When many people think of developer CyberConnect2 or CC2 their minds might immediately wander to their various Shonen titles they've worked on. They've done a lot of work with the beloved ninja Naruto and even had some time spent with Dragon Ball's own Goku and friends. They've also done a ton of work with the .hack series that has seen more love in recent years. When it comes to where they started on PS1 their very first work was a title known as Tail Concerto. This small title became the starting point for what would become CC2's Little Tail Bronx series. Despite Tail Concerto not selling well at the time, the team was desperate to work on a sequel or more titles but wouldn't get a chance to do more until over eleven years later when they released Solatorobo: Red the Hunter for the Nintendo DS. It was a spiritual successor that took place in the same universe, featuring the same kind of adorable animal characters and emphasis on a unique high-flying future of flying machines and mechs. The series would see a mobile spin-off a few years later before finally getting another console release in Fuga: Melodies of Steel in 2021. While sales may not have been in Fuga's favor, it made an impact on many fans and ultimately due to the passionate team is what assured we managed to get a sequel in Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 that we get to take a dive into today.

Right away it's important to preface that this sequel is best enjoyed after having played the first title, but it does in fact offer a previous story recap from the title screen which gives a brief visual rundown of the events that took place. It's no proper replacement for going through the whole first story, but for it can help get a gist of what happened for those who want to jump right in. The sequel begins a year after the events of the first title with the hero children who saved the world from the Berman having all made it home and living peacefully. While Malt, the leader and considered main protagonist of the group, and the other children are invited to visit the Gasco military they discover they've taken their tank, the Taranis, and decided to keep and study it but need the children's help. After some of Malt's friends enter the giant hulking tank it suddenly springs to life and begins going on a rampage and firing out of control. Leaving destruction in its wake, it heads out on a ruinous path and Malt with a couple of other children commandeer their old nemesis' tank the Tarascus and chase after their friends. They uncover that their friends are seemingly being brainwashed and controller by someone else in the tank with them and vow to rescue their friends and put a stop to whoever is controlling them before they do more harm before something perhaps even more terrifying can come to be.

The core gameplay of Fuga is best described as a tank turn-based RPG, which might immediately raise some eyebrows as odd and out there, but that's the easiest way to quickly get the point across. There's no overworld here to explore like an average RPG, no grand sprawling adventure that requires looking through every nook and cranny. Instead Fuga takes place on a pre-set path of fight after fight that consistently moves the path forward at its own pace with occasional downtime. During the movement segments players can see what's upcoming ahead of them be it a fight, intermission to rest at, a tile that will offer healing or maybe the occasional short little side cave that can actually be explored. Regardless the forward momentum always pushes the cast of characters onward with no way to go back unless they're utterly defeated in combat. There's no manual save before or in between fights and instead only temporarily saves that are removed upon going back to play with any full loss in battle causing a return to the last checkpoint and making the threat of defeat a hefty one. It makes all the more sense when considering that Fuga has some of the most intense but enjoyable turn-based combat ever created.

Fuga at its core is about children controlling a tank and fighting against other tank-like machines or foes that stand in their path. When it comes to the actual combat, each takes command over one of three different types of guns. Machine guns offer high accuracy with low damage, grenade launchers offer a good amount of damage with moderate accuracy and cannons offer the highest attack with the lowest accuracy. Each type of gun is wildly important in combat as enemies have key weaknesses that can be taken advantage of. The flow of combat is on top of the screen at all times and shows who is next in line to attack, but players can get a leg up by targeting foe weaknesses and delaying their next attack. Hitting an aerial enemy with a machine gun weakness will send it back and give allies more time before they can attack. Enemies are also able to do the same to allies and delay their attacks ever so slightly. Enemy battles comes in waves of one to three in which the group will fight a single barrage of foes or multiple back to back. This makes team composition important when considering a fight as only three guns can be occupied at once and can only be changed once every three player turns which also carries over into continuous fights. Of course this combat isn't just about dishing out basic attack as a big part of winning or failing a fight often comes down to character skills and abilities.

Although only three party members can attack at once, they can also have three allies behind them that offer them passive effects. Each character has their own passive skill such as healing after an attack or giving a bonus to accuracy. These can seem minor at first, but can make a huge impact in the long-term in helping deal out the most damage as quickly as possible. Characters also all have their own assortment of skills they can use in battle which increases as they continue to level up. Some of these are straightforward powerful attacks, while some will help whittle down the enemy defenses and let allies do more damage. Some of the most important types of skills come in the form of status ailments such as stun which keeps an enemy from being able to move for a few turns and burn which does a large amount of damage to an enemy after they attack. These are hugely important as Fuga doesn't hold back any punches in its difficulty and throughout a normal run many fights will require players to be on the top things as there's much more to lose than just health; the very lives and wellness of these characters is on the line.

Much like the first Fuga title the characters here can be afraid, injured or made depressed during battle which hinders their ability to fight. If an injured character is hit gravely again they'll be knocked out entirely and unusable until they're able to rest. Meanwhile a character who is afraid will have their accuracy lowered and a depressed character can no longer use their skills. Fear is the only one of these that will dissipate naturally in combat, but injury and depression must be dealt with during the intermission segments. Intermissions allow characters time to rest briefly and relax. They can speak to one another and become friendlier, plant crops in order to make means to give them buffs, fish for useful parts to upgrade the tank or have a good rest. All these activities cost points which take away from a pool of twenty activity points given each intermission. In addition to this each character has an activity they'd like to partake in to boost their morale, so players must decide how best to manage their time in order to get the most out of every break they have. A big one is remembering that resting in beds will get rid of injury or being knocked out, but depression requires the characters talking to one another in order to cheer them back up to full strength. Reaching higher friendship levels with the characters allows them to cooperate better in battle and even pull off special attacks that fire on all enemies in combat, making it well worth letting them spend a little time getting to know each other even better or just discuss their feelings. It might sound silly on paper, but it's amazing how easy it is to get attached to this group and hope they make it out alive as there's a chance they may not see every fight to the end.

