B.A.D Battle Armor Division

As with all of the sidescrolling mech games that I can find on steam, the keybinding does not work. So it is unplayable

A test of patience, that's what this game is lmao.
The good: the setting is very cool. Big robots, mecha, space ships, very nice.
The mid: the gameplay is both extremely fun and annoying, with aiming on keyboard and mouse being terrible because you don't have a cursor and aim with your movement keys so when you try to aim up (with w) your gun just goes all the way up, and when you try to aim down (s) your gun just goes all the way down. So all those enemies in between? You basically have to spam up/down and fire while your gun raises since you can't control the exact point of your weapon, 10/10. Other than that, gameplay is actually really fun. I kind of brute forced myself to enjoy it after the first 20 minutes, then I began actually enjoying it once I got good.
The bad: You ever select a mission, have nothing happen, then have to hit escape, go back to main menu, then reload the game? Good times. (bug) You ever select a mission, have nothing happen happen, then have to hit escape, select a save file thinking you're loading it, then suddenly you go from Mission 9 to Mission 1 and start over? Good times. (that isn't a bug, that's just a wtf moment) You ever replay to where you lost your progress and a get a cutscene trigger that didn't trigger last time? Good times. (bug) You ever literally can't complete the last mission because keyboard movement is slower than controller movement so you constantly get caught in the explosion? Good times. (bug? skill issue? 🤔)

CRIANSOFT nails tone with the visuals and music, and delivers a fun if frustrating game play experience. I didn't complete the game at the time of the review because, well, I literally can't, very nice bug thank you. But I basically 99%'d the game other than just seeing the ending cutscene. SO GOOD ENOUGH.

-I like the game- and will probably replay it since it's a quick fun time with explosive combat and bombtastic epic scenes.
I recommend this game with the caveat of - play with controller, save yourself the headache. The shooting system is really designed for free aiming with the joystick and not getting fucked by your movement key limitations lmao, and speeeeeed.

I kind of wish there was a middle button, I feel bad for recommending this game because it has bugs and it's frustrating.
But I feel good for recommending this game because it's a passionate project bringing to life a badass romp through a scifi setting of mechas with some epic combat. (The sound design when sword fighting with the rival mecha pilot and moment when you unlock the gattling gun are so good though bro please believe me)

So despite the mid and the bad outweighing the good, I'm still gonna hit recommend for this game. Why? Because I think if you enjoy the setting (and play with the controller) you'll manage to have a good time despite the shortcomings of the game. Also I'm probably going to replay this game. I'll revisit the review when I finally beat the last mission to confirm if it was bug or skill issue, eventually. Until then... YOU DECIDE, buy the game, play it, get to the final mission, call me a noob or agree with me, ez. This is not some clever stratagem to con you into getting the game so you can say you got one over a random person on the internet. I'd never. Do it though, bet. You won't.

good concept but a lot of bugs, stupid game ever. Do not buy it

Let the name of the game be all the warning you need - B.A.D. is BAD.

TL;DR - Poor game design, controls, and lackluster graphics make this 2D side-scrolling Cybernator-clone shooter a very, very uneven gaming experience; bouncing between extreme difficulty spikes and uneven balancing between level and enemy designs makes this title a hard Pass unless you are absolutely desperate for any Steam mech games and are an absolute masochist for frustrating gameplay.

Controls:
- Terrible and convoluted control scheme. You can adjust key bindings but its mostly making the best of a bad situation with the way that the weapons and movement are designed. Melee, Ranged, Artillery, and Block are all bound to separate button presses but require the weapon to be equipped and "activated" before use. The idea in and of itself isn't inherently bad but the implementation causes gameplay to suffer with the way enemy attack patterns are designed. You'll find yourself dealing with the delay of switching to a weapon to deal with an enemy that can move and attack much faster than you, and by the team you're prepared to counter melee, they'll be bouncing back and forth across the screen back to attacking you with ranged weapons. There are also far too many light platforming elements - the movement and controls are NOT designed in a way that makes these portions of the game fun or challenging and will only serve to frustrate you as the instant death mechanics force you to restart entire levels.

Graphics:
- Graphics have no consistent look or style and jump between decently pixelated mechs to very, very poorly rendered 3D environments and enemies, leading to a jarring and constantly unappealing look. Some of the pixel designs like the warships are appealing but many of the stationary enemies like turrets and walls are rendered with little to no detail and with inconsistent lighting that is visually unappealing as a whole as it feels like two separate games plastered together.

Story:
- The story is serviceable but absolutely nothing special. If you've seen any Sci-fi epic or Gundam anime series, then all the tropes in your mental checklist are present here: warring planetary factions, a rival ace and under-developed co-pilots, and extremely silly names abound (Abraxis sounds more like the name of a household cleaning solution and not the name of a mobile, evil empire's stronghold). The story is broken up through two chapters and primarily told between the briefing screens at the beginning of each mission and through onscreen radio chatter visualized like in the Ace Combat series.

