects.

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 is an excellent game. There is always something uniquely fun about having huge robots duke it out, but unlike the first game, this second installment proves that one can create an epic story to go along wiht that. This game is an excellent addition to the collection of any fan of SRPGs. Its high production values, great story, and superb battles all make the game one of the better RPGs on the system.