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5 /5

Tech Romancer is a 3D beat-em-up with a difference: rather than controlling a martial artist, the player selects one of the several available giant robots (mechs). These range from the absurd (a huge, spherical mech with a boat and bus for feet, a house for a head, train for one arm and office building with wrecking ball for another) to the "typical" anime styled mecha (beam-firing chest gem, detachable rocket-powered fists) to a more westernised idea of a mech (huge, sluggish, equipped with heavy cannon, rockets, missiles and land-mines).

The gameplay takes part in large 3D arenas, usually dotted with buildings and other landmarks, many of which are destructible and may contain power-ups. Game controls consist of two attack buttons, one block and one jump. Characters have a special bar; once it is full (up to a maximum of three times), a special move can be executed. There is an armour bar, which depletes as the characters takes or blocks certain hits; if it runs out the character will start taking hefty damage even when blocking. The life and time-bars are self-explanatory, and there is also the special-weapon inventory, which can hold up to five special weapons at a time (these are picked up from the battlefield or stolen off the enemy).

The main single-player mode is a story mode, which is completely different for each character and, for most characters at least, branches many ways, often with multiple endings depending on choices made and targets met.