Wednesday, November 6, 2002 - Enix America announced that Robot Alchemic Drive for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system is now available nationwide. RAD is an original mech-fighting game, where the player takes the control of one of the three young heroes that must remotely control gigantic fully armed robot against gigantic alien monsters.

We had a chance to test the game in a brief demo, and we were sincerely impressed by the original structure and the powerful visual impact of the game. The player can walk around the Japanese city with his human character. When the alien creature approaches, you can switch to the robot remote controls by simply pressing a button on the Dual Shock 2. All the battle is seen from the viewpoint of the human character; in this way, not only the player has to fight the alien creature but he also has to frequently switch back to the human character controls and find a good and secure spot to look at the battle.

The overall look of the game is entirely inspired by the good Japanese Godzilla movies, and the giant creatures that try to destroy the city are truly scaring. Since you are forced to look at everything from the point of view of the human character, you are always aware of the terrifying dimension of your robot and of the creature. Everything in the environments is fully destroyable, from bridges to buildings, and streets are populated by dozens and dozens of scared people, while cars and other vehicles try to escape from the fury of the monsters. The gigantic robots and creatures are probably the most impressive feature of RAD’s graphics. Built with thousands of polygons, magnificently textured, they are a sight to see.

We’ll have a full review of the game when we get our final copy. In the meanwhile here is a list of features:

• Two-player mode - Allows the player to challenge a friend to a gargantuan slugfest of epic proportions with 14 un-lockable combatants and 7 urban areas at his/her disposal.
  
• Catastrophic Urban Destruction - every object in the environment is a potential subject of collateral damage as all buildings, power lines and cars can be damaged, knocked down and destroyed by the battling giants;
  
• Transformation Modes - robots can transform into an alternate form for additional skills and game-play options. Transform into a tank and crush buildings or transform into a jet and soar high above the chaos below;
  
• Unique Control Mechanism - simulates remote control of huge robots- For example, L1 and L2 buttons control the left leg and R1 and R2 buttons control the right leg. Alternating between the L1 and R1 buttons enables the robot to walk forward;
  
• Unique Character Design - characters are designed by Toshihiro Kawamoto who also designed the characters for hit Anime series, "Cowboy Bebop".