Gundam Extreme Versus PS3 Review

The ultimate Gundam dream match.

As a huge Gundam fan, I’ve never played a Gundam action game that captured the spirit of the anime quite as well as the Versus series does. When Gundam Extreme Versus was released in Japanese arcades in late 2010 and the arcade scene dwindling globally, I was saddened that I may never get the chance to play it. Yet console owners like myself dreamed that a HD port would some day come to the PS3 with online play features.

A whole year later and that day has come, and Namco Bandai have not dissappointed.

The basic premise of the Gundam VS series is the third person 2-on-2 team Virtual-On-eque battles using the mecha, or “Mobile Suits” (MS) from the Gundam series. The main goal of each match is to deplete the opposing teams resources, by destroying the enemy team’s MS. Destroying each unit deducts the value of that MS from the resource count, with the high performance main units like a Wing Zero Custom costing up to 3 times more than the grunt suits like a Zaku Kai. Once enough units have been destroyed and the resource gauge hits zero, victory is declared for the team with resource points still remaining.

To do this, you’ll shoot and slash your way to victory using an all-star cast of MS from almost every Gundam series ever made (up to the 00 movie), even manga only ones like SEED Astray, and more obscure OVAs like MS Igloo. Pretty much every main hero and villain MS is in the game, and Bandai Namco have done a pretty good job of differentiating each MS from each other in terms of weapons, melee attacks.  While all units are pretty each to pick up, each one has unique moves, abilities and combos which can take a while to master.

The Gundam VS series has always been known for it’s tight controls and Extreme VS proudly continues the tradition. Every other Gundam game I’ve ever played has either plays too slow like MechWarrior (Gundam Target in Sight), has weird floaty controls (A.C.E) or just doesn’t really feel like Gundam at all (Gundam Musou).  Extreme VS’ shooting, melee and movement mechanics really captures the spirit and feel of Gundam battles, and all the different MS have the moves that you’ve seen or expect them to do from their respective anime series.

As you deal and take damage, your Extreme Burst gauge slowly builds up, allowing you to enter EX Burst mode when the gauge is half or fully charged. In addition to a buff to your offence and defense, some units get access to their respective “Super Modes”, such as TRANS-AM from 00 Gundam, Meikyuu Shisui for God Gundam and Biosensor mode for Zeta Gundam. These special modes sometimes  come with a one-off high damage super attack which can be done at the cost of expending all of your EX Burst gauge.

Despite looking like a relatively simple shoot and slash mecha game, the Gundam VS series has always been known for it’s in depth meta-game.  Because the team has a overall shared lifebar, Extreme Versus is one of the rare games where good teamwork really outshines individual skill. Not only do you have to evade attacks from 2 opponents, but you always have to keep an eye on your teammate as well. Generally the team that can produce the most double-team situations and can save each other from being caught in melee combos will win most of the time. Without the proper strategy or support, you may find yourself losing games where you team mate has died several times, taking all the resource points with them.

Similar to it’s predecessors, Extreme VS also includes a “Trial Mode” which is like a single player pseudo-campaign mode. By completing various missions with different conditions or objectives, such as defending a target or defeating all 3 enemies in quick succession, you can earn points to upgrade MS or unlock ones for use in the campaign. There are quite a number of missions, and if you want to S Rank them all, obtain all the MS and upgrade them fully, will take even the most dedicated player quite a while. Some of the more challenging missions unlock emblems to customize your online player profile.

Graphically, the game is identical to it’s arcade counterpart, offering the same subtle cell-shading to give off that slight anime look and feel. While the graphics don’t really push the PS3 by any means, the game looks extremely fluid, running at 60 frames a second most of the time except in rare cases when there are tons of missiles and explosions on the screen.  In split screen mode, the frame rate goes down to 30 frames.

You’ll also find that most of the iconic title songs from each of the Gundam series is included as background music. This goes for all the sound effects as well, with beam rifle shots sounding exactly like the anime it came from, and voice actors reprising their roles. A cool note is that you can import you own songs from the PS3 as use as custom music, although strangely enough, custom music does not work online.

Speaking of which, Online is one of the things which I was most excited for in the PS3 release.  Here is where the meat of the game lies and you’ll find the usual features that any good fighting game would have, being Quick and Custom matches and the latest DLC patch adding in Ranked matches.  Additionally,each mode offers you the usual arranged team mode or a “Shuffle” mode, where the teams are randomised, which is excellent if you just want  a quick game and not care about having to search for a partner.

What’s amazing about the online play is the god-like netcode that’s running it. Despite living in Australia, having red ping and going up against Japanese players most of time, the game is actually very playable. Lag manifests itself as input delay, but doesn’t really detract from the experience at all, although you may find yourself booted from lobbies once in a while for having crap ping.

As with any other arcade fighting game, the replayability of Gundam Extreme VS is what you make of it. The Trial mission mode may keep offline players happy for a while, but missions generally boil down to kill as fast as you can without dying, with varying degrees of difficulty thrown in. Online play though, will keep the competitive gamer happy for a long time to come with it’s excellent netcode and matchmaking system. Namco Bandai seem to be supporting the game quite well, with one DLC pack already out and another on it’s way in January.

Despite the pricey nature of Japanese games nowadays, Gundam Extreme VS is definately worth the price, and one of the most fun online games I’ve played in a while.

Catch me online for a game! My PSN ID is Saint-ism.