One of the Gundam game that show what were real Mobile Suits wars before the light-speed craps.
That's right, you're not a fast-like-lightning with mighty reflexes which destroy thousands of enemies with an over-powerfull weapon you found in the end of a strangely abandonned depot or research laboratory.
This game isn't worth a lot, in term of content, but still have a lot of fun into it. You got a lot into it for hardcore gamers in the genre :
- Level System -
The Level system is simple. You and every member which move out in action recieve some Experience from the battlefield. Depend on your results, you get more or less. As you gain level, you get promotion which will gives you access to better (or more hardcore) mobile suits, better soldiers and better credits. (explained later)
- Credits -
Credits are the currency in the game. You need credits to purchase everything : New Mobile suits, new men, better parts & weapons. Each missions gives a fixed amount of credits, but depending on the rank, it gives a bonus amount on top of it.
- Mobile Suit customisation -
This part is one of the most hardcore part of the game. Every new mobile suits you buy takes 2 days to arrive. Once arrived, it's brand new and got nothing out of the ordinary. (Almost still wrapped) You need to get credits to buy one of the 4 kind of upgrades :
- Attack : This is upgrades that make each bullet a bit stronger.
- Weapons : Gives you either more bullets to shoot between refilling at depots or better guns. If you ever wonder why you can't have access to the Ray Gun or even the MS-Bazooka, it's because you didn't upgrade this part enought.
- Defense : At first, this might sounds ordinary. More defense = more resistant. But on top of that, you mobile suit will change physically (his body parts) as you upgrade its defense.
- Other : Well, this one is simply the part which is modded as needed. As said in the review from gamespot, there are different maps. Each map got a "terrain" type which is either : Desert, Jungle or Marine. You get a small boost to all your "stats" if your MS is modded for the good kind of terrain. If you're not sure, you can reduce your camouflage (meaning you'll get shot from as far as enemies can shoot at you) for a better Attack/Defense modding.
Important things to remember :
- Those upgrades takes 1 day to be added, making your upgrading MS unusable for that duration.
- They cost credits. The more powerfull was the base MS, the more it cost to upgrades.
- You can't upgrade MS in repairs statut.
- Tactical Combat -
You're the kind of player which love to have a over-powerfull mech in his hands and to jump in melee and total destruction? This is the opposite. The enemies are as strong as you are (or more or less). Your bullets will hurt them and crush them, but a good shot or two on your mech might put you in harm. (For exemple, the most weak ground force, the tanks, might destroy your head part in 2 shots, making your radar at 10% its capacity while you shoot the big joes around. Or even, when the head is destroyed, there is a 50% chance to explode on the spot.) That said, it's a double edge sword where you can use the same kind of action agains your foes.
In this game, bullets worth gold. It's rare to find a action game that show it as much. Just push-still the shoot button might get you a kill or two, but you'll lack of bullets in less than 30 sec. And, no, you don't have more than 1 clip. Some really powerfull weapon show how this affect the gameplay. The Ray Gun, upon recieving it, have only 25 bullets, making it useless in long battles with lots tanks AND Mobile Suits or even in mission where you need to destroy something. You Mech don't have pocket to put clips in it, so you need to have a supply area to restock at, or use a less powerfull gun so you can shoot longuer.
- Melee features -
That part, from the review of Gamespot, doesn't appear the same to me. I'm talking about the melee feature. While it's true that bringing out your beam sword/axe far from enemies might be similar to suicide, while in close combat it's a matter of life & death. one good swipe of your melee weapon can crush an enemy like a peanut or render it useless. 1 hit on his arm cut it. 1 to 3 hits on his back destroy it. 1 hit from above going downward is a instant kill move.
There are 2 things to remembers while using melee :
- First, there are more than 1 kind of hit. Some combination work quite well like the "Booster+Hit" which is most of the time a thrust attack which, if aimed on the torso, might end the enemy's life in 1 hit. The "Fall+Hit" like I explained before which require you to fall in front or in the back of the enemy and hitting it with the melee weapon is an instant-kill move. (The first time I did it was awesome. I was using the MS(G) and had no more bullet and 1 more MS to destroy. Brought out the beam saber, boosted out in the sky and as I had no more boost power, felt just in front of him and, as I was falling, did a downward slash, cutting the MS from the head to the toe (yeah, a whole animation of downward slash which you MS crouch as it land and hit.)
- Second, Never use your shield as you use your melee weapon. Using the shield stop your movement, making you a sitting duck. (The shield is either a way to block some damage when you have no more boost or simply a protected arm.)
- Time factor -
While you play on the campaign, your have a limited number of days to do things. While mission might get skipped, the enemies will still become stronger. It's all about taking care of yourself and your soldier, taking care of your MS and having spares for serious situations, and taking care of looking at what day it is to make sure you're in time for the upcoming missions.
- No Online and crap Multiplayer -
That is true. This game isn't worth a dime for its multiplayer feature. The multiplayer (splitscreen) is pretty much useless or a add-on that might have been added in the last days of programmation. But does that mean it's total crap? No. Games like InFamous, Prototype, Eat Leads, etc. don't have multiplayer features, but still are fun to rent or play until bored. This game is no different, while its price is quite lower. (Bought it for 8$+tx)
Have you even seen a Gundam game with a good Multiplayer feature? Even the Gundam Online MMO game got ended. The best kind of Gundam multiplayer that could come, with the current gamestyle, would be coop gameplay. The exception is still upcoming : Mobile Ops: The One Year War (XBox360) which will be pretty like Battlefield series meets Gundam series.