Mobile Suit Gundam: The Ace Pilot

"Best Yet"

Throughout the years, Gundam games have sought to individually satisfy each basic gamer need. For the tactical side: Zeonic Front, and SD Gundam Generation (...insert suffix letter). Mindless action: Federation vs. Zeon. Cool Side Storyness... Side Story. Ground combat: Lost War Chronicles, and Journey to Jaburo. And finally, Space: Encounters in Space.
However, none have sought to cover them all perfectly. That is, until now. Paths of Soldiers has every bit of innovation and awesome Gundamy Goodness as its predecessors, while taking all of their good points and slamming them together for one incredibly long, action-packed experience.

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics (by Gundam standards) are stunning. Remember the Super High Detail on the Mobile Suits in Zeonic Front? Or the Extremely Fluid Animations of Federation vs. Zeon? Well, they're back for another go. This game manages to let you see everything. There's no chopping of animations, no skipping moves. You see everything the Mobile Suit is doing at all times. Watch it reload, watch it jump, watch it get smashed to the ground by a rocket!
You know what people like to see most? Effects. Whether it's Motion blur or particles, the more effects the better. From the dead-on exhaust motion blur coming out of the suit's verniers, to the fizzling trails of plasma following a beam rifle shot, it's all there. You kill something... the screen shakes, it "motion blurs," and a huge explosion ensues. Very juicy.
Remember, in past reviews of other Gundam/Space games, the excuses made about the graphical quality of space? Mainly: "it's space, what can you do with it?" Plenty. With flames flaring up as you re-enter the earth's atmosphere and look down on a perfect representation of the earth itsself. And look out at Solomon to see different colors blended to blues and purples instead of the boring old black with stars. Explosions are everywhere, Rogue Squadron style. Beam Shots are flying at nearby enemies. And you are leaving a nice trail of vernier fuel behind you, with all of the little blobs and bits coming out that you remember from the ground missions. You hit an enemy in space, and it blows up with a tremendous force never seen in a video game before. Space also gives you an unparalleled sense of speed and action. If you hit your thrusters in space, you keep going. Inertia finally plays a role in Gundam. You spin your mobile suit to look in a direction, the external verniers fire to turn you around. Gundam isn't magic, so physics should be represented fully.

Sound: 8/10
Although refreshing new and updated versions of old Gundam songs are great, they were all originally used in Encounters in Space. I'm not saying that these songs are bad in any way... I'm just saying, recycled. If you played EiS, it should all be here. But now at least you can hear what the people are saying instead of only music. The sound effects are also the same from previous games... recycled. But, most games do this in the sound department. Why go out and re-record new effects, when you already have them all from previous games. They are high-quality, but they're nothing new.

Controls: 9/10
Complicated, complicated, complicated...
And yet, perfection once you have them down. Again, we see the return (from ZF) of the "free-look" concept. Somebody over there? Look at him before you turn around. Need to look behind you in a space battle to acquire a target? Sure! With a few combination button hits, you can control just about everything a Mobile Suit does. The Gamecube controller has always been one of my favorites. Everything you need is right where you could possibly want it. No stretching for weird buttons, and you only take your fingers off the main button area to look around.

Gameplay: 10/10
Hyper fast-paced. Forget the "speed" you thought you knew in EiS, and FvZ. This game gives you all that plus more. Flying from one end of the mission area to the other in Solomon constantly taking out new Musais and Doms, is the greatest Gundam experience you've ever had. Also, the more you level up your characters, the faster the game gets. Which brings me to the next game play point...
Levels, previously only reserved for RPGs, and games with the classic multiple personality disorder. Now, Gundam fans get a huge dose of that action. With each mission, the more kills you make in a lesser powerd suit, the more experience you get. Even if you fail a mission, the number of MS you killed still counts, and you still get something for it (sometimes quite a big something). With each level, your pilot gets faster, or stronger, or whatever the specific pilot seems to get better at quicker. You immediately see the results. Sometimes, the difference between and A rank, and an S rank was one level.
Playing two important roles in gameplay are: Strategy, and Abilities. If you've ever played Gundam: Side Story for the Dreamcast, you understand about in battle strategy. This game returns with this EXACT same concept. You hit start, go to the mission map, and command every unit the game will let you. You can even give yourself a target from this screen, making the huge battles not so bad. Abilities are new though. When a certain pressure gauge climbs as a battle goes on, of if you are fighting an ace, specific abilities become usable. These range from power-ups to yourself, or full-on bullet time. Many times using an ability can make a difference in your winning the battle.

AI: incomprehensibly high/10
I had to make a category for this just because this game is the best I have EVER SEEN
Allied GMs fight to their last breath, actually hitting their targets. Ships unload all they have onto enemy mobile suits, often hitting and killing them before you can get there. Allies work together to defend targets, enemies come in groups to hold you back. Telling someone to do something actually results in them doing it. A GM will protect a target to the best of its abilities, disregarding its own life.
The bottom line here, the people in the fight care. Not a single person in the area will let down their guard for anything. Whether they are piloting a Mobile Armor, or sitting in a small gun turret on the White Base.

Replayability: 10/10
With the ability to unlock just about any mobile suit you can think of (not including all of the useless Zaku variations from EiS), Being able to level up a pilot to a maximum of 30. Playing any mission with any pilot with any mobile suit load-out. Or just trashing A Baoa Qu one last time. This game ensures years of the Gundam we have all come to at least know, and probably love.

The point here, if you've loved all of the past Gundam games, and just want more... buy this game. If you're just looking into playing one for the first time, and feel like skipping all those in the past. Buy this game. If you feel like buying a game, buy this game.

...

Buy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/04