Review: Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
Launch games aren't typically known for pushing the boundaries of the systems they're released for, but damned if Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire doesn't limbo under the suck bar with all the style and flavor of wet papier-mache.
Huge robots with guns might seem like a no-brainer recipe for showing off your next-generation toy's prowess, but immediately after firing up Crossfire you'll see that something's gone horribly awry.
Robot Rebellion
PROTIP: Depending on the skill level you've selected, it's usually a good idea to stick with your teammates rather than venturing too far out on your own.
For one thing, although the robots themselves are suitably detailed and shiny in their own generic ways, these graphics don't do a whole lot that the PlayStation 2 couldn't.
Non-descript buildings crumble, and mechs lose arms, legs, and even heads, but everything from the bland wastes you stomp across to the underwhelming explosion effects aspires only to mediocrity. Even the basic walking animations of your robots twitch with uncertainty, as if unsure whether to respond to your movement requests. Amazingly, despite its simplistic renderings, the frame rate of Crossfire still manages to be abysmal. Though it technically supports 720p and 1080i, you'll need to manually reconfigure your console to a maximum resolution of 480p just to make this thing playable, and even then it ain't exactly spun silk.
Nuke by Numbers
Lackluster presentation might be forgivable if the gameplay were a source of joy, but there's almost no fun to be had. Missions invariably boil down to blowing up countless braindead enemies that emulate target posts half the time, with little strategy required of you other other than staying on the move and conserving ammunition. To make matters worse, you're saddled with two equally poor viewpoints on the action, both of which place the camera directly behind your mech. Imagine driving a car from the back seat and you've got the basic gist.
Though you can sometimes get away with wild fire from your backup weaponry, you should make the most of each and every bullet of your main gun.
Even if you could see past your own avatar, there's no targeting reticule, so your only choice is to constantly tap L1 to cycle through auto-targeting options, and let bullets fly until the opposition disappears in a puff of disappointment. That battlefields are littered with invisible boundary lines that only the enemy can cross just reinforces the sense that you're little more than a hundred-ton metallic mime.
To be fair, the ability to customize your mechanized monsters' upgrade paths with improved damage, defense, ammo, and so forth could've been engaging, just as requisitioning and commanding new robots and pilots might've added much-needed depth. Similarly, the fact that the damage you sustain in missions doesn't disappear afterward makes you weigh your mission deadlines and upgrade wishlist against your squad's health. Unfortunately, with such a shallow foundation to stand upon, these features come off like frosting on stale bread.
Fall of the Machines
There isn't even a face-saving multiplayer experience. Indeed, there's no online component whatsoever, and splitting the screen for local one-on-one match-ups just exacerbates the already intolerable frame-rate woes. The sad truth is that even the most hardcore robot battle junkie will feel ripped off by this mess. Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire might make a pretty nice $60 drink coaster for your coffee table, but it certainly doesn't fare well as entertainment.
PROTIP: Pay attention to your radar for tell-tale orange blips. You'll usually see enemies there before they show up anywhere else.
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