Gundam. Robots. Anime. The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has spawn many stories within its universe. Some are related, some are not related. Regardless, they always tell a good narrative. I have been watching Gundam for many years. I have models that you put together and paint. I also have tried to play every Gundam game I could possible play. Each one has their own story which is good to watch. However, what if the Gundam universe is in danger and it is up to you to travel back to the past to recruit some of the greatest mobile suit heroes? That is what happens in Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS Force for the PS Vita. Does this story delivery? Read on and find out.
*This is part of an ongoing series of what games to import if you got a shiny new vita, or just interested in importing games.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS Force
JPN release date: December 23, 2015
Other region release dates: July 12, 2016
Series: Mobile Suit Gundam
Developer: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Platform: PlayStation Vita
Digital Download Size : ~ 2-3 GB With patches
*Disclaimer: The retail copy of this game was provided to us by Play-Asia.com’s Partnership program. Play-Asia is the number 1 site for importing R3 English Vita Retail games. To check our their selection, Click here. To purchase this game as part of the program, Click here. The game is currently out of stock so set up alerts for it. For any and everything Play-Asia, Visit their main page here or our store page here. Using any one of these links will contribute to us in the partnership program and we will be eternally grateful if you do. If you want to save money, use our partner code which is at the bottom of the review ^_^
Intro/Story:
I want to thank Play-Asia first of all for providing this copy. The only way America got this game was digital. I thank Play-Asia for providing this physical English Copy and saving me nearly 3GB space on my memory card.
The story of this Gundam game is actual a rather unique one. We are in the future in this game. There is danger afoot going in the Mobile Suit universe. The only way to stop this disaster from occurring and/or combatting it head on is to dive into past. Diving in the past, you take control of a Mobile Suit during a major battle in history. This cues the past major battles of Gundam History. You fight these battles, unlock new mobile suits, and continue on in hopes of stopping the disaster that approaches the future. There is more details in the plot, but I will leave this to discover.
My take on this is that this is a good approach to this type of game. While there is an overarching plot, the game necessarily doesn’t force you down one path. You unlock each Gundam era and you are free to tackle it any way you desire. These battles give you a brief overview of the main points of the that Gundam Series. It is awesome and very good on the delivery. A problem though is even getting the key details of each story, you miss a TON of the story from each anime. This could turn off huge fans of Gundam. Also, this could possibly turn off a newcomer to the Gundam Series who may want more story-wise from each series.
Intro/Story – 8
Gameplay:
Gameplay is as follows. You choose an area to go to, you select your Mobile Suit and other allies to come into the mission with you (if the missions allow it), and go into battle. Combat is fairly simple and straightforward. It is very easy to pick up and play. You have the attack buttons, dashing, flying, blocking, and special attacks. Each level has a set of objectives should meet. Meeting these objectives gives you Haro Medals.
It is beneficial to unlock these medals as you unlock things with them later on. You also get more points which you can use to unlock other mobile suit battles to get more characters and their suits. Also, points are used to restore your durability for your suits and one-time boosters.
My take on this is that gameplay is smooth fun and awesome. I am glad we get a mission level scale which rates the difficulty of the missions. However, this is where I feel some negativity occurs. The scale seems to not truly reflect how difficult levels can be. The difficulty curve does set in fairly quick and the scale does not accurately rate it. That is how it felt as I progressed through the game. Either that or the game was way too difficult for me at times. I had fun with it, but the curve comes in real quick and never declines. If you want a challenge, this is for you, if not, you will find yourself struggling to progress.
Gameplay – 8
Audio and Visual
For a Vita game, the visuals are very impressive. They accurately reflect the mobile suits, and the voice actor’s who represent each character are the same from the anime. The game is fully voiced in Japanese and has English subtitles. Above is the in-game visuals during combat, below is the story delivery cutscenes.
This is the game story delivery. You mee with these two ladies who tell you what is going on and what you should do next (in terms of the overall story). Once again, it is fully voiced in Japanese, with English subtitles. However, not much animation are in the story delivery scenes, so do not expect much.
Audiowise:
The soundtrack is what you should expect from a Gundam anime. You get songs that sound they are from the anime. You have the anime character’s reprising their roles in this game. All and all it’s fine. However… While they do reprise their role, they really do not say much. They say just a few line of dialogue, yell, and that is about it. Do not expect much more than that.
