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It's time for us to pose in front of a colorful explosion, as Chroma Squad makes its debut on the PS4 and Xbox One. While there were some casualties with the game's Vita version, this won't stop Behold Studios' ??tokusatsu (live-action special effects) series management title from awakening people's heroic spirit.

If you're still itching to transform on the go, Chroma Squad landed on Google Play and the Apple App Store yesterday. In other words, you can still manage your Super Sentai/Power Rangers-like show's stunt team with your phone.

As someone who loves the titles Chroma Squad paid homage to, Behold Studios did a fantastic job in capturing the magic behind what makes toku great??. Spea?king of great shout-outs, it's nice to see another live-action trailer where three individuals don their bucket helmets to fight evil.

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Vita version cancelled

Although Chroma Squad is a game that lets you simulate your own tokusatsu (essentially the "person in rubber suits" genre) show with influences drawn from Japanese shows like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, Behold Studios ran into a bit of legal trouble with Power Rangers licensor Saban and now has to add in an "inspired by Saban's Power Rangers" into every mention of the game. I'm glad they were able to sort through all of that craziness, and after being announced last year, Chroma Squad's console release now has release window. 

After coming out two years ago on PC, Bandai Namco confirms Chroma Squad will come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in May. And only to those ?two consoles. Bandai Namco also c?onfirmed the Vita version in the works has been cancelled. 

It's a s?hame since this would've been the perfect game to play on the go, too. RIP Vita. 

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It originally launched on PC

It's hard to believe Chroma Squad launched in April of 2015 on PC, and we're just now getting a release window on other platforms. Bandai Namco has announced that they will publish the game on PS4, ??Xbox One, Vita, iOS, and Android in "early 2017." It doesn't sound like there's going to be an anniversary edition or anything, but a port would suffice.

I wasn't particularly crazy about Chroma, but as someone who grew up with Super Sentai shows I found it to be a pretty great homage. I'm glad they were able to sort out all their legal issues and get this thing out of the gate.

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Lights, Camera, Henshin!

Ever since a badly-dubbed lady popped out of a dumpster on the moon, sending a weird computer-man to seek "teenagers with attitude," geeks of a certain age have been on the lookout for a game that can capture the essence of what it means to be a Power Ranger, and more broadly, a fan of Japan's tokusatsu superhero genre.

Well, it's here now, and after playing it, I can say that about the only thing Behold Studios could've done to make Chroma Squad even more authentic in the love it shows for Super Sentai and tokusatsu is put a fat clock in the corner of the screen.

Chroma Squad (PC) 
Developer: Behold Studios
Publisher: Behold Studios
Released: April 30, 2015
MSRP: $14.99

Not that they really needed to, of course. Such a "feature" would interfere with play, and there's plenty of service in the game as it is for fans. The play, in this case, is of the turn-based tactical variety, as if Behold took XCOM and ran it through the parodic, pixelated filters of Knights of Pen and Paper. 

Like the former, players will manage a small squad of combatants, with unique classes and abilities, running them up against groups of goons and the occasional boss, one turn at a time. Like the latter, every mechanic serves as a distillation of tokusatsu's?? es?sence through heavy referencing and a clear, almost palpable appreciation of the source material.

The premise alone is ripe enough with potential that it's baffling more games haven't taken advantage: Players manage a fledgling production studio, with each mission treated as an "episode" of an upstart spandex superhero show. Names, casting, and even catchphrases are up for customization, as well as the requisite selection of bright primary colors to outfit the roster with. If players want to commit sentai sacrilege and name a non-red-colored character the "Lead," no one can stop them but their inevitable guilt (guilt, I say!). Cast members can also be selected from a pool of actor candidates, each with their own special qualitie?s. 

When the cameras start rolling and the minions exit wardrobe, the fight is on. The goal of any given mission is to amass as much "audience" as possible, by performing flashy attacks, fancy stunts, and of course, winning the fight. Additionally, optional "Director's Instructions" add extra conditions, such as finishing off boss monsters with a screen-filling finishing move, or not killing off the boss before dispatching the cannon-fodder minions. Such extra goals help introduce variety to the combat, which is more simplistic than one might find in XCOM or other dedicated tactical titles.

