Mobile Suit Gundam Crossfire: Not So Mobile After All

I was drawn to Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire for the Playstation 3 because I have been a fan of the largely popular Gundam anime series. Originally started in Japan, the Gundam fever spread to the United States in the 90’s. Being curious, I decided to try out a new game designed for a current generation gaming console. However, Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire failed to impress me in any way and is not even close to being a decent re-make of the popular franchise. Stay away if you’re considering this product – it’s not worth your time or money.

Storyline

The overall storyline models the main Gundam anime storyline fairly closely. There are two factions – the Earth Federation Forces and the Principality of Zeon Army. There are huge robots (mecha) of lethal force known as Gundams. Both are engaged in fierce confrontations and it is up to you to decide the outcome! Engage in combat against huge robots and save the day!

Nice story…but unfortunately, it feels that the storyline is only a part of the text printed on the back cover of the game. In game combat between the two forces is largely shallow and meaningless and players won’t be reminded often. All players know is that there a war going on between the two sides and each side has big mechas, but this never affects the gameplay in any way. The storyline is not developed in any way that’s meaningful. If you’re hoping to relive the memories of the Gundam series, don’t look here.

Gameplay

Overall gameplay of Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire also left me very disappointed. First, it has a terrible interface. Presenting the career campaign mode with plenty of missions, players are immediately tossed into the struggle between big robots. Mission objectives rarely deviate from “kill and destroy everything in sight”, which makes the entire game feel tedious and repetitive.

The game is largely turn based combat. Players are given the choice of buying new Gundams or upgrading existing ones. There are weapons and shields to choose from as well as other hardware. Players can also hire pilots to fly the Gundams they have. This was about the only interesting aspect of the game that was somewhat decent at all.

I found combat to be very annoying. It was hard to aim against one target with any missiles or long range weapons – the enemy robots moved simply too fast for the cursor. Furthermore, the combat sequences are slow – very slow. I guess the developers had something about real robotic warfare in mind, but it just doesn’t offer the satisfaction and thrill needed in a video game. The frame rate was obscenely slow.

This lag issue is also unwarranted. The environments are overly simplistic, lacking detail in scenery of any kind (trees, rivers, cities). The only time when there is a decent frame rate at all is when there are no giant robots on the screen and you’re the only one walking around. But that rarely happens anyway. Enemy mechas are always flooding the screen and because it’s so hard to target them, they just keep swarming while you’re just a sitting duck.

Players can lock onto enemies and shoot, but if it’s a miss, it’s hard to lock onto the same enemy again. Furthermore, Mobile Gundam Suit: Crossfire has awkward camera options making targeting and shooting much, much harder.

Now you might think, well if long range weapons don’t work why not try melee weapons? That, I’m sorry to say is another disappointment. Using melee weapons is only effective at first - slicing off robot heads, arms, legs, is easy. The computer won’t even have time to dodge. However, the AI learns to keep their distance, which renders players’ melee weapons useless.

Graphics

The graphics are terrible. The texture quality is definitely not Playstation 3 worthy – falling below Playstation 2 standards. The special effects are terrible – looking rough and unclear. The menus and interface text fails to be cleanly presented and blurs in some areas. The graphics simply fail to impress.

Sound

I was hoping for some salvation from the audio in Mobile Gundam Suit: Crossfire seeing how horrible almost everything else is. Again, I was disappointed. I experienced several occasions where the sound lagged. Overall, the sound felt awkward – the environmental sounds were not well presented.

Controls

Overall, the controls were awkwardly designed. The manual does a good job listing each button’s uses, but the actual game movements and actions require some complex button usages, which was almost nearly impossible. I guess the developers tried to solve this by slowing down frame rates in the entire game to give players more time to figure out which buttons to press. What a bad idea.

Final Thoughts

Besides the buying and upgrading capabilities of Gundams, Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire for the Playstation 3 fails miserably. Lacking originality in the presentation of missions, the game soon feels tedious and wearisome. The visual quality falls way short of what I expect from a game designed for the Playstation 3. Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire is a sad representation of the popular Gundam franchise.