Baldr Force (2002)

In the future, cyberspace has become exceedingly dominant. Armed conflicts and cyber-terrorism flourished. Giant mechas known as Simulacrums are utilized for battles within the cyberspace. Toru Souma is an expert hacker of the Steppenwolf group, which specializes in stealing and selling valuables from servers. One day, Toru was caught in a battle between the military organization FLAK and a terrorist group. In a series of events, his friend was killed. Stricken by grief, Toru decides to avenge his death and joins FLAK, only to unravel a much larger conspiracy. Baldr Force is a follow-up to Baldr Bullet. It uses a different scenario and character cast, but is very close to its predecessor gameplay-wise. Like in Baldr Bullet (and unlike Baldrhead), there is no exploration of any kind in the game, and all battles take place within confined areas as dictated by the plot. Combat system is nearly identical to that of the previous game, with the exception of "force crashes", powerful attacks that can be equipped on the protagonist's mech. The game's plot may branch depending on the decisions taken by the player during the visual novel-like portions.

Storyline

As a hacker of the renowned hacking group "Steppenwolf", Tooru Souma and his partners earn their living by hacking into servers and selling the information they steal. As the last hacking before disbanding their group, they hacked into a military server, but soon they find this is a setup by the military to lure terrorists, and they were drawn into battle between two factions. At the end, one of Tooru Souma's friends was killed by an unknown Simulacrum, while most of other group members have been arrested. To investigate and avenge his friend's death, Tooru Souma accepted the offer to join the military.