Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space

"The latest Gundam game installment proves great."

Being a huge fan of the Mobile Suit Gundam saga, and Federation vs. Zeon, I was very excited about a new game, especially after how great Federation vs. Zeon was, and I'm very pleased. I loved running around slashing and shooting enemy Mobile Suits for the shear fun of it and now, I am free to do so again, only with more Mobile Units and characters.

Gameplay: 9/10
The controls have been totally re-done. FvZ's controls were good for ground combat, but in space they were a bit quirky. EiS solves this problem. The controls feel a lot better and smoother. The way you progress through stages is unique. You switch between Route Tube mode and Battle Sphere mode. Route Tube is a pre-detrmined path in a stage where your Mobile Suit travels along allowing you to attack what you can. Once you get to a certain point, you switch to Battle Sphere where you can move around freely in 360 degrees and move about as you please. This is where all the main fighting will take place.

Story: 10/10
The story is the exact story of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, which is awesome. The story is set in the future and the Universal Century calendar has been adopted after the Earth Federation has moved a lot of the Earth's population into space colonies orbiting the Earth. The cluster of colonies farthest from Earth, Side 3, declare themselves as the Principality of Zeon and rage a war of independence on the EFF. After losing half the Earth's population to the fighting, the two sides are at a stalemate. This is where the anime series picked up but the game starts off a little later in the series. The story differs depending one what mode you choose. In White Base mode, the story revolves around Amuro Ray and the crew of the White Base. In Ace Pilot mode, the story focuses on the respective pilot you're playing as. Not all the Ace Pilots are from the original story. Some pilots who were featured only in mangas now receive their own story with original animated scenes. Some characters from the original series receive more back story leading up to their endings in the series.

Visuals: 10/10
The graphics are amazing. The Mobile Suits/Armors are very well detailed. The new original suits and suits from mangas have very good designs and are well detailed as well. The old suits from the series are well done also. The explosions and animations are flawless. It's amazing when the game starts to get fast and furious with explosions and the lot and there's now slowdown. The game is very fast paced and the game keeps up very well. When fighting in close combat, the game can get REALLY fast, especially when fighting an Ace Pilot. Ace Pilots don't go down very easily and will put up one heck of a fight. Sometimes they will literally fly circles around you. This game can't get very hard at times.

Sound: 10/10
Almost all the music and sound effects are from the series. The songs have been re-mixed and sound great. All the sounds are accurate for the accompanying actions or events. Everything from the Newtype ''brring'' sound to the collision of two Mobile Suits clashing in battle, everything is perfect.

Replayabilty: 10/10
There is a total of 81 Mobile Units in the game to unlock along with playable pilots. You only start with a handful of pilots and units unlocked from the moment you turn the game on so you'll have to unlock around 60 to 70 some units along with 7 Ace Pilot modes. You also have to unlock 2 BGM lists and a whole mess of movies from White Base Mode, Ace Pilots Mode, and the original 0079 side story, Thoroughbred Mode.

Overall: 10/10
I can't help but give this game a perfect score since it pretty much is perfect.

Rent or Buy: Buy
If you're not a Gundam fan or a new one just starting out, give this game a rent to see if you like it, but if your a Gundam fan, pick this game up, NOW!!!!! Any Gundam fan NEEDS!!! this game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/03