Mixed feelings on Gundam Evolution

A Gundam game, Gundam Evolution, is coming. It’s an action game where you pilot Mobile Suits, the in-universe name for giant humanoid robots that you pilot, to fight each other. And it’s available on Steam as a global release. And it’s free. Yet, I find myself being far less excited than I should be.

The game looks like Overwatch ver. Gundam.

It’s not just because it’s a FPS with each character having their own abilities and an ultimate, it’s also because the Mobile Suits feel like they are the same size and weight as a regular human. Their motions do not convey the same weight and momentum that you would expect from giant metal suits that are 18m tall and above.

Here’s an example. This is Gundam Barbatos, the representative from my favourite series, MSG: Iron-Blooded Orphans, in the game.

Notice how when Gundam Barbatos slams its mace down, the Mobile Suits at the wrong end of the mace just faceplants onto the ground and bounce back up like a jack-in-a-box. The sideways swing just sends what is supposed to be at least 81.8 tons of metal skidding across the floor with all the force and weight of a Hot Wheels car being pushed by a toddler.

Now, here’s how Gundam Barbatos fights in the anime.

And this is how Gundam Barbatos Lupus, an upgraded version of Barbatos moves in MSG: Extreme VS Maxiboost ON.

In the later two videos, it actually felt as if Barbie’s movements have weight. Every sharp change in movement is accompanied by a large burst from the thrusters, an indication of the amount of force needed to move the amount of mass the Mobile Suits pack. The strikes feel impactful, and being knocked about sends dust, debris, and sparks across the air. At the same time, the Mobile Suits are not lumbering piles of metal that takes a whole week to take one step. This is something that I personally care a lot about. In fact, I even wrote an article solely on the feeling of weight when it comes to mecha games.

It really doesn’t help that the environments gave very little indication of the scale of the Mobile Suits either. Without any structures meant for humans, there is no way to tell that the suits are as huge as they’re supposed to be. There isn’t even a door meant for human access that you can tower above and think “wow, this thing I am piloting is so much bigger than I am”. Coupled with what I was talking about earlier, it really does feel like Overwatch with a Gundam skin over it.

My issue with weight aside, the Mobile Suit abilities that I’ve seen so far looks somewhat promising. Most of them are canonical abilities that the Mobile Suit possessed in the anime. Not having a large shield a la Overwatch that protects the whole enemy team from all of your shots are nice, although I personally don’t like the ultimate abilities quite as much. Sazabi‘s ultimate, for instance, looks to be auto-turrets that flies towards enemies and auto-targets them while they can do absolutely nothing about it, which I really don’t like. I am really not a big fan of “I win” buttons. There isn’t too much I can talk about gameplay-wise until I get to play it though, so I’ll just have to wait and see.

And I’ll be honest, I am still excited for it. It’s Gundam after all.