I was in charge of the battle - I think that's why I was so into it. Well, I was in charge of the bad guys only so much as I kept on opening up a tanker of whoop ass on 'em, but the good guys were under direct orders from Commander Hawkins himself to obey my every whim. I was their lieutenant, and I'd tell 'em to go off in a certain direction and scan the area, attack a particular enemy, or just sit there twiddling their thumbs going doooo-do-do-do-doo. The unit Oasis, a non-mech combatant, was my favorite, as her sole purpose on the battle field, in addition to adding some spunk to the goings on, was to keep me informed of the enemy whereabouts. Bwa-ha-ha - nothing could possibly stop me on my quest for World Domination - err, rather, on my quest to liberate Australia from the treacherous Zeon forces, or something like that.
So, I'm totally getting into this game, and all of a sudden it just decides to stop. What the!? But I've only been through nine missions, and it took me only a couple of late nights' play time. Second quest? Nope. Unlockable missions? Nope. You can play through all the missions over again and take different paths through them, but I want MORE!!!! Alas, such is the experience of Bandai's Gundam Side Story: 0079. You start playing it, and just as you find yourself truly getting the hang of it and wanting the fast-paced mech combat to go on and on into the wee hours of the night, it comes to an end. Overall, this proves to be the biggest flaw in an otherwise nicely produced title.
Gundam Side Story, as the name would suggest, takes place loosely in the Gundam universe, as currently being seen on Cartoon Network's Gundam Wing. Not that the game has anything to do with that series, though. It turns out that the Gundam universe is a complicated one indeed, spanning over one hundred years on a timeline, and the presence of the "Side Story" in the game's title indicates that it may not necessarily mesh in with all the other recorded events in Gundam lore (see www.gundam.com for more.
Don't worry, you don't need to know anything about Gundam in order to play the game and follow its story line, nor do you have to care. In fact, if you're like me, playing through the game will get you started on the background story of the series, and you'll want to rush down to your local animation import shop and ask how you can learn more about the proceedings from the very start, Universal Century 0001.
The story behind this particular side story actually takes place about midway through the Gundam chronology. See our preview for the full background info, but all you need to know is that the storyline actually progresses throughout the course of the game through some nicely done dramatic sequences. These occur before missions as your character receives battle commands, and during the course of a mission, through beautifully crafted realtime cinematic sequences. No, the game isn't exactly a Metal Gear Solid in terms of its character development and story depth, but you wouldn't know that considering the terrific job Bandai of America has done in the area of localization. This includes a smartly written English script, and excellent voice acting for everyone from Commander Hawkins to the bit players you encounter in one of the pre-battle cinemas prior to the start of a mission. It's a good thing Bandai took the extra time, as the title features some nice personal touches, including fully voiced pre-mission briefings (I wish they'd also included textual versions of these, though), and a cute little e-mail section, where your allied members will send you voice-mail if they have something they're interested in discussing (sometimes not battle related). It's a nice touch that's made all the nicer by your actually wanting to listen to what they say.
Step aside from the story, characters, and voice acting, and you enter the world of Mobile Suit warfare, where you and a set of three comrades, operating under the name "White Dingo" undertake a series of mech-based search and destroy missions in a moderately sized battle field that features hills, dips, obstacles, and, unfortunately, an incredible amount of fog. You take to the controls of your mobile suit from a fixed in-the-mech persepctive, but this isn't Mech Warrior by any means, and if you're looking for that sort of simulation feel, you're gonna hate Gundam Side Story: 0079. The game is of the purely fast and furious arcade-style variety, with just a bit of strategy on the side. No problem ... I likes me the arcade games.
It's unfortunate then that the control scheme is actually the title's biggest problem, next to the short length. The controls are just too limiting in any of their forms, and I'm not sure if we're to blame Sega's controller, or a lack of refinement on the part of the game's developers. The way the controls are set up, you use the D-pad to move your mech around. That's not a problem, and it's an easy-enough job to dash around the play field (although your dash power is painfully limited before you need to stop for a moment to recharge). The problem comes about from the game's requirement that you look around the play field using the (gulp) analogue thumb pad. The result is just as it was in Shenmue - moving around the battle field and surveying your surroundings at the same time is a nearly impossible task. It's not that the game necessarily requires that you look around while moving, but things end up feeling so claustrophobic in that cockpit that it would certainly help.
