Kidou Senshi Gundam: Renpou vs. Zeon DX

"Pfft... who needs that crybaby Amuro?"

Gundam: Federation Vs. Zeon DX is an improved version of the original Gundam: Federation Vs. Zeon. The game, developed by Capcom, featured what the Magic Box would call ''Virtual On-like gameplay.'' While It wasn't anything like Virtual On, you did run around in a giant mecha in a third-person perspective, which is good enough, I suppose. Unfortunately, the Dreamcast Version is only available in Japan, as a bundle containing both the regular and DX versions of the game, but a boot disk and eBay more than removes the barriers one experiences when trying to locate the game.

Graphics(8):
Highs: The graphics in this game are pretty damn good, and the MS detail particularly is a sight to behold. What you get are mobile suits that are highly accurate and true to the original anime they were based off of, while maintaining a gritty look that really makes them look like they've been through the major battles of the one-year war. Special Effects are also pretty good, a beam rifle shot looks like a beam rifle shot, and so on. If you're looking for something that's simple and true to the original anime, you can look no further.
Lows: Apparently, even the simple mobile suit designs and rather low-detail level composition can slow down the mighty Dreamcast(or Naomi Hardware, which also suffers from slowdown), which is the largest problem with this game; You'll be spending quite a bit of time in slow-motion as a bazillion events happen at once and your Dreamcast struggles to keep up. Another problem, mentioned before, is the rather sparse detail in the levels, especially ground levels. But you'll be too busy dodging long-range guntank fire to really care whether that sand dune over there looks a little strange to you.

Gameplay(8):
Highs: What's more fun than running around in your Gundam, Zaku, what have you, and blasting your opponent to smithereens in many fun different ways, using many fun weapons? Very little, really. The main draw of the game is that you're practically in the mobile suit, kicking, hacking, and blasting your enemies with a partner. Both Federation and Zeon forces have a healthy compliment of mobile suits to run around in, and secrets that allow for use of Fed/Zeon suits to be used by Zeon/Fed players further boost the replay value.
Lows: While its fun running around and felling all those who stand in your way, dying because your idiot AI partner sucks at this game isn't. The game, being based off the anime, also tends to be rather slow, to reflect the slower style of combat in the original Gundam; you won't be zipping through the game on 5 minute breaks like you can in, say, Virtual On, this game takes some time to get through.

Sound(8):
Very little can be said about the sound and music. The sound effects are decent, closely matching the original anime's sound effects, the voice acting is pretty damn good, and the music is iffy at best. The sound only serves to further immerse you in the Universal Century.

Overall: This is the best Gundam game yet. A little slowdown and moron helper AI shouldn't do much to detract you from the fun that is burying your heat sabre into that pesky GM's forehead.

P.S. Did I mention you can play this with 3 other friends? Sure helps to bury the horrible memories that A.I. gives you.

My Wish List for future Gundam Vs. games:
These are features which I think Capcom should put in next time they make the Gundam game, but probably didn't for understandable reasons.

-Include ALL mobile suits and characters from the Universal Century Gundam universe. Give Kou Iraki and Anavel Gato some lovin', too. Not to mention Z-Gundam(wait, that's already being made).
-Speed up the action to reflect the later UC-based stores, like 0083.
-Make the ally a.i. NOT suck, maybe?
-If you can't do that, re-work the resource meter system? I'm tired of losing because the last of my resources was taken by my partner's death. Maybe give each mobile suit a certain number of lives?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/04