The Wolf Festival

The famous manga known in Europe as Goldorak, receives a faithful adaptation from Microids and the French studio Endroad

You’ve probably heard of Mazinger Z, a cartoon series that surely made the childhoods of those of us who already have more than one gray hair or of our parents. This series has become very popular in Europe and today has many fans. On the other hand, UFO Robot Grendizer (or Grendizer in Europe) has gone very unnoticed although it looks very similar to this one. This resemblance is neither a coincidence nor a copy, And Mazinger Z and Grendizer share a creator, Go Nagai, who created the character in 1975.. Now, already at the end of 2023, we are getting this video game adaptation that didn’t go bad at all. We start.

A very faithful adaptation

The game begins with Duke Fleed, our protagonist, prince of the planet Fleed, who intends to marry the daughter of the Vega family. But this does not turn out as it should, since it is a trap and the Vega family’s intention is to destroy the planet Fleed. The title tutorial begins here, where we will learn the basics to be able to face the title. After these events, Duke Fleed must flee his home planet, and goes into exile on Earth under the name Daisuke Umon. But the Vega family’s plans go much further: they come to Earth to take advantage of humans and their resources. It is here that our protagonist, with his robot Grendizer, must save the Earth

The story, although simple, is entertaining and will delight fans of the series. What is surprising is the respect and love that the developers put into adapting the original work.. And manga fans will feel at home. Whether it’s the music, the opening or the enemies, everything was taken from the animated series. It’s clear that the developers are connoisseurs and fans of the original work and have made the title with a lot of love.

Mammals among giant robots

UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves is an action and adventure title where we will fight with different enemies most of the time. The game is divided into different chapters, each taking place in a different large location. Each location is a mini open world, where we can complete the missions in the order we want, or explore the area in search of collectibles and secrets. It’s an achievement to give the player some freedom through the open environments, even if they feel somewhat like a desert and the user doesn’t have much to do. The missions are also nothing out of the ordinary in their approach, they range from typical escort missions, to vague…

The game’s combat is very basic and simple, but a lot of fun. Grendizer responds very well to our actions and the combat is very fluid, although due to its shallow depth it becomes somewhat repetitive over time. It is true that we can improve our robot, but these improvements do not change the gameplay too much. The enemies aren’t very varied or intelligent either. There’s very little enemy variety, and they all repeat with a few variations like adding a shield. What’s really interesting are the boss fights. This is the most interesting part of the title, because they are very spectacular fights and we will have to find the weak points of our opponent to defeat him..

To give more variety to the title, there are phases that completely change the gameplay. In one of them, our robots will become a ship, in phases that are very reminiscent of the Starfox saga. There are also other types of phases where you will control another character in bullet hell phases. This type of phase, although infrequent, makes the title more enjoyable and less repetitive.

Various graphical issues

UFO Robot Grendizer has a very colorful graphical appearance that catches the eye at first, but all that glitters is not gold, since the title has many problems in this regard. The game, in series. For example, it is common for the game to have very visible frame drops or breakouts. Additionally, the landscapes and enemies seem really flat, not standing out at all in this regard.

On the other hand, the sound part will delight fans of the original manga. The melodies are taken directly from the original series and even the voices are the same as those of the characters in the animated series. Note that these are in perfect English, but the entire game is subtitled in English, which is appreciated. No problems in this section.

Conclusions

UFO Robor Grendizer: Feast of Wolves will delight fans of the animated series more than 40 years ago. The title shows great respect for the original work and the developers are fans of it.. Ignoring this, we find ourselves facing a decent action game which, despite having a duration of 8 hours, becomes repetitive over time. Additionally, it has many technical issues and is somewhat poor graphically. Totally recommended for fans, but if you’re not…maybe the video game is a little boring for you…