Enemies follow simple patterns and lack much in the way of extra abilities, so most of the tactics devolve to crowd and ability cooldown management rather than more elegant stratagems. Chroma Squad's main mechanical wrinkle comes in the form of "Teamwork," which allows squad members to leapfrog over each other to boost their movement range, or carry out simultaneous attacks with adjacent teammates. This, alongside somewhat simplistic giant-mecha boss battles, give the game enough of a unique fla??vor to override its otherwise thin tactical substance. 

Following the mission, gained audience is converted into "fans," and also into increased studio funding, the better to buy one's way out of Papier-mâché costumes and into some real spandex duds. Behind the scenes, the studio itself can be outfitted with various upgrades that improve performance in each episode. Buying health care for the actors improves their health in combat, and improving the lighting on set reduces enemies' c??hance to dodge or counter blows.

Materials dropped in combat can also be used to craft customized gear with semi-random statistics, a useful (and cheap) alternative to costly store-bought costumes and weapons. Fan mail can be answered for flavor and smaller benefits, and players can even choose marketing agencies to confer more benefits. Going with a niche-market enthusiast firm might increase the amount of fans gained after an episode, but will likely lack the mass-audience-gathering benefits of a more mainstream advertising push. Tradeoffs like that characterize much of Chroma Squad's meta-game.

Speaking of meta-things, the game's narrative and missions regularly break the fourth wall, and form one of the game's potentially divisive aspects. While the self-aware script and obvious understanding of tokusatsu's many conventions and tropes lend it an endearing level of charm, some players might be turned off by references to dated Internet memes and other metahumor. Personally, I found the story hit quite a bit more than it missed, but I will admit that at times the dialog read more like a forum chat log than a script, and wasn't always helped by rough spots in the localization and editing. Then again, it's not like tokusatsu att??racts its fans for comple??x plotting and characterization, so it may balance out in the end for players in the right mindset.

What isn't as easy to let by are some unfortunate, if minor, technical and design blemishes on Chroma Squad's pristine pixelation. Mission scripts would occasionally freeze in "cutscene" mode, forcing me to sta??rt the mission over. A nasty little bug accidentally equipped low-level equipment on my giant robot, making some late-game boss battles much more tense than I'd have liked them to be. One bug even gave me control of an enemy unit rather than my own s?quad members for a few turns! Thankfully, dev posts on the forums appear to indicate that Behold is aware of most of the bugs I encountered, and a patch is in the works at the time of this writing.

Beyond that, the lack of a mid-mission checkpoint or save, or a mission-select option is inconvenient for players wanting to explore the game's branching story paths (especially for those curious to see what Behold has to say about Kamen Rider). That said, the team has stated a Ne??w Game+ option may yet be in the cards for a future update, so repeated playthroughs may become more appealing in the future.

Zordon may have wanted "teens with attitude," but Chroma Squad and its unabashed, utterly geeky love-in for all things tokusatsu shows something even harder to find: A game with heart and soul. That heart shines through the rough edges, and in some ways even tu??rns them to its advantage. It might have taken quite a while in getting here, but fans of spandex-clad superheroic finally have the videogame ??to help them fill that little fantasy.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Teenagers with Attitude!

Ever since I, as a grown man, got back into watching Japanese television shows targeted at seven-year-olds, I've wanted to see a proper, well-done videogame inspired by Super Sentai, Power Rangers, Kamen Rider and other parts of tokusatsu culture. And it looks like a bunch of other people did too, or else Behold Studios' Chroma Squad, a tactical RPG based on all the afor??ementioned things wouldn't have gotten funded.

But it did, and despite a brief legal tussle with Power Rangers production company Saban, the game is on the verge of its April 30th release date. To that end they've released the trailer above, complete with gameplay footage, sweet pixel art, cosplay, and a song that sounds quite a bit like the theme to Goranger. Th?e game itself looks real neat, and far more engaging than many actual, branded tokusatsu-based titles.

The post Power Ranger sim Chroma?? Squad gets dated, traile?red appeared first on Destructoid.

Chroma chroma chroma chroma chroma chameleon

Finally! Last we heard, Power Rangers' Saban was all bent out of shape about Chroma Squad and trying to either claim royalties on it or keep it from releasing. What a bummer that was for the XCOM-y mix of strategy game and management sim.

