So I went to my local mall after school today to pick up some stuff, and as I was walking in front of the arcade,. I saw that they had a poster announcing Gundam Vs. Gundam (!!!). I wasn't aware that it was out yet, so I went in to check it out. I actually got there just as it was being set up by two of the employees. There were four machines (two on each side), and just a couple of people waiting to play it - not surprising, since it's a weekday. The arcade was basically half-empty.
Two guys started playing on one side, and I went and exchanged a 1000 yen bill and sat down. Let me preface this by saying I've never played one of the Gundam games in an arcade, so I'm not used to the joystick set-up as opposed to the PS2's control pad. Also, the matches were two on one (I had a CPU assistant on my side, but it sucked and made me lose several times by getting killed). So, with that in mind, I received a large number of ass-kickings, though I did manage to win a few times. The upside is that I got a chance to play with a ton of different characters since I kept getting killed.
Next time I go, I'm bringing a friend along to be my wingman.
First impressions - the attract mode has an opening movie that shows an arcade (in the year 2025) that has all the Gundam Vs. games. Suddenly, one of the arcade cabinets transforms into the Devil Gundam
and absorbs all the other cabinets, combining all the games into one - Gundam Vs. Gundam. The Devil Gundam is prominently featured at the start screen, so I'm guessing it's the final boss.
This game is also practically guaranteed a PS2 or PSP port - it uses the exact same gameplay engine as all the other Vs. games and there are never a ton of units on screen at one time (I only saw 2 vs. 3 at most). Frame rate is pretty solid, though there is some slowdown/frame rate drops when you use a G-Cross Over. G-Cross Overs are massive attacks that affect most of the screen - for example, the original Gundam summons a space colony which is dropped over the battlefield, the Gouf Custom summons the mobile armor Apsalas to attack, etc., etc. G-Cross Overs can only be performed once your G-Cross Over bar has filled which is done by either taking damage or giving damage (it's basically a super bar like in any fighting game). Once you perform a G-Cross Over, an outline where the attack is going to happen shows up on screen and you have a couple of seconds to get the hell out of the way before the attack actually happens. G-Cross Overs don't discriminate - they damage both you and the enemy, so a good strategy would be to pin an enemy in the area where the G-Cross Over's gonna happen and watch them take the damage.
Since there are G-Cross Overs, that means Awakenings are gone. Awakenings were used in the previous Vs. Games - you had an Awakening bar and when it filled up, you could activate it, which would (depending on the game) raise your mobility, attack, defense or all three. GvsG has no Awakenings, but some characters still automatically gain stat increases when their HP reaches a certain level. For example, the God Gundam and the Master Gundam transform into hyper mode (glow gold) when they lose a lot of HP, which means their attacks do more damage.
There are also mobile suit assistants you can summon by hitting three buttons. Some are more useful than others...these recharge slowly so you can't just spam the battlefield with them over and over again. Other than those changes, gameplay is pretty similar to previous Vs. games.
There are (I think) about 15 different battlefields open at the start, each one taken from a different Gundam series.
My impressions on the mobile suits I played or fought against:
Dom - Picked this one by mistake because I ran out of time in the character select screen. Fucking sucks. Moves slowly, attacks have a long delay (both long range and short range), and its attacks do mediocre amounts of damage. A useless character which I will probably never use again. Costs 1000 points (reminder: in the game, you have an energy bar - each time a MS on your team is destroyed, it goes down a certain number of points...once it reaches zero, you lose, even if you still have a mobile suit on the battlefield. Crappy mobile suits are cheap so you can rush into the fray again and again, high-level mobile suits are really expensive and can take off half your energy bar if you lose one).
Nu Gundam - Fucking awesome. Very fast, and has a strong boost for flying. Unfortunately, it costs 3000 points, and if it gets destroyed just once, there goes almost half your energy bar. Probably would be good in combination with a cheap, fast suit like the Gouf Custom...speaking of which.
Gouf Custom - I got massacred multiple times fighting against this guy. He only costs 1000 points but he's pretty fast, does decent amounts of damage, and has a good boost. Never used him, just fought against him.
Char's Zaku - Never used him either, but another 1000 points character that is pretty fast and does decent damage.
Sazabi - I was surprised by how slow it was, especially compared to the Nu Gundam. I only used the Sazabi in one battle but I was unimpressed. Costs 2000 points. :/
F91 - Very fast, has all its weapons from the movie (beam bazooka, beam rifle, variable speed beam rifles) and can call two Jegans for backup as its assist. That said, I think that the Vigna Ghina is better.
Vigna Ghina - F91's enemy suit from the movie. Also fast, does decent damage, and it has a great assist - it calls on Zabine Chareaux who attacks you with a shot lancer, and is pretty hard to dodge. Only costs 1000 points - probably the best of the 1000 points suits, along with the Gouf Custom. Never used it myself tho.
Master Gundam - My favorite of all the suits I used. He has no real long-range attack, only the master cloak which hits for a limited distance, but when it grabs you, it doesn a fuckton of damage. He's also really fast and his close-range attack (master claws) is really strong as well. Really fun to use, I won a few times using this suit, though that may also have to do with the fact that the guys I was playing against were used to my fighting long-range instead of running close up and beating the shit out of them.
Wing Zero - His buster rifle is probably the strongest long-range weapon in the game (and it also has a wide beam, so it's harder to dodge). Also really fast and can transform into flight mode (I think it was called neo-bird mode in the anime) which makes it even faster but makes it pretty much impossible to aim its weapon at anything that isn't directly ahead of it.
Heavyarms - My second favorite of all the suits I used. The complete opposite of the Master Gundam as it has no close range attacks - perfect for running and strafing enemies with its chain gun.
Turn A - Just average. Uses its Gundam hammer as its primary attack, which means that its long-range attacks aren't very effective. It's pretty strong at close range tho. :/
Kapool - Sucks.
Alex - Sucks.
GP03S - Long-range attack is kinda slow, but the mobile suit itself is REALLY fast. I won a couple of times with it. Attacks with two beam bazookas.
I also used the X and the V but didn't really form strong impressions. Overall, I played for about two hours and spent like 1200 yen. I'll be back next week but I'll bring along a friend this time.
The AI in the game is fucking distinguished mentally-challenged and I probably lost half of the games because it got destroyed. I'd be fighting a suit and suddenly "LOSE" would come up on screen and I'd see that the CPU had gotten itself killed again.
This game rocks, though. ROCKS. For serious. I expect a PS2 or PSP port within the year. Do not disappoint me, Bandai.
