Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front

"Its about time for a good gundam game"

I have been waiting for one like this. I thought that they hit it big with Journey to Jaburo, but JtoJ is nothing when compared to this. With this game you get to fight on the Zeon side, and that is something I have wanted to do ever since they gave Armuro the voice of Quatra from Gundam Wing. THEY SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT ALONE!! Any way, you finally get to fight on the Zeon side, and it couldn't be much better.

Game play: 10/10
This game is short, but long at the same time. It has only about 12 missions, so it doesn't take much time to complete the missions. But as you go along, you unlock more stuff like mobile suits, upgrades, and weapons. You also unlock simulation missions. I haven't unlocked them all yet, but I'm guessing that there is easily around 40 of them. You get ranks for your mission performance, I don't know how low the scale goes because I have never gotten lower then a C. The scale starts out low, but depending on how you did you could get an S rank that is needed to unlock various things. You need to go threw the missions twice. The first time threw is pretty easy, the second time threw will give you a few headaches. This game also gives you the option to change the battle plan. While I'm pretty sure that you can complete most all missions with the default plans that they set up for you, you can always change them and make your own plan. You can use battle codes, set advance perimeters, and plot your own course. Sometimes if you plot it right you can set the mobile suits to semi-auto mode and have the AI finish the mission for you, but your chances of getting an S that way are pretty slim. All in all, this game will keep any gundam fan playing.

Control: 8/10
The first thing I noticed when playing this was they had gotten rid of the buggy booster systems in Journey to Jaburo. This game is completely ground based combat, so you dont need to worry about Guncannons dropping down from the sky on ya'. You move around with the left analog stick, and you move your view around with the right one. Your mobile suit can either walk, or run (Hold down L1). You can't fire your weapons without a lock on now, so you can no longer fire at stationary targets outside of your weapon range. If you played Journey to Jaburo, you should find this control set up much easier.

Graphics: 9/10
From the opening movie to the in game graphics, its all good. I thought that Bandai's graphics were always a little below par, but they really made my eyes happy with this game. The graphics couldn't really be to much better.

Story: 8/10
You assume the role of squad leaders in the Midnight Fenrir team. I never finished watching all of the original Gundam series, thats on my list of things to do, but I must say that the story had plenty of depth, and seemed to follow along pretty well.

Rent or Buy: Buy
If you rent this game then you won't finish it. So buy it if you have ever like the Gundam series.

Overall: 9/10
This game really amazed me. Its got great gameplay, great graphics, great controls, and follows the Gundam story. If you like Journey to Jaburo, then look at this game. If you like gundam, but didn't like Journey to Jaburo, then still look at this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/21/02, Updated 04/21/02