Help with Gundam games

[mikeszekely]

Okay, as a Gundam fan, I'm thinking about importing some Gundam games for PS2 However, their track record has been less than stellar.

Of the American ones, I've tried them all except for Battle Assault 3. I loved Feddie vs. Zeon (and preordered Gundam Vs. Z Gundam), enjoyed Encounters in Space, and pretty much hated Journey to Jaburo and Zeonic Front. Oh, and I did import AEUG vs. Titans already.

Now, of the Japanese games... it just seems like there's so many. Which ones were the ones that got renamed and ported over here? Of the remainder, which ones are good, and which ones are less than good? If a good number of them are rehashings of the One Year War, what makes the good ones worth playing? Does anyone know if the newly released One Year War game was any good? And what's up with these Gundam the Best games?

On a semi-related note, is A.C.E - Another Century's Episode any good? I was going to buy it when it came out, but my import shop never stocked it. Is it worth $68 from NCSX?

Might as well ask this too, but has anyone dealt with NCSX before? Are they good to order from?

[Jolly Rogers]

Yeah, most of the ones that got ported here happen to be the crappier ones.

True gems like Lost War Chronicles and Giren's Greed PS2 edition never made it over here. I hated Journey to Jaburo too, but they did an awesome job updating the game's engine for Lost War Chronicles. The difference in gameplay/mecha performance and graphics is like between a Pinto and a Porsche. The cool thing about LWC is that there's an original story where you get to play on either side of the OYW and most of the suits from 0079, 08th MS Team, 0080, and even the GP01 show up in the game, and the mecha model is more detailed than that of Capcom's vs. series. Your performance will result in your team reacting differently towards you between missings, so it's like RPG/dating sim lite. WC is made by the same team that developed Encounters in Space, so expect the graphics and gameplay to be similar, even though LWC is strictly ground-only (with some amphibious action - love the Zugocks!)

The new OYW game is made by Namco. They have a very solid track record, I don't think it'll suck and will get mine soon.

Gundam the Best are Bandai's version of Greatest Hits of Gundam games - older titles reissued with new packaging at a cheaper price point.

I've bought from NCS before. Overall good customer support and games they ship are good, but I did have problems when buying non-game products from them. They are probably the best US-based import website though.

[Bob_Coffee]

Gundam games worth importing? hrm... Well I highly recomend Namco's Gundam:ichi nen sensou. even tho its more one yr war stuff, Gundam actually moves like gundam, unlike a slow peice of crap. the control is semi fps like,which works suprisingly well,and on hard the Ai actually uses tactics. but the speed is what truely shines in this game. Char is damn fast.

As for A.C.E if you like Super robot taisen games,and wish there was an action based SRT game, but with real robots only. then well, thats what you get with A.C.E. its control is like a faster less clunky armored core, and is generally pretty damn fun.plus in addition to your usual gundam mainstays, you can get Ryoko's Astivalis and Akito's black sarina from the Nadesico movie, along with a variety of other mecha. Highly recomended.

On the subject of import gundam games, anyone played the cube gundam game, Gundam:Senshitachi no kiseki? is it any good, i heard it was compairable to Lost war chronicles in goodness.

[Bob_Coffee]

Oh and i forgot to mention The somewhat recent Gundam Seed game, Owaranai ashita e. If you like seed, then this game is really worth picking up,as in addition to going through the seed story it includes alot of the seed MSV stuff. Gameplay in it IIRC is like encounters in space, so if you liked EIS, then this is worth picking up.

[yellowlightman]

If you have any sort of appreciation for strategy games and you're a Gundam fan, definately pick up Giren'd Greed; whether it be on the Saturn, PS1, Dreamcast or PS2. It's a great game, a bit hard to get into at first but there's enough info on the net to get you started. Great game.

[Jolly Rogers]

I had problem with the DC version of Giren's Greed freezing occassionally. The PS2 version, while slightly streamlined compared to the PS1/DC edition, has lots of MSV aces and IMHO is easier to get into then the earlier ones.

[yellowlightman]

I had problem with the DC version of Giren's Greed freezing occassionally. The PS2 version, while slightly streamlined compared to the PS1/DC edition, has lots of MSV aces and IMHO is easier to get into then the earlier ones.

I still need to grab the PS2 version, I've only got the Saturn and PS1 versions.

[mikeszekely]

If you have any sort of appreciation for strategy games and you're a Gundam fan, definately pick up Giren'd Greed; whether it be on the Saturn, PS1, Dreamcast or PS2. It's a great game, a bit hard to get into at first but there's enough info on the net to get you started. Great game.

To be truthful, I'm terrible with strategy. Usually, anything with the words "strategy" or "tatics" in the description is an instant turn-off for me. I appreciate the suggestion, but I think I'll have to take a pass on that one.

[mikeszekely]

Gundam games worth importing? hrm... Well I highly recomend Namco's Gundam:ichi nen sensou. even tho its more one yr war stuff, Gundam actually moves like gundam, unlike a slow peice of crap. the control is semi fps like,which works suprisingly well,and on hard the Ai actually uses tactics. but the speed is what truely shines in this game. Char is damn fast.

As for A.C.E if you like Super robot taisen games,and wish there was an action based SRT game, but with real robots only. then well, thats what you get with A.C.E. its control is like a faster less clunky armored core, and is generally pretty damn fun.plus in addition to your usual gundam mainstays, you can get Ryoko's Astivalis and Akito's black sarina from the Nadesico movie, along with a variety of other mecha. Highly recomended.

On the subject of import gundam games, anyone played the cube gundam game, Gundam:Senshitachi no kiseki? is it any good, i heard it was compairable to Lost war chronicles in goodness.

When you say the new Gundam: One Year War controls like a FPS, do you mean like last year's Transformers game, or more recently, like Star Wars: Battlefront or Mercenaries? That sounds like it'd be pretty cool. I also have a lot of respect for the games Namco develops, although I'd go so far as to say that they either have a hit on their hands or a turd when they develop a new game. I've played some awesome games by them, but I've played some games I've hated, too... but rarely a game by Namco that I thought was kind of just "eh."

A.C.E has been intriguing me for awhile, not so much for the other mecha, but for the Gundam mecha. Also, I've heard that it plays fairly similarly to Zone of the Enders. I loved both Z.O.E games on the PS2, although I thought they were both ridiculously short. If you've played both A.C.E and Z.O.E, would you say that they're similar?

As for the Gundam SEED games, I'm going to take a pass, for now. SEED is Bandai's cash cow, both in Japan and in the States. They've got a SEED game coming out domestically in June. I might check it out then.