fails the defender receives more damage. Can only be used against frontal attacks and costs 20 FP. If the defending character has the appropriate skill, some enemy attacks can also be parried, resulting in no damage to the defender. As well as attacks designed to inflict damage, players can also use special abilities which assist friendly ATACs, such as increasing a stat, recovering HP or reducing FP. One skill, Turn Quake, is designed to be used on enemies; it rotates them in a random direction. Terrain plays an important role in the game. Moving across difficult terrain such as forests and deserts requires more AP than normal, although not all ATACs suffer equally from this effect (some not at all). Some terrain is completely impassable. The ATACs All-Terrain Armored Combatants, or ATACs, are the main fighting force of the various armies in the game; the entire combat system revolves around them. They are large bipedal, humanoid (though one ATAC is a quadruped) mechs powered by gemstones. Despite their high technological complexity, ATACs still utilize traditional weapons such as swords and spears. However, they can also use special attacks such as fireballs, earthquakes, flying shards of ice and tornadoes, depending on their gemstone. ATACs that existed before the game takes place are called "Excavated ATACs". These were built by Eptina's original inhabitants and were discovered by archaeologists of the continent's current settlers. These machines became the basis for modern ATACs though none created since have surpassed an Excavated ATAC on the combat field. Each ruler of Eptina possesses an Excavated ATAC. Development Prior to its North American release, Vanguard Bandits was titled Detonator Gauntlet by Working Designs. However, Midway forced the company to change it due to its similarity to the Gauntlet series of action-fantasy games. The North American release included a bonus demo disc of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete for PlayStation. Reception The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Eric Bratcher of Next Generation said that the game "doesn't redefine the genre, but if you have the time, this strategy RPG is worth it." Game Informer gave it a favorable review, about two months before the game was released Stateside. Notes References External links 1998 video games Human Entertainment games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation Network games Tactical role-playing video games Video games about mecha Video games developed in Japan Video games with isometric graphics