Sound:
- The soundtrack is almost nonexistent and at times the music will cut out completely in the middle of a mission as if the backing track wasn't set to repeat. There's no voice acting and no distinct sound effects to break through the constant audio clutter and as such, most of the story is lost during gameplay.

Gameplay:
- Controls aside, there's not a lot to the moment to moment gameplay that makes this title engaging. Many missions are centered around "run to the far end of the small map and blow up the required mission objective" which, on paper, works well within the confines of other games in this genre. The issue B.A.D. has is that the balancing between enemies and objectives are uneven and you will likely find yourself completely out of ammo at parts where the game didn't expect you to fight the enemies that spawn in an area; which makes completing the objectives a tedious affair of Jump-Melee-Cooldown-Repeat, and this causes major issues in pacing within the levels as you're trying to balance resources against actually playing the game as intended. Unlike other games in this genre, there is no "free aim" ability and your weapon aiming is locked at specific degrees which, since enemy attack patterns are not designed around your inability to aim, ends with most missions that involve killing a certain amount of respawning mechs, jets, and helicopters being spent wildly attempting to bullet-hell their HP to zero rather than attempting to aim strategically or utilize your four weapon types intuitively.

Stability:
- On a positive note, unlike other reviewers, I did not experience any crashing during gameplay and B.A.D. does run fine on the Steam Deck with no major issues (Current Steam Deck support is listed as Unknown). Frame rate was consistent and intended functionality (Pause menu, Key Config, etc) performed as expected.

Final Thoughts:
- I bought this game on sale for far less than the $5.99 MSRP and still feel ripped off, so this is as Do Not Recommend as they come - unless Crian Soft decides to completely overhaul this game in a free update. I lean very heavily on the benefit of the doubt when it comes to games in this price range and understand the challenges that come with indie development but B.A.D. definitely needed more polish and a consistent design philosophy before being released; which is a letdown as there was definite potential that this game could have been very solid and worth the asking price. But instead we got a very ~bad~ mech game that shouldn't even be bothered with if it were a free download.

Just awful. The controls are poop and the basic design of your movement and interaction with enemies is janky. Like, a good game of this breed would feel smooth and responsive, collision and combat would have a pleasant feedback. BAD has none of that. It's just... BAD. I wouldn't play this if it were free. This game would not pass for a mediocre 16 bit Genesis title. Prettier than an 8 bit NES game but with much worse gameplay.

Incredibly Difficult

I like the gameplay. Its nostalgic to Cybernator and Frontline. However, I wish there where more levels and I hope a sequal is in the works.

Unlike the reviews I saw here, I found this game very fun.
The 2D platform style, with Mechas, attracts me. And I found the graphics simplistic, but really cool (i like the art style of the Crian Soft games).

But unfortunately I cannot recommend this game.
The controls are weird, and if you're going to use a controller, you're not going to be able to use the triggers, for example (I used an Xbox controller).

And the worst part is yet to come.

I continued playing until the final mission (16).
And when I have to run away from the final explosion, there's just no way to do it... it is impossible to run away.
No matter what you do, the explosion will reach you (I think it's a bug).

In short, you will not be able to finish the game due to a bug.

EDIT: Well, after years, I re-played the game... and finally got to finish it.
You just have to be PERFECT in every move in the final escape sequence. it's not a bug.

So now, I can recommend the game.

Battle Armor Division is just BAD. this is more 2d side scroller over a bullet hell game as enemies will focus on you over having a spray pattern. this isn't a bad thing because you can block but the overall feel of the game just feels lazy and/or rushed. it has the core of a nice side scroller / mech bullet hell but without any type of polish. if the dev(s) put more time into the game i feel this could be a hidden gem but as is it's just a lump of coal.

3.5/10

This is a great game... I have GIgantic Army and Steel Strider which have better reviews so I purchased them first. I wish I had gone with my gut and got this one first. This game is so much better than those and it has a mixed review... Dont listen to the negative reviews. This is a fun game thats totally worth the price. There may be a few odd things about the menu but the game itself plays great. The limited ammo makes for awesome desperate battles, The missions are cool and have a few cool game types. the zero gravity levels are a blast.... Complaints about locking your weapon position are silly. Having an unbreakable shield and being able to fire while your shield is up offsets not being able to lock your weapon position. Enough different weapons to add replay value and the controles can be completley adjusted to your liking in the steam controller configuration... Of the side scrolling old school cybernator games available on steam this is the best. get it!