My take on this is that the game is visually impressive for a vita title. I do have grips though with games that deliver their story in the card stock format with little animation. I understand that they do fit with JRPGs at times, but there is no reason for it here. They couldve fully animated some cutscenes. Audio wise, my complaint is that they couldve had the voice actors voice more lines. The story focuses heavily on recruiting the pilots of the past, you would think they woudl be given more lines. However, they do not. As much as I love audio in games, I felt that MS Gundam: Extreme VS Force underdelivered here.
Visuals – 8
Audio – 7
Replay Value :
The simple and short answer to the question “Does this game have high replay value?” is a simple yes. There is so much to unlock (mobile suits, missions), so much to play (story, different modes, DLC) and so much to accomplish. This game will keep you busy for a great deal of time. I generally try to get the reviews out Wednesdays at the latest, but this one was pushed (including personal life) in part of the ton of content I wanted to play before writing this. I got a hands on with the multiplayer battles which suprisingly has stable netcode. The other modes are fun as well. There is a bunch to do and a lot to see. If you are a Gundam fan, you will find the replay value high here. However, is it all fun? For newcomers they may not find themselves trying to play everything in this game.
My take is that I enjoyed everything this game had to offer, but I can feel the burn out. Being a huge Gundam fan I pushed through to get as most as I can done. However, I can only imagine how the moderate fan or new fan would feel. It could become quite the task and chore for them. This will go more into detail in the fun factor section. As for this section, it is solely on the replay value, which is very high.
Replay Value – 10
Fun Factor:
The ultimate question… is this game fun? Be forewarned now, this is a subjective question and a bit bias due to being a huge fan of Gundam. I will try and give both sides an answer.
- Being a huge fan, the response to this question is yes this game is fun. I have not had this much fun with a Gundam game for quite some time. It is smooth, there is tons to do and it is very fun to do. I enjoyed nearly every second of my time in the game. Only downtime where it was kind of not fun was going through the unlock process, of getting 3 medals each mission, unlocking all the suits, and getting everything the game has to offer. I enjoyed it quite a bit. For being a huge fan, the fun factor is a 9.
- For not being a huge Gundam fan and newcomers to Gundam in general this may be very difficult to ask. I gave my friend some time with the game as well (he is not a Gundam fan by any means) he did find some enjoyment in it. Eventually though, he did put the game down and stop playing (I would say after 8 hours). It wore him out. It got him interested in Gundam, but no longer interested in the game itself. His major complaints were the game got repetitive, music was dull, and game got hard too quick. Going off this and my own personal dislikes from the game, the fun factor for him was around a 7 (he agreed to this score too). He also wished this game was on a console so he could get more from it. I will update this after he gets a bit more time with the game (if he decides to do so) with this on the Playstation TV.
If you are a fan of Gundam, you will enjoy this game and have fun with the game. However, if you are a newcomer and somewhat moderately enjoy Gundam, you will probably get enough fun to satisfy you and move on. It will not be fair to give a complete score in this section. I gave my personal score and my friend’s score. However, being divisive as this is. I will just give this brief sentences and allow the reader to draw their own conclusions when they play.
Overall:
Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS Force is a fun game for Gundam fans. It is a game created by Gundam fans, for Gundam fans. If you are a newcomer, there will be some fun to be had in this game. It will keep you entertained for the time being and you will move on. Being a huge Gundam fan, I did enjoy my time with this game. However, there were some pretty huge issues in the game in presentation of story, and the audio itself. While the gameplay was fun, it still left a lot to be desired. My search for the ultimate Gundam game continues. Next stop, is Gundam Breaker 3 for the Playstation 4. Expect me to determine if that is the ultimate Gundam game later this week when I review it. Until then, Mgs2master2 out!
Intro/Story – 8
Gameplay – 8
Visuals – 8
Audio – 7
Replay Value – 10
Fun Factor – To be determined by the player (Personal score is 9)
Final Score – 8.2; this score excludes fun factor (Personal Score – 8.3 so not much difference)
*Disclaimer: The retail copy of this game was provided to us by Play-Asia.com’s Partnership program. Play-Asia is the number 1 site for importing R3 English Vita Retail games. To check our their selection, Click here. To purchase this game as part of the program, Click here. The game is currently out of stock so set up alerts for it. For any and everything Play-Asia, Visit their main page here or our store page here. Using any one of these links will contribute to us in the partnership program and we will be eternally grateful if you do. If you want to save money, use our partner code: INFORMER to get 3 dollars off your purchase! We will be forever grateful if you do ^_^
