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PS3 | Action | Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire

Boxart for Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire 34 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 1.50
  • SOUND: 1.50
  • CONTROL: 1.50
  • FUN FACTOR 1.00
  • AVG USER SCORE 1.5
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 1.5

Hands-On: Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire

Hands-On by Chris Morell | 11/08/2006 | 16:57:32 PM PST

If you play video games, there's a pretty good change you like giant ravenous mechanical robots!

Do you like giant mech robots? How about big guns?

At GamePro's downtown Oakland offices we like big guns, but rarely do we see giant mechs loitering outside in Raiders jackets.

Fortunately, Namco-Bandai has you covered. The latest Mobile Suit Gundam, subtitled Crossfire, will launch with the PS3 next Friday here in the US. And while the Gundam anime series is not as insanely popular in North America as it is in Japan, perhaps Crossfire will help suck us disbelieving Americans into the action.

"I see your Schwartz is as big as mine!"

Namco gave us the lowdown on the story last time (see Rice Burner's in-depth preview), so this time we were able to jump right into the field. Basically, you can choose what side of the war on which to fight: the Federation side or the Zeon side. You'd think the former are the good guys and the latter are the baddies, but in actuality, neither side is completely moral in its reasons for battle.

There are 15 missions for each side, and coincidentally, there are about 15 playable mobile suits. Each suit is extremely customizable with more than a conceivable amount of options to choose from. But these options aren't as confusing menu-wise as, say, Chromehounds where everything is laid out in an ungodly bewildering fashion.

Crossfire takes advantage of the PS3's technical capabilities by way of large, destructive environments, but more so in the way that damage is handled by each specific mobile suit. Damage is specific to characters' specific body parts, meaning combat and skill is affected accordingly. For example, if you take too much damage on your right arm and it falls off, well, so much for firing weapons with your right hand. There is a handy-dandy full-body diagram that shows color-damage for each affected body part.

Targeting is a must during air attacks

Targeting is a must during air attacks

Combat is spread out nicely, ranging from sniping to melee attacks, and from what we've played, putting the smackdown on an opposing suit causes a great deal of damage, though getting too close to an enemy is risky. Sniping from afar is a great way to stay concealed (well, as much as a giant robot can), but you're going to have to lead moving targets very precisely.

Possibly the coolest and most innovative feature of Crossfire is a real-time events system that opens up specific events on each calendar day during the last three months of the war. Much like the way Tiger Woods PGA Tour does, events in the future will only be playable during a specific day, and thus keeps players busy a mission at a time. We're not sure if rigging your system clock will open up future missions. But if you try it, you're a bad, bad bear (obscure South Park reference).

It's no coincidence that Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire will be available November 17th, the exact same day the PS3 releases. We'll have our full review then.


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