BADCP - GPOW Tribute

Mechanical Error

DATE:
25 YEARS AGO

GPOW 25TH
A N N I V E R S A R Y



PLAYSTATION 4	BAD	GUNDAM VERSUS


			The origins of this series were amongst similarly chaotic titles like Power Stone 2, Spawn - In the Demon's Hand, and Heavy Metal - GeoMatrix. Gundam Versus is essentially being controlled by a community that refuses to join Ranked or Casual Matches because they can't control outcomes like they can in Player Matches. It really seems like most of them won't join non-fixed matches because they can't survive. It's petty and it shows they don't have the skill they act like they have. If someone refuses to play a multiplayer match that isn't with their friend, then what does that say about their skill? Again, as I said before, when veteran players lock out new players, it kills support for the game and shortens the length servers run for. Then, no more online for them. It affects the very same players who lock others out. It's a vicious cycle that is suffocating the very scene they want to live. There's no denying how fun and fulfilling the game is when you can find someone to play with, though.

New to Gundam Versus is a new 3-on-3 battle option that has gone completely unappreciated. This was a long time coming, and truly evolved the team combat the series is known for, but will likely not be in future entries. The reason things aren't looking too good for the future of this 3-on-3 battle is a combination of series stalwarts and the development team not really supporting it. Even the developers weren't too crazy about it, and you can tell because replays from the mode can't be saved, and there's no Ranked version of it. Series stalwart fans didn't help much, either, because it's harder to find matches online in 3-on-3 than 2-on-2. It's not that 2-on-2 was broke and needed fixing, and it's not that 2-on-2 was bad. It's just that 2-on-2 likely existed due to hardware limitations back in the younger days of the series. Now, however, there are few hardware limitations, and 3-on-3 is a natural evolution of the series, so that's how it really should be. In my experience, it also seemed a lot more balanced. In 2-on-2, it's easy for two guys with stacked characters to lay waste to the other team with relative ease, but in 3-on-3, more variables seemed to make that process of domination harder. I would have made the game 6-Player by default, though. At this point, with such advanced technology and high-performance hardware like the PlayStation 4, the old 4-Player approach really should be a thing of the past. Of course, the tournament scene likely determined its fate, which is unfortunate (considering fans don't always know what's best for a game). Who would have known the very team ethic the game encourages would be the very thing that would be the very thing to hinder its evolution?

The roster in Gundam Versus isn't just the best, most robust roster in the series; it's one of the best rosters ever, in a fighting game. The playable machine count has increased exponentially over the years. There are over 90 machines to play as. Yes, ninety. Nine zero (count them). Even counting the Marvel VS Capcom series, I have never seen a roster this size in any fighting game. The roster in Gundam Versus is monstrous. I haven't had time to match up and see if every single machine from every previous game in the series made it to the lineup of Gundam Versus, but it definitely seems like most (if not all) of them have.

	11
	SIX-PLAYER
	Goodness.

	12
	SPECIAL
	Finish.

	13
	BLURRED
	Lines.

	14
	SO MANY
	Different fighters to choose from.

	15
	CAPCOM BEAM
	A classic attack from the CPS-II Golden Era of Capcom games.

The game isn't just fun to play; it's fun to discover. You can play several other players in the course of a single day, and all of them will have drastically-different teams. The sheer variety of characters in this game never ceases to amaze me, and I always catch myself thinking, "Wow, I didn't know you could make a team like that". It's one of those rare games where it feels like you're a kid in a toy store. At first, you go to the ones you know, but then you look and see there's a cool one off to the side and scroll to it. Just when you're ready to make a decision, you move the cursor to another one, then another, then another, and repeat the process until noticing that you've spent 10 minutes just on the player select screen alone! It's hard to pick who to play as in this game because so many of them are so good! Most games have a character select screen where half or more of the characters aren't cool. Gundam Versus is not one of those games.

	16
	BEAMS
	In every direction...

Where the first few entries in the series were like this, they have really stepped it up over the years and each game has slowly shed that reputation. One of the most difficult things about Gundam Versus is that it's so hard to choose what machine you want to play as! Even if you don't care about getting good at the game or unlocking from its deep well of secrets, just playing a single machine a day could easily keep you playing for at least 3 months. Multiply that times 4-8 times (depending on how you view it) for each the game's multiple difficulty modes. That's how big the game is without unlocking secrets. The hundreds of unlockables include Emblems, Titles, Pilots, and Machines, which all add to the already incomprehensible depth of Gundam Versus. I would have liked unlocking to be an automatic arrangement for each character through accumulation of points. With paths, I'd have it be saved per character to better monitor your progress with each.

	17
	MOBILE SUITS
	Old and new.

	18
	UNDENIABLY
	Great design.

	19
	WINGS
	Of war.

	20
	CINEMATICS
	Galore.

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