Where looking around the battle field seems like it may be an absolute necessity is when engaging in a battle with an enemy Mobile Suit. And while you still can't easily look around, long distance fighting is made easy enough through the use of that ever popular lock-on feature. See an enemy you're interested in attacking, center your sites on him, and lock on. Suddenly, your view is kept fixed on the enemy no matter which direction he or you should move, eliminating the need for awkward viewpoint adjustments in mid battle.
Attacking your enemy from afar is a simple matter thanks to this lock-on feature, although you need to actually get an enemy in your sites first, something that can be difficult due to the over-abundance of fog in many missions. Aside from this, the battles in Gundam Side Story are a fast paced affair, with your dashing, jumping, and hiding in order to avoid attack, then unleashing your own volley of fire from a set of easily selectable weapons. I stress the word "afar," though, as the game completely drops the ball when it comes to up-close battles. With the Mobile Suits available from the start, if you should come within a certain range of a locked-on enemy mech, you'll put aside your guns and pull out a short distance plasma sword. From that point on, all attacks come exclusively via the sword, and the fights are reduced to a tradeoff of your turn/ my turn sword slashes with the enemy. It's very awkward, totally imprecise (I know I won, but I'm not sure exactly why), and worst of all, the sword has a tendency to stay drawn out even if you back away from the enemy! The problem is solved by later mechs who don't have a sword, but those first three missions are ever so frustrating. I wish Bandai had put more thought into this area, as it's as awkward as the up-close combat system in Sega's original Virtual On.
The actual missions themselves are pretty basic in form, and aren't too lengthy, so even the inexperienced Mobile Suit pilots should get the hang of things. You're generally required to search a given area until you've sighted your enemies, which may actually include gun turrets as opposed to just mechs, then take out all targets. Usually, you're fed different commands in mid-battle - escort a cargo vehicle, making sure it doesn't get destroyed, for instance - and if you follow these commands, you tend to be rewarded with extras, like a new form of Mobile Suit. You don't have to follow the commands, though. The missions are quite open-ended, as I'm pretty sure I could've gotten through most of them in an entirely different way, and the replay value definitely benefits as a result of this.
As mentioned, you're always fighting alongside a group of three comrades in the battles, and you're always in command. You can pause from the action and actually order your subordinates to perform certain tasks, like moving to a certain point on the battle field, defending a particular ally, or attacking a certain mech, and your ally will usually follow up on your orders. The computer AI is pretty stupid (for the allies, at least - the enemies seem to be quite smart), and you shouldn't be surprised if your allies occasionally get stuck behind mountains, but most of the time, you won't find too much of a problem in this unique system.
It's too bad, then, that we're only given a total of nine missions in which to use the command system and the long distance battle system. In fact, once you actually obtain a Mobile Suit that doesn't suffer from all the close combat difficulties, you only have six missions to go before the game ends. It's rare that I get a chance to command a group of anything, not the least of all a group of Mobile Suits, so I want the fantasy experience of the game to last quite a bit longer than it does in Gundam Side Story.
What's worse is that the nine missions don't really allow the game to fully exploit its variety of unique gameplay systems. Throughout this review, I haven't even mentioned the included sniper scope mode, which allows you to switch off into a first person sniping mode in mid battle. Why haven't I mentioned it? Because I not once used it throughout the course of the game. A few more missions that made use of the sniping mode, and a few more missions overall, would've helped the game quite a bit.
Despite this "shortcoming" (get it?), I definitely enjoyed myself when playing through the title, due to the awesome presentation, the fast long distance combat, and the unique command interface, and would recommend that even the Gundam illiterate give it a try. No, this isn't a title designed exclusively for Gundam fanatics. Bandai could've certainly had a larger hit on their hands if they'd made the game longer and maybe fixed some of the awkward control issues, but I'd still recommend that you pick up the game and give it a go. As a result, maybe you, like me, will find yourself checking TV Guide for when Gundam Wing airs.
-- Anoop Gantayat asks that Gundam fanatics not e-mail him pointing out the numerous times he used "Mech" and "Mobile Suit" interchangeably throughout this review.