I enjoy the 2D combat mech theme and the nice variety of weapons, but the controlls and the menus are clunky and feel unresponsive. That combined with the lack of loading indicators to tell you that there is a transition from your current screen to the next constantly makes me worried that the game has frozen.
The gameplay is pretty solid and the sprites are pretty average. Gameplay is enjoyable and the attempt at 3D environments sometimes feels confusing about where the ground is, but the menus are just bad.

The underlying gameplay is good, but the game itself is barely playable. Although it has a few nice moments, I can't recommend it at all.

Pros:
- gameplay, mech movement is good
- nice mech variety
- ambientation in space

Cons:
- crashes
- optimization (there's some random slowdown even in very high-end machines)
- HUD is barely working (there are missing bonus weapon icons, etc)
- weapon balancing doesn't exist, just unlock the laser and never go back to other weapons
- some objectives fail out of the blue (like defending the convoy on mission 2)
- can't remap 2 actions (throw flares and smokes)
- what the hell do those smoke grenades do?
- final mission can be very frustrating

This was previously a positive review, but after numerous attempts to finish the game, I'm changing my mind.

B.A.D. isn't that terrible, overall it's better than a Mixed Steam review score might indicate, but like every other Crian Soft title it needs a LOT of polish and QA. It's a semi decent attempt to make something inspired by the Assault Suits games, but for every good idea like using chaff and smoke grenades, there's something stupid like not having the ability to lock your firing angle.

I did not experience the crashing, jank and no input detection reported by many, but the control scheme is a bit weird, for controller users you're restricted to using the analog stick to move your Armor and the d-pad is utilized to operate the aforementioned chaff and smoke grenades. Some functions can be remapped, but not these.

In terms of game-breaking bugs, I encountered a few such as unkillable enemies that stay that way until I quit & reload, and worse - as it is now, I cannot complete the game.

The main problem I have is during the final section of mission 16, where you destroy a reactor in a base. The intent here being that you escape from the reactor's explosion with it trailing behind you. On my version of the game at least, the explosion is impossible to outrun. I have seen videos of this mission being completed and am fully aware of what I need to do. Every attempt ends with another explosion appearing in front of me from out of nowhere that pushes me back into the chasing flames, resulting in an instant game over. I should add that retrying this section requires you to replay the entirety of mission 16 where you need to destroy waves of enemies, infiltrate a base and defeat a final boss.

Videos on YouTube (of an earlier build) have much, much slower explosions, as it is now it is impossible and I very much doubt Crian Soft will patch or fix the game at this point.

Ultimately, your time and money is better spent elsewhere. If anything, the quality of B.A.D has taught me a lesson about buying janky, unfinished crap on Steam. And if anyone does manage to finish the game and outrun that reactor explosion, record it because I'd like to see it.

I LOVE MECH GAMES!. So having to say this hurts. This game needs work. moving and aim should be on either control stick on a game pad. having to aim and move at the same time using only one stick is freaking stupid! In this day and age why can't a game be made with FULL key assign. Deciding I have to my aim and move on the same stick is really annoying. HOW CAN LITTLE SOLDIERS SHOOTING LITTLE GUNS DO. AS. MUCH. DAMAGE. AS. THE. MECHS? How come my allies are dumb like really really dumb. I hate to do this the game gets a thumbs down till you fix your crap.

I am a huge fan of Cybernator so I was psyche that this game looked so much like it...

The dev went through a certain amount of effort to put a promising game together however, the controls are so bad, it makes it very difficult to enjoy or even play.

The difficulty curve is very seesaw shaped and it is not always clear what is required of you.

But really, the bad controls kills it. It is sad as the game clearly show potential and issues like theses could have and could still be fixed.

Awesome sidescrolling SHMUP reminiscent of Cybernator for the SNES. A load of fun if you're looking for that sort of style of gameplay.

Highly recommend for fans of cybernator, assault suits, gunhound etc. Although similar this game is something of it's own from creative levels to smoke grenades for off screen enemies, Battle Armor Division steps up the game with it's new ideas.

The only area they can improve, is the option to re-map controls for controllers. You can re-map some, but you can't re-map the joy stick controls. This was almost a deal breaker for me, but I promise if you can adjust to using the joy sticks instead of the d-pad you are in for one hell of a game

BATTLE ARMOR DIVISION is an action platform/shooter that features a sci-fi storyline where a new global war rages within mankind.
Military forces rely upon modern technologies including the use of mechanical humanoid tanks, mechs, called BATTLE ARMOR.

The game as may easily guessed pays a lot of homage to great glories of this kind like A.S. LEYNOS and Valken, for example, as well some anime references.

Quick overview:

Gameplay>>>
16 missions within different environment and approach (like D-Day style missions) ensure variety, and the games plays quite different while in zeroG. Avoiding bullets, using the shields or approaching with a bit of attention using smoke grenades or chaffs for missiles while shooting/jumping/running is fun once you get good with the controls.

