Love & Destroy

Love & Destroy (ラブアンドデストロイ) is a 1999 third-person shooter video game developed by Inti Creates and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. Set in the near future, the plot depicts an alien invasion which nearly brings about human extinction. To save humanity, a scientist sends three remaining mechs and their robotic, female navigators back in time where they recruit the unnamed, male protagonist as a mech pilot to stamp out the invasion. Bringing out the full, offensive potential of a mech requires a positive, emotional link between the human pilot and navigator.

Part of the gameplay in Love & Destroy is made up of 3D shooter missions, where the player battles enemies after choosing one of three navigators and her respective mech, each equipped with a unique set of weapons. These action segments alternate with romantic interactions between the player character and the navigators. The story unfolds differently depending on the player's use of navigator, on-screen choices, and performance during missions.

Staff members for SCEI subsidiary Arc Entertainment were previously known for their work on the Arc the Lad series of role-playing games, while Love & Destroy marked new developer Inti Creates' second overall release. Love & Destroy features character designs by manga artist Masakazu Katsura and animated cutscenes by the studio Production I.G. The game sold poorly and critical reception has been mixed.

Gameplay

Plot

The story of Love & Destroy opens in the near future when an extraterrestrial entity known as "Germ" (ジャム) descended from the sky and began feeding off human stress, quickly spreading across Earth and leaving mass destruction in its wake. After a few decades, humanity developed measures to counter the invasion with "Battle Pod" (バトルポット) technology. These weaponized mechs were equipped with "S.E.E.D." (シード) (Synchronized Energy of Emotive Dynamics), a system relying on positive, sympathetic emotions to effectively utilize their offensive capabilities. This would be best accomplished when each human pilot established a romantic connection with a robotic, female navigator called a "Q-Tron." (キュートロン) After years of fighting, the plan ultimately proved unsuccessful and humanity was nearly wiped out. In a final attempt to salvage the planet's future, a scientist sends three Q-Trons, their Battle Pods, and an instructor back in time to present day Japan, just before the appearance of the Germ.[4] It is there that they across the unnamed player character, a male highschooler whom they rescue when the Germ initiates its attack. He then joins them in defending the world against the alien threat.[5][6]

Characters

ViVi (ビビ): Voiced by Mao Motomura.[7] The second model of Q-Tron produced. Feisty, rebellious, and obstinate, she is highly confident in her fighting ability and hates to lose. She is skilled in mechanics and weapons maintenance.
LuLu (ルル): Voiced by Natsumi Yanase.[7] The prototype model of Q-Tron and leader of the group due to the vast amount of information she has accumulated. Calm and quiet with a sad disposition, she feels responsible for the deaths of many pilots during the war over the years. She is a machine operations and control specialist.
KiKi (キキ): Voiced by Kozue Yoshizumi.[7] The newest model of Q-Tron produced. Sweet, cheerful, and curious, she strives to gain more experience as a navigator. Data management and program engineering are her area of expertise.
Egg (エッグ): Voiced by Wataru Takagi.[7] A robot instructor in the form of an anthropomorphic egg with wings. It coordinates the missions with the pilots and Q-Trons.

Development and release

Love & Destroy was developed by Inti Creates. Production was led by Arc Entertainment was a division of publisher Sony Computer Entertainment that was formed in 1997 and led by Ryoji Agakawa and Akira Sato.[8] Sony's Japan Studio assisted on development.[9] Prior to this, the subsidiary's staff was responsible for the Arc the Lad series of PlayStation role-playing games. The producer of those games, Agakawa, would serve the same role for Love & Destroy.[10] Love & Destroy is the second game by Inti Creates, which was founded in 1996 by a group of former Capcom employees. It was designed by Yoshihisa Tsuda, the lead designer of the company's debut title Speed Power Gunbike.[11][12] Love & Destroy was directed by Makoto Yamaguchi, who stated that the most difficult aspect of its development was his seclusion from his workers due to himself rarely bathing during long work hours.[7] The game features character designs by manga artist Masakazu Katsura, known for love stories such as Video Girl Ai, DNA², and I"s.[5][2][6] The FMV cutscenes were animated by the studio Production I.G., which had provided animation for SCEI's Yurodora series of romance visual novels for the PlayStation.[13] Inti Creates' sole music composer at the time, Ippo Yamada, was responsible for creating the soundtrack and sound effects in Love & Destroy, as well other duties such as casting voice actors and booking recording studios.[14] The game's ending features the vocal track, "My Glory Days," performed by Haruna Kawagoe.[15]

Love & Destroy was released in Japan on December 16, 1999.[16] A guidebook was issued by Shueisha the same day. Shueisha also published a light novel adaptation of the game on April 24, 2000, written by Tatsuya Hamasaki and featuring illustrations of Katsura's character designs by Takayuki Goto.[15] The game was a commercial failure.[11][12][17] SCEI restructured its game development process shortly thereafter, dissolving Arc Entertainment.[18] Inti Creates, having also lost publisher Sony Music Entertainment Japan to the corporation's reorganization in 1998, once again found itself without funding and would not gain a foothold in the industry until a partnership with Capcom allowed them to develop the

Gameplay

Plot

Characters

Development and release

Reception

External links

References

developer	Inti Creates
publisher	Sony Computer Entertainment
director	Makoto Yamaguchi
producer	Ryoji Agakawa Akira Sato
composer	Ippo Yamada
designer	Yoshihisa Tsuda
artist	Masakazu Katsura
released	JP: December 16, 1999
genre	Third-person shooter, dating sim
modes	Single-player
platforms	PlayStation
title	Love & Destroy