This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on April 6th, 2019. It has been edited slightly for formatting.
It’s April and this is PlayStation Basement! No joking, I’m here
every Saturday reviewing an odd or obscure game for the original PlayStation.
Though I formerly used a rating out of nine to review the game, I am now just
using a Good, Bad, or Neutral.
If you have been hanging around here in Console Purist the last
two Saturdays, you have seen my previous two mech game reviews (Vanguard
Bandits and Megatudo 2096) for the 40th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam on April 7th. Well here is the synonymous game itself, Mobile Suit Gundam for
the PlayStation. This was not the first Gundam game ever, but it was a very
early release for the PS1 – June 23rd, 1995. It was developed by Bec, who are
still around and mostly create licensed tokusatsu and mech games, and published
by Bandai and only in Japan. Mobile Suit Gundam is a combination of a flight
simulator and a first-person shooter, and there are many quirky elements to
this version of the original Gundam TV show.
First off, the cover is pretty weird. It’s really, really dark,
a storm scene of a mountain ambush. A Zaku II is about to ambush the almighty
RX-78-2 Gundam. I don’t know if I would see that Zaku either in that haze. The
tone, composition, textures, and muddiness are a bit off-kilter and don’t
really even match the game. I kind of like the early 3D stuff on the cover
regardless. I usually don’t mention this, but the backcover is also pretty
weird with no explanation or screenshots of the game; it just shows what I
think is the Gundam’s chest. The back is even darker than the front, so it is
hard to make it out. The manual itself also has a very artistic tone, almost
like a musick album. This presentation gives the game a mysterious tone,
perhaps why it has very little information online.
After starting the game up, the player is greeted by a 3D
rendering of the Gundam and a view of the cockpit. Then it’s on to the sparse
main menu where you can start the game or set the options. The Gundam shown
before is pretty much what you see for the entire game: well animated,
generally textureless mobile suits from the cockpit. The cockpit shows all the
info on its panels, and it looks pretty nice. I like the colors. The enemies
look pretty good too, perhaps a bit too simple at times for things like the
Zock. It’s nice to see all of the mobile suits from the show and even mobile
armor such as the Big Zam, Grublo, and Elmeth. The explosions and weapon
effects look good too, the beam saber and enemy destruction both having a
cinematic quality. The only real downside is the grainy look of the background
while fighting on the ground. Space tends to look good, even the distant
planets and stars.
The musick has the same tone as the show, urgent and tense rock
tracks and pseudo-disco, though I don’t believe that the beginning or ending
themes or any of the movie themes are included here. I think the musick is all
original, but some tracks may be from the TV series. I am no expert on these
types of background songs. It all sounds awesome either way. The sound effects,
on the other hand, are directly from the show or at least very, very close
approximations. The sound design overall may be the best part of the game.
There is some getting used to the controls once you actually get
into the pilot seat of the mech in Mobile Suit Gundam. As I said, the game
controls a bit like a flight simulator, and it is a bit unwieldy. L1 and L2
control your speed (no matter where you are - land, sea, or space). The D-pad
controls your aiming. The face buttons fire, jump, lock-on, and raise the
Gundam’s shield. R2 switches weapons, annoyingly only switching in a set order
in one direction. R1 allows you to strafe, something I didn’t realize the
entire time I was playing, which obviously made the game a lot harder. Anyway,
because of using the entire controller, you need to be really nimble with your
fingers. It might be best to use the huge PlayStation Analog Joystick if you
have it. I settled for the DualShock controller, though the game obviously has
no analog or rumble.
The Gundam has four weapons: beam rifle, hyper bazooka, head
vulcans, and beam saber. The beam rifle recharges over time, while the hyper
bazooka only has a few shots per level. The head vulcans are infinite but weak.
The beam saber does tons of damage and has a bit more range than it seems. It’s
still risky to use, as you may collide with an enemy if you cannot stop in time
with the weird controls. The shield, a seriously useful tool of defense with
the stiff agility of the towering mechanical unit, can take many hits but will
break eventually. Using the shield successfully is key in clearing the 12 or so
stages.
Short cutscenes start and end each mission. There’s a bit of
narration but no real scenes of villains like Char or Ramba Ral that are
encountered. It's sparse, which is fine with me as I know the story already. It
can get tiresome with these kinds of licenses anie games showing the same
scenes of dramatic death, righteous victory, and treacherous betrayal over and
over again (see many Dragon Ball Z games). While the dialogue is
Japanese, all the text is English except for the titles of the missions. This
makes Mobile Suit Gundam an easy game to play for non-Japanese speakers.
Is Mobile Suit Gundam worth playing? Well, it’s certainly
unusual, and it does feel like you are controlling a giant, unwieldy robot. I
think that the pilots in the show may have had a bit more control than the
player has here with the automobile-esque controls. I was able to complete the
game in about three hours, though each new stage presented a challenge that I
had to figure out with a game over or two. I think you may like it if you are
also a Gundam fan and want more of a simulation than a fast and frantic
shooting game.
Mobile Suit Gundam receives a Neutral.
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