But Behold Studios seems to have gotten through it and Chroma Squad is releasing on PC, Mac, and Linux on April 30 -- "we mean it this time!" Cool. I'm excited to see how it's progressed since I played last year and how the overa??ll balancing and scope turned ??out. I can always use a new turn-based strategy game.

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Legal woes

Behold Studios' Chroma Squad is about managing a brand new sentai television series and, being an in-depth parody, it of course draws inspiration from real-life shows, including -- but far from limited to -- Power Rangers. In an update sent to Kickstarter backers, the studio said that Saban, the rights holder for Power Rangers, has been in contact over the game.

It seems Saban wants royalties for Chroma Squad, or else it'?ll go to court to prevent the title's release. The two companies are trying to reach a deal for the former option, as "going into court would be painful for?? both sides," according to Behold.

"You all know that our game is inspired by something much broader than Power Rangers," continued the studio. "We're talking about an amazing sentai culture that is mostly Japanese, but got even bigger with fans from around the world. We're talking about tok??usatsu in general, Japanese super heroes, animes, kamen riders, everything that insp??ired us very much in our childhood and continue to inspire us now."

From the sound of it, they'll be able to resolve this situation. "We're talking to them right now and we hope that everything goes well, and we can stay indie as we want, and as the game needs to be: heartful, inspiring, amazing, and with a lot of jokes, quirky stories, and every bit of the meta layer that we? love. Don't worry, we'll do everything to make the game come out!"

I'd sure hope so -- Chroma Squad is one of my favorite games to come out of Kickstarter.? ?Here's hoping Behold doesn't have to give up too much.

[Thanks, Velv V, Alex, and Luan]

The post Crummy: Power Rangers’ Saban is going after Chroma Squad appeared first on Destructoid.

Chroma chroma chroma chroma chroma chameleon

I played a lot of XCOM last year, between running through Enemy Unknown late and Enemy Within. The blend of on the ground, turn-based combat and back home base management simulation h??ooke?d me.

Chroma Squad is b??asically that. Except you're directing a Sentai with actors ??in colorful spandex dancing around lots of explosions and turtle and plant monsters.

It's pretty great.

I got a chance to play Chroma Squad from the beginning. The team has been reworking a lot of things since missing the late 2013 PC rel??ease, but it's totally playable and working well. When you begin you choose between actors for certain team roles -- leader, assault, tactician, etc.

Early on these choices are important because each actor comes wi??th smaller statistical differences (a plus one defense here, a plus five attack there), though you aren't screwed if you pick an actor ill-equipped for a certain role. Al?so important to consider are the monthly salaries each actor draws, which goes into the studio simulation and resource management portion of the game.

You also pick what color superhero each actor is. My rough-looking boxer leader was pink. I also picked a dog as my tactician. I am?? ?the best director.

A quick battle on the green screen got me oriented wit??h the grid-based, turn-based combat. There are some suggested director cues for each episode (do five team attacks, etc.). I also started not powered up in my team's super suits, but a mid-battle transformation took care of that and opened up my team's special moves, which are class specific and evolve along a skill tree.

You can move and m??ove a second time along the grid, or move and attack. You can also click "Teamwork" as your second action, which causes your hero to str?ike a pose. If enough of them "teamwork" adjacent to an enemy squad, initiating an attack launches a more powerful team attack. You can combine two or all five, the latter of which yields an appropriately bombastic animation.

Teamwork can ??also be used to traverse maps more freely as one hero in a Teamwork pose can launch another traveling unit like?? a cheerleader for extra range.

I played through a full episode next -- the game consists of seven seasons -- and worked my way with ease through monsters at a construction yard. After a team attac?k to finish off the plant monster boss, it grew exponentially in size and I had to call in my mech to fight it (see video above). These bombastic boss battles have you choosing between offensive and defensive options. Chaining attacking moves raises your combo meter, but hit percentages go down after each move.

After finishing off the plant I got a brief look various sim e?lements from the studio hub. There are extensive upgrades you can purchase, including a lot of duct tape that can reinforce weapons. There are different styled masks, different outfit materials, different weapons, and more, all of which confer different stats.

Chroma Squad?'s backbone seems in place, and the lovely pixel art and other trimmings are there as well. Now, leading up to the summer release window, it's just a matter of system refinement and balancing that's integral to the genre.

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