Gundam Versus, an arena-fighting game featuring various suits and
characters from the decades-long “Mobile Suit Gundam” franchise has finally
made its way out West for American consumers to enjoy. The game features suits
from almost every series, including some of the more recent ones like “Build
Fighters” or “Iron-Blooded Orphans” (the latter is currently airing its second
season on Toonami), and has some popular old-school suits as well. It’s a
must-buy for any Gundam fan, and any fan of big arena-style fighters, too.
The game is focused mostly on
its online play, though there are plenty of offline modes to keep players busy
while they level up suits, unlock helpers during battle (called Strikers), and
unlock little motivational aides that pop up before, during, and after a
battle. It’s built for cooperative play, as players can fight in one-on-one,
two-on-two, or three-on-three action in online mode (they can even do
one-on-three or three-on-one in Free Battle in offline mode).
There’s no story mode for the
game, but if you want a quick snippet of what the backstory for each mobile
suit’s series is, there’s information either provided for the game provided
in a little cut scene before going into the Trial Battle mode or Ultimate
Battle mode. They’re very well animated and well voice acted, too.
This is definitely one of the
premier fighting titles of 2017, even going up against titans like Injustice 2 or Marvel vs.
Capcom: Infinite. It’s got over 90 different Mobile Suits, all with different
styles, to choose from. I’m not the biggest Gundam fan (having seen a little
bit of “Wing” and all of “Iron-Blood Orphans) but I got the game on a whim and
have sunk many, many hours into the game already, playing mostly online. I can
safely say that you don’t need to be the biggest Gundam fan to enjoy this game.
There is a bit of a steep
learning curve, though. The Mobile Suits are a bit difficult to control. They
are giant robots, after all, so making them move with incredible reactions can
seem an insurmountable task. I’ll admit, I haven’t really mastered movement
yet, but the tutorial mode is excellent at getting brand new players to this
style of play into the gameplay. It’s three quick modes that teach players the
basics of moving, melee/ ranged attacks, the Burst mode(s), and some of the
special moves that the Mobile Suits can do. It also enlightens players on the
Boost mechanic that is pivotal to piloting the Mobile Suits.
At first it will feel as if
there is an overwhelming amount of information going on, so I actually recommend
maybe looking up some gameplay videos to see how you should be moving
and playing compared to what you’ll be doing in the first few hours, if you’re
inexperienced. Maybe you look up a cool Mobile Suit and then look up its
gameplay—most suits have gameplay videos on YouTube for you to watch, so you
can study how the Mobile Suit operates. What’s pretty cool, too, is that if you
do have a favorite Mobile Suit, chances are that the suit will respond as it
does in the anime.
I play the majority of my time
with Gundam Barbatos Lupus, the main Mobile Suit from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans season 2. It fights
just like it does in the anime, and having that familiarity of having watched
it in action and the movements that the game is based on has been critical in
my adapting to the suit’s overall speed and finesse.
But gameplay does become very
smooth across the board once you get a general feel for it. Movement is the
difficult part, as suits are general incredibly slow and rely on players using
the boost mechanic. Boosting is done with the directional pad or the right
joystick, or by double-tapping the jump button, and allows players to zip
across the large map to hone in on their target. However, there is a boost
meter they must be aware of, and once it runs out, you’re practically a sitting
duck. It refills quick, but that may be just enough time for your opponent to
lay in with a deadly combo (trust me).
Boost management is the most
important part of movement, and helps players understand the flow of battle.
You have to know what sort of moves to pull in close quarter as well as take
into account the specialties of your Mobile Suit. I’ve noticed that, when using
ranged weapons, I won’t need to use Boost as much since I don’t have to get in
as close as I would for a melee attack. Similarly, when in close-combat,
boosting becomes a bit less of a worry as it’s a matter of boost-dodging to
avoid projectiles or Striker attacks.
The way that most players signal
that it’s “go time” is to activate their Burst. There are two types of Burst,
and both serve separate functions for the same goal: defeat your opponent by
any means necessary. Both modes also allow players to access their super.
In Lightning Gear mode, the
player gets faster Boost regeneration as well as faster movement speed, while
in Blaze Gear mode the player gets stronger hits in, and is general a much more
difficult threat to deal with. Personally I prefer Lightning Gear as it pairs
well with both my play style and preferred Mobile Suit, but I totally see the
benefits of Blaze.
One of the biggest wildcards
that creates absolute havoc on the battlefield are the aforementioned strikers.
When preparing for battle, the process usually involves choosing a Mobile Suit,
choosing the pilot, choose the Burst mode (we’ll get to that in a second), and
then choosing a Striker. Strikers are summonable aids that can either launch a
melee attack at your opponent when in range, or they can shoot projectiles.
