Steel Battalion: Line of Contact [Xbox]

When Steel Battalion hit the Xbox in 2002, it was easily the most excessive game to ever appear on a console. We had seen expensive one-off accessories before, but nothing quite compared to the awesome $200 controller you needed to play Steel Battalion, especially since it only worked with one title. The good news is Line of Contact is not only an incredible new entry from Capcom, but it doubles the number of compatible games for the controller to a whopping two.

Steel Battalion put you in the pilot's seat of a number of different vertical tanks (or VTs), the weapons of choice in the game's future world-war setting. Line of Contact is an online-only version of that game, bringing all the drama of the conflict to Xbox Live.

The game is divided into two sections, a free play and a campaign mode. In the former, you create a virtual pilot and compete in one-off battles, earning points for enemies destroyed, bases captured, and so-forth. Accumulating points increases your pilot's rank, but be careful -- dying in combat results in permanent deletion. Fortunately, this isn't a twitch shooter, so death usually only occurs when you're overly slow reaching the eject button.

In campaign mode, things get more involved. You must create a separate pilot, this time choosing one of the factions from the original game to join. The factions are struggling for control of a piece of land, and every battle won or lost by either side affects the overall war, eventually leading to victory for one. The war will then start again from scratch. This makes for a great "persistent world" quality, reminiscent of games like Planetside or EverQuest.

Your pilot still earns points in each battle of the campaign mode, but they're instead used to buy VTs and parts. Your VT's condition at the end of each battle is saved, so if it gets destroyed (and assuming you ejected in time), you'll have to buy a replacement. Don't worry about running out of points, though. Just participating in a battle scores you enough to buy a couple of the cheapest, most clunky VTs available. You can also trade VTs and other goodies in chat rooms, so it pays to keep some generous buddies on your friends list.

Individual battles are divided into a few different types. First, there's deathmatch, with each player having a limited number of respawns. In conquest mode players try to capture their opponent's bases, gradually seizing their respawn points. Then there's capture the container, which is much like capture the flag, but it uses the VT's manipulator arm. Although these are only three basic modes, specific missions will often have other secondary objectives, so gameplay never gets old.

And it never looks bad, either. The first Steel Battalion was mouth-watering, but the framerate would stutter at times, and the draw distance was poor. Both issues have been improved, although not completely solved. Considering the size of the levels you'll be competing in and the amount of detail on screen, a little fogginess is no problem.

Lag is a larger problem, however. Sometimes minimal, sometimes abysmal, it affects everything you do. Many Xbox Live games can compensate for connections that aren't blisteringly fast, but Line of Contact isn't forgiving. We often suffered a quarter- or half-second delay between moving the analog stick and seeing the reticule moving.

The game also automatically blocks people from joining if it thinks their connections aren't up to par. Expect frustration as you enter a game room only to be rudely booted because the mystical bandwidth detector decided your connection is unworthy. Players who often host games with large player counts may find themselves struggling with Line of Contact, and it's possible that those with poor connections will never manage to compete at all. It's admirable the game tries to ensure a smooth online match, but something's wrong with the experience when it takes a dozen tries just to get into a room.

Despite the frustrations and unusually high cost, Steel Battalion: Line of Contact is an excellent game. The online campaign should easily provide weeks of entertainment, as more VTs, parts, and missions are unlocked. There are already plenty of people online, so finding opponents won't be difficult. If you have the means, a good Internet connection, and salivate at the thought of a massive controller with 40 blinking buttons, Line of Contact is a must buy.