At the end of every chapter and string of fights there's a final boss fight the characters must face. These are the biggest challenges there is and each one pushes them to their limit with most fights offering new challenging things they'll need to overcome. In the first Fuga title players had the option to use a device called the Soul Cannon if things were looking grim. By putting a character into the soul cannon they could fire it off and guarantee a win against their foe at the grave cost of the life put into it. The character used would forever be gone and make the team one unit weaker, making it a last ditch effort if nothing else was available. This time around the characters have access to another device known as the Managarm that can be used at any time. This smaller cannon still has a character enter inside of it to allow them to damage the foe greatly, but it will only knock them out instead of outright taking their life. It also keeps the knocked out character from earning experience in battle, which is another negative that may keep people from wanting to use it. Unfortunately the Soul Cannon does return in a grave new way in that there's no longer any player control over it. During tense boss battles if the tank's HP gets low enough the AI that controls the tank will decide there's no other choice and choose one of the characters to enter into the soul cannon. From then on there are a mere twenty player turns before the cannon is fired which will win the fight at the cost of the chosen character's life. It also removes the random character from combat which can be hugely detrimental during tense fights. Boss fights then become a race against the clock to win before a character is sacrificed causing the player to fight their best to help them make it out alive. Fortunately there are plenty of ways to keep this from ever happening such as putting up a strong defensive front and making sure to keep health high while taking down the enemy's health. It can be extremely challenging and almost feel unfair at times, but making it out with every character is by far the biggest accomplishment that can be achieved in Fuga.

In between the tense fights on the battlefield the group will find themselves at various towns throughout the islands of Gasco. Here they can speak with NPCs, get some tips and even pick up some useful items. In the first Fuga title players had to trade materials to make useful parts, but here you can sell treasures or items to earn money to buy useful parts for upgrades or fighting. Talking to NPCs can also earn Malt judgment points which depend on his response to various conversations. His responses invoke either empathy or resolution with neither being better or worse than the other. In fact both are beneficial as they can help unlock additional skills for him to use at random points during fights. It's up to the player which direction they want to go, as leaning both ways gives huge boons in the long run. The characters can also occasionally run into air ships on their runs through combat which offer access to shops and special airship support that may be much needed. For a price airships can transport the tank to a nearby location, offer extra healing or skill points and even bomb nearby enemies to remove them from the path of danger. These are important pit-stops that can make a huge difference in the momentum while moving forward. There's also great incentive to replay as some paths are blocked off until the story has been beaten once, giving those on a second playthrough more dangerous options for routes while revisiting their adventure. There's also nice downtime in occasional dungeons that the characters will stumble across which acts as short puzzle-solving segments that offer treasure and useful parts for completing. These start out simple and get increasingly complex with limited ammo to help progress through and more challenging traps to get past. They're a small part of gameplay in the grand scheme of things, but a welcome break between the intense feel of fights and combat. They're also able to be skipped for those who simply want to keep moving forward, but well worth visiting throughout the journey.

The art and style of Fuga are one of its strongest points among all the rest that shine. The character models for dialogue is full of emotion and charm. The 3D models for the characters look a bit stiff at times, but they're only seen during intermissions and dungeon adventures so they don't end up playing a huge role. The tanks on the other hand are wildly detailed with some enemies looking outright grotesque in an eerily-disturbing way that makes it easy to see why they're foes. The soundtrack start to finish is a delight; every song is a great time and some of the lyrical tracks are both relaxing and tense at the right moments it manages to hit perfectly well every time. It's worth noting that Fuga by default uses a Japanese audio track and unfortunately those hoping for an English option are out of luck. Those who speak French, however, do have an option available to them in the voice language option. This includes certain lyrical tracks which also have French versions as well which makes sense in a lot of ways given the world of Gasco is very European based and heavily references France for particular locations. While at its core the story for Fuga may come off simple, it's impressive how endearing and tense it feels at the same time. It's hard not to feel wildly invested in the lives of these children while hoping they all make it out alive together. The first title was very much the same, but the stakes feel even higher this time around and manage to pull even emotionally deeper now that we know who this group of friends is and how much stronger they are together as a team. Although many may see the difficulty of Fuga and want an easier option, the lack of one puts the reality on the front of every fight. This is the terror of war and children fighting in it; there's no easy way out, there's just persevering forward and using the best of their abilities to make it out alive.

Closing Comments:

There's no hesitation in saying that Fuga: Melodies of Steel has some of the best tactical turn-based combat ever created. Both the first and second titles create a stream of combat based on skill and strategy that keeps the player from feeling both weak or overpowered at any time. Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 manages to feel much the same while adding new abilities and changes that help combat and challenge flow without any problem. It's perfectly balanced throughout the entire journey and simply requires a lot of dedication to move forward through each fight no matter the outcome. While there are multiple endings that depend on various decisions made throughout the story, there are also helpful options for those who might not get what's considered the best one the first time around, and new game plus for those who want to challenge themselves to unlock every little last nugget of information that can be uncovered. Fuga is short enough that it feels easy to replay at any time, but long enough to keep thoroughly invested throughout. We cannot recommend Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 enough to those who played the first title and hope those who haven't consider giving the series a much-deserved once over as it's one of the most satisfying turn-based challenges to date.