They usually have a limited capability of two or three times, but are pretty
important when it comes to disrupting your opponent. They can be about to
launch into a combo, but a well-timed Striker attack will stun them enough for
you to get in your combo. Some of these Strikers are absurd (like launching humongous,
nearly impossible to dodge lasers) while some are more balanced, but still
annoying (like shooting a lance that stuns long enough for a combo to be
sprung).
Strikers are earned through
levelling up Mobile Suits, so don’t be worried about booting up the game for
the first time and having no Strikers unlocked. You just need to level up the
Mobile Suits and use the game’s currency, GP, to purchase them. They’re
probably the best thing to buy using GP, since everything else is just titles
or other motivational aides. Nothing major.
The offline modes are pretty
basic, divided between Free Battles, Trial Battles, and Ultimate Battles. Free
Battles are really more of a practice mode for players, allowing them to test
out Mobile Suits without the fear of losing or gaining GP. Trial Battles are
fun, and my preferred way of getting familiarized with a new Mobile Suit.
It’s a series of battles
featuring either Mobile Suits or little land vehicles. The player is paired
with a CPU Mobile Suit and they have to combat a few waves of enemies per map
before moving onto the next map, until they reach the Boss, which is usually a
giant ship or an imposing Mobile Suit. I always prefer to fight Mobile Suits as
a boss or basic enemy since it provides good enough practice for the real deal
in online mode, plus it’s easier to get adjusted to a Mobile Suit when under
duress and just trying to finagle out of a situation by any means.
Ultimate Battle is hard, but
fair. It’s in five-wave bursts, with the difficult growing after each Wave
until the Boss Wave. Players can choose to do this online or offline. If they
play offline, they choose their CPU partner’s Mobile Suit, Burst, and Striker.
What’s neat about this fighting mode is that there are Intervals between the
Waves that allow for health regeneration as well as stat buffs for the
remaining waves, should the player gain enough battle points over the course of
the fight. There’s also bonus waves that bear no consequences but can procure
more battle points. It’s a fun mode and is very time-consuming.
But, like I said, this game is
optimized for online play. In the weekend that it’s come out I’ve only had
three games crashed, and maybe six or seven games where lag played a factor in
how I played the game. But, it isn’t a fatal flaw. After all, people are
swarming the servers and this game is still young. There’s a patch coming soon
that may fix this, and will also nerf and buff some of the Mobile Suits (like
my boy Gusion Rebake). Overall, online play is smooth.
And it’s so exciting. I play
two-on-two mode all the time and it’s so much fun to head into combat
side-by-side with your teammate and take on various Mobile Suits and play
styles. Sometimes you’ll be off in separate corners, taking on a Mobile Suit
all on your own while other times it’s a four-way bloodbath where anything goes
and lasers are flying everywhere and its an absolute mess. The game is made for
so many different play styles that anyone can, with a bit of practice, join in
on the fun. I will say that without spending at least a few hours in the
offline modes and learning the kinks of a Mobile Suit that offline mode may be
a bit too fast-paced for someone just jumping in. I held off and was happy for
it.
Another plus to online fighting
is getting to see other players fight with your preferred character. It’s one
of the best parts of online fighting games: players are always learning. I
learn new things about Barbatos Lupus each time I play, new combos I can do,
how best to approach certain Mobile Suits, etc.
The game as a whole is presented
very cleanly, too. Every Mobile Suit looks great and the game has fantastic
graphics. Colors leap off the screen and even some of the more dull maps, like
the desert ones, are pretty vibrant. Maps are all pretty unique, too, serving up
for different strategies and approaches to take during combat. Some are wide
open, and some are more city-like and provide temporary cover. Thankfully, in
the cities, most buildings are destructible, so you can’t hide for long if you
get lasers tailing you.
And the sound is great. I love
the blend of all the various Mobile Suit sounds and sound effects that add to
the pure chaos of battle. Not to mention that there is a HUGE soundtrack for
this game, and you can adjust Mobile Suits to have unique background songs. So
maybe you’ll be playing with a Mobile
Suit Gundam Seed suit but really like the original Mobile Suit Gundam score; you can
have the latter’s music play with the former’s suit! It’s awesome!
This game is definitely one I’ll
be playing for a while. The game has a great, quick online community. It’s got
solid gameplay that, while tough at first, becomes clear after a solid tutorial
and playing through some fun offline modes. Mobile Suits are varied so that any
play style can be catered to and they all look great compared to their original
designs from various anime or former video game forms. If you’re a “Gundam” fan
definitely get this, and if you like big arena fighters, give this one a look,
too. You’ll probably enjoy a whole lot.
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