Mobile Suit Gundam Vs Zeta Gundam Preview

Fighting in mechs has been a staple of videogaming for a long, long time. As such, there are a few elements that are considered a necessary and almost vital part of the genre. Control and targeting are two. The mechs must be able to move up and down, target right or left, and move almost effortlessly backwards and forwards. Ok, maybe not effortlessly, but there needs to be some sense of doing just that.

Mobile Suit Gundam Versus Zeta Gundam is a BanDai title for the PlayStation 2 console systems slated for release in late June. The game involves pilots in mechs dancing around in space and taking on opponents.

The code GameZone received was preview code, so not everything is in place as of yet. However, the game does need to improve the control issues if it wishes to strike a chord with gaming fans. Before specifics, it needs to be noted that the game modes include Arcade, Versus, Universal Century Mode, Survival and Training. There are three forces to play as – A.E.U.G., Titans and Axis. The Universal Century Mode was the mode in which the movement controls seem to take the biggest beating. Arcade is a mission-based battle with the initial levels taking place on the ground. Here you get a sense for what the movement should be like. The mechs can lumber forward or backward, even take short hops through the air for a quick strike before landing and resorting to melee devastation.

However, the Universal Century Mode follows a mission-based timeline and begins in space, and therein lays the big problems with the movement. Since this is a three-dimensional environment, you are given warnings – in the form of yellow blinking cautions and arrows – where your enemies are. The enemies can move in almost any direction in these three-dimensional environments, but you can’t. The targeting reticule is locked in the center of your screen, meaning you have to dive or essentially pilot the mech armor like an airship to key in on the target. Diving seeming right out of the question, as did climbing. The target lock worked to some extent, but the ranged attacks were easily dodged, and your best chance of success was closing on the target and engaging it with melee weapons.

Contrast that to the arcade mode, where you could jump over buildings, blast with the locked-on range attack, then land and finish off the opponent with a melee assault. The latter was much more satisfying and entertaining.

The game’s controls were somewhat intuitive and easy to grow accustomed to using, for the most part. It all seemed very straightforward.

Graphically, this is a game that mixes some genres. The mech combat is three dimensional, but a picture-in-picture window opens to reveal a two-dimensional face for the dialogue portion of the game. This is not bad, but one could have received the same information without the picture-in-picture view. The audio is somewhat tinny in this build, particularly when it comes to weapon sounds. 

But then again, this is merely a preview build and allowances must be made.

The combat itself is nicely done. There are moments when you are on the verge of destroying an enemy when the action slows down to allow you to see the finishing moves. And while the environments are not that involving, they do provide a nice sense of combat on a grander scale, as you rocket over obstacles and attack, then land and continue the assault.

Gundam Versus Zeta Gundam plays well, and has some challenges. Space movement needs to be improved in the final build. Visually the game does not break new ground, but does do a nice job of providing some eye candy.