Announced back in 2016, and first released in 2021, Megaton Musashi W: Wired as the rest of the world knows it is by all accounts the '3rd' revision for this game, predated by it's first release, and Megaton Musashi X after that in 2022. As a result the game you're buying today is best described as "3 games stapled together as a single product" and it really does SHOW in so many different ways. From the largest laundry list of different systems to go about taking care of for unit improvement, towards the insane amount of loot to take account of, with 3 huge core storylines each playing out in sequence yet the 'breaks' become rather obvious in turn, it's hard to at times call this fully coherent, but what is here is a wild ride only Level5 could try to make work.

As some direct context, this game is a post-Yokai Watch 4 product and it shows, from it's first release not selling the best, towards X pivoting into a Free-2-Play game (with all of the gotcha systems one would expect from such), towards a global release that scraps the F2P nature outright (yet their direct systems still remain) it nearly screams of the time Level5 was struggling to stay relevant, and in some ways this bleeds into it's story as well given the first 8 hours (The first story block) feels like a very trope heavy anime plot playing it almost a little too safe at times given the stakes and situation it sets up. Though by the 'X' plotline things start going off the rails hard and I really can only say that how this game starts in tone and where it goes are two very vastly different things, but if you're willing to put up with an almost dry start with a few nifty key points, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how it develops.

As for the game itself, this is a case of needing to break the game down into two major parts, as the first half is a very beefy single player experience that from start to finish will keep unlocking some new system after another that effects your endgame output in some manner, and by the end you need to worry about your gear, mods on your gear, your motherboard, mods and skilltree on that, your pilot skills and weapon proficiency, your Kakugo and Kabuki Functions, and tons of other things all to make your numeric 'Battle Power' value go up to declare how 'ready' you might be for the challenges ahead. Much like the recent Granblue Fantasy Relink before it, I feel like this half of the game is well worth the introduction price and gives quite a lot to chew on at that before you start to feel the content start the dry up and the story at last come to an end, leading into the second half. A 3 co-op experience all about "Making big number bigger" by endless refinement and grinding of systems to reach higher difficulties of content bit by bit. As I'm rather a fan of these myself since the PSO Dreamcast era days, this game gives me a MAJOR scratch to an itch that's been biting at me, yet I know these style of games aren't for everyone, and even still by a key point in this is a major difficulty spike that nearly demands having friends who'd also be into this as it's clearly made with direct multiplayer in mind.

On top of all of this though, the game somehow also offers it's own secondary PVP mode separate of it's story/co-op campaign, needing it's own fair amount of grinding in turn to get anywhere fast in. As you can guess, turnout for this post-launch is tiny at best. Along with things that could give the wrong impression such as 'Daily Login and Battle Pass' systems that hand out materals and elements you honestly get in far greater volume just by playing the game then by opting into caring about such, on top of the huge DLC list that the -only- 'buy for power' option is the deluxe version...that even still is just the premium pass rewards...that -also- doesn't give much more then a normal mission clear...the F2P elements still stapled onto this can really give the wrong impression of what kind of product this is, and in this current climate of games is nearly it's own killing blow in a way. Though I think if you can look past that, and if you've got an itch for a rather fun mobile mecha looter game, it's really hard to go wrong here.

Announced back in 2016, and first released in 2021, Megaton Musashi W: Wired as the rest of the world knows it is by all accounts the '3rd' revision for this game, predated by it's first release, and Megaton Musashi X after that in 2022. As a result the game you're buying today is best described as "3 games stapled together as a single product" and it really does SHOW in so many different ways. From the largest laundry list of different systems to go about taking care of for unit improvement, towards the insane amount of loot to take account of, with 3 huge core storylines each playing out in sequence yet the 'breaks' become rather obvious in turn, it's hard to at times call this fully coherent, but what is here is a wild ride only Level5 could try to make work. As some direct context, this game is a post-Yokai Watch 4 product and it shows, from it's first release not selling the best, towards X pivoting into a Free-2-Play game (with all of the gotcha systems one would expect from such), towards a global release that scraps the F2P nature outright (yet their direct systems still remain) it nearly screams of the time Level5 was struggling to stay relevant, and in some ways this bleeds into it's story as well given the first 8 hours (The first story block) feels like a very trope heavy anime plot playing it almost a little too safe at times given the stakes and situation it sets up. Though by the 'X' plotline things start going off the rails hard and I really can only say that how this game starts in tone and where it goes are two very vastly different things, but if you're willing to put up with an almost dry start with a few nifty key points, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how it develops. As for the game itself, this is a case of needing to break the game down into two major parts, as the first half is a very beefy single player experience that from start to finish will keep unlocking some new system after another that effects your endgame output in some manner, and by the end you need to worry about your gear, mods on your gear, your motherboard, mods and skilltree on that, your pilot skills and weapon proficiency, your Kakugo and Kabuki Functions, and tons of other things all to make your numeric 'Battle Power' value go up to declare how 'ready' you might be for the challenges ahead. Much like the recent Granblue Fantasy Relink before it, I feel like this half of the game is well worth the introduction price and gives quite a lot to chew on at that before you start to feel the content start the dry up and the story at last come to an end, leading into the second half. A 3 co-op experience all about "Making big number bigger" by endless refinement and grinding of systems to reach higher difficulties of content bit by bit. As I'm rather a fan of these myself since the PSO Dreamcast era days, this game gives me a MAJOR scratch to an itch that's been biting at me, yet I know these style of games aren't for everyone, and even still by a key point in this is a major difficulty spike that nearly demands having friends who'd also be into this as it's clearly made with direct multiplayer in mind. On top of all of this though, the game somehow also offers it's own secondary PVP mode separate of it's story/co-op campaign, needing it's own fair amount of grinding in turn to get anywhere fast in. As you can guess, turnout for this post-launch is tiny at best. Along with things that could give the wrong impression such as 'Daily Login and Battle Pass' systems that hand out materals and elements you honestly get in far greater volume just by playing the game then by opting into caring about such, on top of the huge DLC list that the -only- 'buy for power' option is the deluxe version...that even still is just the premium pass rewards...that -also- doesn't give much more then a normal mission clear...the F2P elements still stapled onto this can really give the wrong impression of what kind of product this is, and in this current climate of games is nearly it's own killing blow in a way. Though I think if you can look past that, and if you've got an itch for a rather fun mobile mecha looter game, it's really hard to go wrong here.