Damascus Gear: Operation Osaka review for PS Vita, PS4

I hadn?t realized just how underwhelmed I was by Damascus Gear: Operation Osaka until I went back and read my review of its predecessor, Damascus Gear: Operation Tokyo. While I wouldn?t call that game exceptional by any stretch of the imagination, and I certainly wouldn?t say that I?ve even once thought of it since I played it, in retrospect I have to give that game its due for having a clear vision of what it wanted to be: a game where you and your squad piloted giant mechs around the ruins of Tokyo, fighting other mechs. It wasn?t complex, but it wasn?t trying to be, either.

Operation Osaka also isn?t trying to be complex, but that?s mainly because it isn?t trying to be much of anything. It just sort of is. Rather than piloting a mech around a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, here you?re just exploring endless, same-looking dungeons. Occasionally you?ll stumble across rooms featuring other robots, and then it?s up to you to blow them all up. You can also scavenge or buy extra parts to help improve your own mech.

Like I said, there?s really not much here. The weapons all seem kind of similar. Most of the robots just look like they had their palettes swapped. Even the game?s plot seems lacklustre: you?re a mech pilot who?s deeply in debt, and you have to fight to pay off those debts. On the one hand, it?s relatively original. On the other hand, it?s hardly the kind of thing that makes for an unforgettable story.

In this respect, I guess, it mirrors everything else about Damascus Gear: Operation Osaka. It?s a fairly forgettable sequel to a game that, really, wasn?t all that interesting in the first place. It won?t crash your Vita, and I assume that means that your PC or PS4 would be safe as well, but that?s pretty much the highest compliment I can pay the game.

Arc System Works provided us with a Damascus Gear: Operation Osaka PS Vita code for review purposes.