Graphics>>>
Detailed B.A. and vehicles and soldiers, it does its job since goes very well with this kind of games, one of the main reason for being a "gaming homage". Weakest part: the artworks and some animations for the bigger objects.

Musics&Effects>>>
Some tracks are nice and do the right atmosphere around the action, while some effects (glad the bad ones are all in the menus) are annoying.

Controls>>>
Aiming it's not so easily done. it requires some practice. The layout for the controls may not be liked by all so a change in the settings menu may be needed, but using a gamepad makes the game enjoyable.
After all is an homage to games that were born for use with a gamepad. Keep this in mind if you plan to play with a keyboard.


Within Steam you may find other similar games, and I have all of them, but this one has some really nice unique points in its gameplay that try to add a bit of "realistic" feel:

Having played the game about a year after its initial release (2012/version 1.1.0, looks like it was released in 2011), I felt it was...okay. Nothing too special, just in the realm of average. The graphics are rather plain but doable, the music's not too memorable except for the main theme, and the sound effects feel like they're ripped from some other source (just a feeling, but maybe you can make the connection).

Fast forward with a couple of patches later (looks like 5 patches were made after 1.1.0 according to my email account) and...it's even buggier than I remembered. You've probably already read about the controls. I had to test out the keyboard before I moved to my controller just to see what the fuss was all about, and it's a bit of a mess; it seems that every time I go to the Config Key screen, it's a guaranteed crash when you try to start playing the game, whether you go to Start, Continue, or Training. *** This guaranteed crash appears to be fixed in 1.3.5, released on August 20 ***

Even after configuring my keys, I can never get my Smoke Grenades or Anti-Ballistic Missile flares to work. I even reset it back to the default keys, which is already a strange layout: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=502980937

And they still don't work. Smoke Grenades still seem useless to me (in v1.1.0, you only get 3 to use and they don't recharge in the level unlike the ABMs, and you can still jump forward + shield to advance just fine in this version), but ABMs to avoid enemy missiles is a key defense mechanism that is basically unavailable to keyboard users.

Switching to my controller, I noticed that the Smoke and ABMs are locked to the Right and Left D-Pad respectively and could not be changed at all. That means I'm forced to use the joysticks to move. Why is it like this in the later patches? In v1.1.0, although I wasn't able to remap the buttons at all and was forced to use the defaults, at least the Smoke and ABMs were mapped to the shoulder buttons.

Another bug I wanted to check was if the Time Spent carried over. After completing a mission, you get a results screen that ranks you based on your performance. One of these factors is how fast you completed the level. In v1.1.0, there was a bug where the Time Spent on one mission carried over to the next missions you played, and this didn't reset until you restarted the game. So in order to attempt getting an S Rank on a mission, you have to keep restarting the game. Is it still present in the latest patched version? Yup. Kinda annoying, especially if you're going for that unlock all illustrations achievement...

Your mech has a melee weapon, but unfortunately you can take damage by explosions that enemies produce when they die, making it unfavorable to use.

Enemy Battle Armor (BA) combat is still the same from when I've played. Basically, shield up, use your ABMs whenever you're locked on, and try to take the lower ground 'cause enemy BAs won't deliberately shoot your feet. Also, wait for them to jump into the air so you can dash under them and peg them in the back.

As for the rest of the game, if you can actually get through the buggy stuff, I don't think the experience you get from this game matches other similar titles already on Steam such as Gunhound and Gigantic Army. I can't note anything unique from B.A.D other than the weapons probably, which are somewhat balanced if I remember correctly. I've posted all 16 missions in the Video section of the Community Hub from v1.1.0 if you want to check them out.

I remember liking this game when I played it but I'm pretty sure I have bad taste in games. Even with that, I can't recommend this game in its current crash-filled state.

When I first saw B.A.D. i was flashed. I love universes like this, Mecha and War in futuristic settings. But in its actual state the game is barely playable.

I experienced crashes allmost every Time i wanted to start a Mission. There is no mous-support so you have to use keyboard only if you don´t own a controller. Wouldn´t be a problem but the game only calls out preset controllerbased keybinds in tutorials. If you remap the keys, the game doesn´t save em properly and you will end up mashing buttons in order to find specific keys for specific actions. You cannot enter the Options menu ingame and have to leave the Mission for it. Wouldn´t have been a problem but the pausemenu doesn´t work propperly and I had to quit the Game manualy via Taskmanager and restart to make changes.

So if you are a hardcore fan of the genre, you should get this game when it´s on sale. Unless there will be a "big" patch in the future, I would not say this game is worth its money.

I will wait a few days to see if there will be a patch and otherwise refund. It´s a pitty.

Pros:

-Interesting Setting
-Mecha
-Explosions look great
-Great potential if patched

Cons:
-Crashes a lot
-Clunky, incomplete controllsystem
-Pausemenu not working at all