Q&A: Gundam: Mobile Suit devs

Although the Gundam anime series has spawned numerous game tie-ins, Bandai Entertainment's Gundam: Mobile Suit for the PlayStation 3 tries to distinguish itself by striving for a realistic, rather than animelike, feel. In the August 18 Weekly Famitsu, Bandai Entertainment production producer Okamoto Yoshihiro and Hirofumi Inagaki, a producer at Bandai Namco Games, discussed the game in detail.

The first 3D Mobile Suit Gundam game appeared in 1995 on the Sony PlayStation, followed by an updated PlayStation 2 version in 2000. The stories of both games were set during the first series of the anime and starred Amuro Ray as the main character. But, according to Inagaki, "This time around, things will be a bit different...[The player] will belong to and fight for either the Zeon or Earth Federation."

The graphics have been brought up to next-generation standards. "The modeling of the Mobile Suits is quite detailed," Okamoto said. "We also made the environments very detailed, so that the graphics look consistent." Inagaki added that cutscenes are a thing of the past in this title. "Until now, you made models for use in the game and [separate] models for the cutscenes," he said. "Anything you couldn't render in game you covered with the cutscene movies. This time, however, we haven't done this at all...We're able to render fairly realistic objects [on the PS3]."

The game will also feature a localized damage model, allowing parts of the Mobile Suits to be destroyed; Famitsu ran several shots of mechs missing hands and arms. "We don't want players to just randomly attack," Okamoto said. "We want them to think about where they should target while playing. Also, if a Mobile Suit gets an arm blown off, the player will have to decide whether to continue fighting with a damaged mech or retreat. This is one of the ways we are using to pursue realism."

Similarly, environmental objects such as buildings can be destroyed. "This aspect also came out of our pursuit of realism. In actual war, destruction of buildings affects the state of the battlefield greatly...For example, destroying bridges prevents tanks from rolling across them...The user will have to rethink his or her strategy for each situation in real time."

The appeal of the game, Inagaki conceded, is part nostalgia. "Our main target is the people who watched Mobile Suit Gundam when they were in elementary or middle school...We are making a gaming that will not fall short of their memories."