Bandai Namco is doing it again, it’s bringing one of the most popular Japanese games to the West. It’s been a while since gamers could enjoy a new Gundam game but due to the success of the last Extreme VS. games, Bandai Namco decided to bring yet another installment to the West. It’s out now for PlayStation Vita but it isn’t the best we’ve seen from the franchise, to be honest.
The story doesn’t matter that much
Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS-Force isn’t the best in the franchise. It does a lot of things right but the story isn’t one of those things. First things first, it’s important to understand that the game isn’t dubbed. Instead, you’ll hear the original Japanese voice actors with subtitles explaining everything they’re saying. During the narrative, this works very well but the dialogues during combat aren’t translated, which means you’ll miss out on the story.
The story itself isn’t that interesting, to be honest. It’s just a thing the developers created to put together a lot of popular Mechs from the different Gundam universes. Due to a glitch, it’s possible for Mech to travel between the different universes of the popular manga, resulting in iconic battles between some of the most loved robots. It’s cool to see but don’t try to follow the story up close. The story does offer some key moments of the manga so fans will be pleased to fight some of more iconic battles themselves. It’s nothing special really and if you haven’t heard of Gundam before, you’ll have a hard time understanding what’s going on. So the story isn’t something everybody will enjoy but what about the gameplay?
Command your troops
Instead of the classic 2 VS 2 or 3 VS 3 what you might expect from a game like this, Extreme VS-Force puts you in control of six Mechs at the same time. Don’t get us wrong, you can only command one of them at the time, but the others can be controlled in the menu. This means you can command your allies and ship to give you support fire or to defend the base. How you control them in order to complete the mission is entirely up to you. It’s an interesting new take on the gameplay and it really works. Controlling your allies is very easy to master and before you know it, you’ll be commanding them to flank the enemies while you advance towards your objective.
Not the best Gundam on the market
These objectives can change during the mission. Most of the times, it’s easy to understand what’s going on but you’ll need to pay attention. A short message pop-up on the screen if an objective changes. If you miss this screen, you’ll have to jump to the menu to understand what’s going on. As said before, the dialogues during combat aren’t translated. It’s nothing game-breaking but it’s a shame you sometimes have to pause the intense action to see what your goal was again.
Besides that, the gameplay is fast-paced and filled with action as you might expect of a game like this. You can lock onto your enemies with ease and fire a regular or heavy attack. Most of the missions revolve around taking out those enemies but there are other types of missions like ‘escort the target’ or ‘destroy the base’, to offer the needed variation. That being said, the Mech all control differently but are fairly easy to maneuver on the field. You can use to D-pad to dodge attacks and the jump button is used to rise above the battlefield. The battles are fun for sure and the pacing is just right. We’re sure fans of the franchise will love to see their favorite Mechs in action.
Multiplayer action
The single player isn’t the only mode that the game has to offer; it also comes with a great multiplayer. This multiplayer is a little more straightforward, dumping the tactics of the solo adventure. In multiplayer, pilots are tasked to take each other out and gain the most points to rise on the leaderboards. It’s fun to battle different pilots online but not all the Mechs feel fair. Unicorn, for example, is simply overpowered. With the ability to switch between lots of weapons, it’s not fair fighting Unicorn when you’re using a Mech with limited ammo. The balance could have been a lot better if you ask us!
That being said, the multiplayer does offer a lot of fun if the players control Mechs of roughly the same level. In order to win the fight, you’ll have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of every Mech in the game. If you don’t invest some of your time learning those, you won’t last long on the battlefield. It’s an interesting mechanic that feels more like something Street Fighter players have to use instead of Gundam players. The fights aren’t very tactical but without knowing how to fully control your Mech, you won’t last long. That’s why we believe there’s a lot of fun found in the multiplayer. It’s a mode the fans will still be playing after a couple of months.
Weak presentation
Something that keeps the game from being truly great, however, are the graphics. We know the PS Vita is able to run some impressive games but this VS-Force isn’t one of those. The Mechs look all right but the environments are just plain and boring. There’s nothing really going on in them and some more objects would certainly improve the feeling of immersion. Now, it feels like you’re constantly battling in abandoned places, which really is a shame. With some better graphics, the game could have been far more enjoyable.
The same goes for the soundtrack, which isn’t memorable at all. The voice actors are great but a lot gets lost due to the Japanese language. As a foreign player, it’s not that easy to really connect with the characters. Besides that, the soundtrack itself is nothing special. A better presentation could have done wonders if you ask us.
Conclusion:
Kudos to Bandai Namco for bringing this product to the West. Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS-Force isn’t a bad game but it’s meant for the diehard Gundam public. If you haven’t heard of Gundam before, you won’t understand the story and the gameplay alone isn’t enough to justify a purchase. The presentation is weak and the story is hard to follow so we can only recommend this game to the fans, who will certainly love the product.
