Bandai sows Gundam Seed at retail

After a rather inauspicious American debut on the PlayStation 2, the Gundam Seed universe makes its return to domestic PS2s this week with Bandai's new mech combat game Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Never Ending Tomorrow.

Never Ending Tomorrow lets players take the controls of more than 50 gigantic mobile suits in story and mission modes, or the option to join a friend for cooperative or competitive mech-battling. Just like the anime, the action takes place on the land and in the air, with players having access to all the shoulder cannons and beam sabers that give the series its distinctive style of combat.

Though the Gundam mythos can be intimidating for neophytes, Bandai has included more than 40 minutes of animated cutscenes from the TV series to help bring players up to speed on the Seed storyline. In year 70 of the cosmic era, a group of genetically modified humans, called ZAFT, attacks a neutral colony and steals a handful of prototype mobile suits and a new battleship being built for the unmodified Alliance. The young colonist, Kira Yamato, grabs one of the suits to do battle with onetime childhood friend and current ZAFT member Athrun Zala.

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Never Ending Tomorrow is rated T for Teen and retails for $39.99. For more on Never Ending Tomorrow, read through GameSpot's latest hands-on impressions.