Inexpensive, fast-playing mecha game that makes excellent use of the Black Hack rules its based on. Not quite as versatile as something like Mekton but far simpler to learn, teach, and use, not to mention being a fraction of the cost. Probably deserves a four star rating unto itself, but gets up to a five simply because the Mission Manual is so good and available now. If you get this and like it (and you probably will) get the Manual as well, it adds so much to the game. Its fantasy-mecha cousin Aether Nexus is worth a look too. The game mechanics are broadly similar but it includes a number of innovative improvements.

This is so good it's practically mandatory if you have Mecha Hack already - and it's a good argument for buying Hack if you haven't. Really adds a huge amount of depth to the core game without bogging it down in excessive complexity. Many of the scenarios could easily be stolen and modified for other mecha games too, which is always nice.

Addressing the Pariah pilot thing in the other review here, I think they're fine when used in one of the mech types that get to roll twice to advance Presence - which is four out of the eight options in the game now. Might as well get something extra out of what's going to be a pretty high stat over time, and most groups are well-served to have at least one "Presence master" hanging around. Those tests come up in a fair few scenarios and out-of-mech situations.

This V&V adventure was originally written around 1986 (near the end of the heyday of releases for the game) but didn't see publication until 2010. For me the main draws were the authors and illustrator. Stewart and Stephan Wieck wrote several V&V adventures but are much better for their output at White Wolf, which was very much their baby early on. Jeff Dee hardly needs an introduction, having been a very big name in the gaming industry throughout the 80s and having helped write V&V itself in the first place.

Sadly, this is a very poor showcase of their respective talents. The adventure is a linear railroad of combat set pieces, the plot behind everything makes little sense, and the villains and their various henchmen are mostly quite uninspired (with a couple being downright goofy). Even more disappointing, this was apparently the last product Jeff Dee provided art for, and I suspect it may explain the long delay in publication. Simply put, this is the worst illustration work I've ever seen from Dee, worse than even the very start of his professional career, and far below par for his V&V work. It's simply unfinished, barely more than pencil sketches in some cases. Very, very disappointing from someone I know can do better. The adventure's cartography (uncredited, but probably - hopefully? - not Dee) is even more crude, even by the lower standards of the mid-Eighties.

This avoids a Very Poor rating only by virtue of having an interesting concept (regardless of dreadful execution) and the fact that even in its fairly raw state, the illustration of the monster Graulokk appeals to me. You can just see the edge of Dee's real potential there - and then you see things like Earthworm and Mole. Ugh. This should never have been published in its current state.

A fairly typical V&V villain catalog, this one focused on baddies who operate in Japan, all with marked anime influence. Compared to earlier villain books in the series there are fewer whimsical entries (some of the older V&V villains could be downright goofy) but a bit less originality and variety. Out of twenty villains, quite a few are obviously lifted from anime - most of which was older even when this came out, 1990s and early Oughts - including a Knight Saber expy from Bubblegum Crisis, an evil Astro Boy, a Guyver, and a child Pokemon trainer who's wanted for animal cruelty. There are also some stereotypes including a vampire, ninja, catgirl, and no less than three different female cyborgs/gynoids with various memory and socialization problems. Villain levels range from 1 to 6, with a strong bias toward the 1-3 part of that scale. This gets a rating bump from me for the very strong B&W artwork, which is nicely evocative and has a distinctive style. It's a shame that the artist, Brian Delandro Hardison, doesn't appear to have done much other work in the gaming industry and none at all for V&V. He's arguably the best illustrator the game has had outside of Dee and Willingham, and he's giving Jeff a run for his money here.

Very efficiently laid out to make full use of its page count, and without sacrificing aesthetics. Clear and easily comprehensible mechanics, and a quite unique setting and array of player character kin supported by some wonderfully evocative artwork. The rules changes from its older cousin Mecha Hack all seem like definite improvements. I can only find one thing that definitely needs a change - the way some perilous terrain interacts with foes needs tweaks - and there are only a handful of very minor typos throughout. Looking forward to getting some table time with this one, and I'll be keeping an eye out for supplements.

A real bargain, no buyer regrets here.

This is a godawful lousy product. Well over a year late, and still chock full of idiotic typos that even a basic spellchecker program would have spotted and fixed. Seriously, in what world is "prolifigation" an English word? Worse, they obviously didn't playtest this any better than they proofread it. The "magic" (psionics/theurgy/runes) will absolutely break the game, making large ships vastly better than an equal point value of small vessels, despite the fact that people have been warning them about the problem since the rules were released in Signs & Portents back in 2011. The ham-handed patch to try to make carriers worth their cost is also a dubious solution at best, and the uneven point cost increases to destroyers still leaves frigates as a very unattractive option in most fleets. I'd express amazement that this book got released in its current state, but really, Mongoose supplements almost always wind up being worse than their core books.

Don't make the mistake I did, go spend your money elsewhere.