Gundam Versus Review

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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