You have to admit this is a bit of an oddity. Not just the name, although that’s something we’ve got used to on the Xbox 360 as there are that many Japanese games released for the console, but it’s the gameplay, the characters and all the rest that mark it as, well, odd.

To give you a bit of backstory as to why all these characters are battling each other, you’ll have to hear a bit of the plot. It’s the future, obviously, and humans have colonised the galaxy. However, this means that various rival factions have sprung up and everyone is battling for control of Earth and all its resources. One of these factions are space-faring mechs called Rounders and you’ll soon find yourself choosing a character from those on offer and facing off against another Rounder in a one-on-one battle.

Bullets fly around the screen from your various attacks and while this is classed as a beat-’em-up, you have to avoid getting hit by moving around in between them in classic shoot-’em-up fashion. You can also shield yourself at the very last minute to protect yourself from damage.

It gets a bit dull and ineffective if you just stay at the back firing bullets and lasers at your foe, so you can instead utilise a dash attack to get right up close and really put the hurt on with a few combo attacks.

The best thing to do, though, is to charge your Rounder up and unleash its super attack; this transforms your Rounder into a huge, hulking mech with incredible firepower and can quickly turn the tide of a fight. It’s often a surprise as to how big these things actually get and you’ll whoop in appreciation when the screen fills with damaging laser fire, all of which heads towards your opponent. The only thing you can’t do is move, but you are incredibly powerful until the time limit is up and you return to normal.

It’s not difficult to complete, but there are plenty of characters to unlock, which is fun if only to see their powered-up versions. WarTech may be a bit odd, but it’s definitely worth a look.

Tim Empey