Climax Uc

[mikeszekely]

So, the newest Gundam game in Japan, Climax UC, hit the stores. It's got mobile suits from First Gundam and the various One Year War OVAs, Z Gundam, ZZ Gundam, Char's Counterattack, and F91, as well as some manga like Crossbone Gundam. With that many mobile suits, it's hard for me as a Gundam fan to ignore.

It's also hard for me to ignore the fact that a lot of Gundam games sucked. So before I throw away any of my hard-earned cash, does anyone know if this game is actually any good?

[the white drew carey]

Any new on whether or not it will released in the U.S.?

[yellowlightman]

I haven't been too impressed by the screenshots. While the idea of making your own pilot and having him go through various battles is cool, judging by the screenshots it looks like you only fight one or two mobile suits at a time?

The last 3D Gundam game, Project Pegasus/ One Year War was actually pretty damned good.. if a bit short.

[promethuem5]

Sounds kinda neat, but as far as I'm concerned, Char's Counterattack is the end of the UC story.... and besides, it's not like it'll be released stateside or on a system I own anyways....

[mikeszekely]

The last 3D Gundam game, Project Pegasus/ One Year War was actually pretty damned good.. if a bit short.

Thanks for that tip, as I haven't played that one. The quality of Gundam games is so hit or miss that I've avoided importing unless I get confirmation that I'm not getting a game like Zeonic Front. I've only imported AEUG vs. Titans, Alliance vs. Zaft, and Battle Tactics.

[yellowlightman]

The last 3D Gundam game, Project Pegasus/ One Year War was actually pretty damned good.. if a bit short.

Thanks for that tip, as I haven't played that one. The quality of Gundam games is so hit or miss that I've avoided importing unless I get confirmation that I'm not getting a game like Zeonic Front. I've only imported AEUG vs. Titans, Alliance vs. Zaft, and Battle Tactics.

375894[/snapback]

Play-asia was selling it for about $12, which is well worth it. Might want to check it out, it bombed HARD in Japan so I'm not sure if it's going to make it's way over here.

[promethuem5]

What's wrong with Zeonic Front? I read that it was pretty good.. and as soon as PS2 emu gets working better, it's the first PS2 game I'm gonna play.

[mikeszekely]

What's wrong with Zeonic Front?  I read that it was pretty good.. and as soon as PS2 emu gets working better, it's the first PS2 game I'm gonna play.

375932[/snapback]

Where'd you read that? The game had control so poor it was mostly an unplayable mess. If you've never played a Gundam game on the PS2, do yourself a favor and go for Gundam Vs. Zeta Gundam instead.

Play-asia was selling it for about $12, which is well worth it.

Are we talking about the same game? Because $65 is a lot more than $12. Maybe it was just a sale... a shame, I would have bought it at $12, but $65 is a bit much.

[maxjenius81]

I miss Side Story 0079 Rise from the Ashes..so much fun. Id really like another Giren's Greed myself as Gundam Strategy Games is grossly underdeveloped idea in Japan. Giren's Greed for PS1 was a good start then the PS2 one took some nice steps (Corps, and more in depth politcal system, oh and WAY more aces from MSV) but overall took steps backwards (No more post OYW stuff). Id like to see a Giren's Greed style game going through CCA at least if not through to V.

[Graham]

Hmmph........................it doesn't include V-Gundam (UC 152 IIRC).

That's not fair for V fans.

Graham

[Hikuro]

Sounds kinda neat, but as far as I'm concerned, Char's Counterattack is the end of the UC story.... and besides, it's not like it'll be released stateside or on a system I own anyways....

Actually no.......V-Gundam "technically" is the end of the UC timeline.......but like I said Technically cause Turn A took place in the VERY OMFG WE'RE LIKE DINOSAURS BURIED DEEP IN THE EARTH Universal Century........but was like CC or something like that, dammit what was the turn a time line called?

AND if you wanna get really technical, so far MS Saga New Dawn says it takes place in the UC Timeline.

[rikiryou]

Correct Century? Although Turn A also incorporates all other universes as well, no?

[Hikuro]

Apparently all the universes take place after Universal Century, which then leads to turn a's CC.

ANYWAYS back to the topic, I'd be interested in Climax UC if it ends up being a decent game......I mean hell I bought Journey to Jaburo and EiS and they're decent, but I loved 'em.

[JB0]

Hmmph........................it doesn't include V-Gundam (UC 152 IIRC).

That's not fair for V fans.

Graham

375991[/snapback]

V2 FOREVER!

...

What? I like the design.

[ChrisG]

Hmmph........................it doesn't include V-Gundam (UC 152 IIRC).

That's not fair for V fans.

Graham

375991[/snapback]

The development team said they decided not to include Victory because there had already been such a huge technological jump between CCA and F91. However, some Victory units are in the game as secret unlockables. If anything, I'd guess just the Victory and V2.

[yellowlightman]

Play-asia was selling it for about $12, which is well worth it.

Are we talking about the same game? Because $65 is a lot more than $12. Maybe it was just a sale... a shame, I would have bought it at $12, but $65 is a bit much.

375979[/snapback]

Yup, that's the game I was talking about. It was part of their New Years sale. $65 IS way too much, the game is fun and has some replayability (the hard mode has some cool MSV enemies, and you have the ability to replay the levels in a variety of OYW mecha-- like the Alex) but it's not worth $65. I would say keep your eyes open for it at a decent price on eBay or otherwise, the game didn't sell nearly as much as planned (and many copies were returned in the days following) so it should turn up in other sales as well.

[mikeszekely]

Play-asia was selling it for about $12, which is well worth it.

Are we talking about the same game? Because $65 is a lot more than $12. Maybe it was just a sale... a shame, I would have bought it at $12, but $65 is a bit much.

375979[/snapback]

Yup, that's the game I was talking about. It was part of their New Years sale. $65 IS way too much, the game is fun and has some replayability (the hard mode has some cool MSV enemies, and you have the ability to replay the levels in a variety of OYW mecha-- like the Alex) but it's not worth $65. I would say keep your eyes open for it at a decent price on eBay or otherwise, the game didn't sell nearly as much as planned (and many copies were returned in the days following) so it should turn up in other sales as well.

376168[/snapback]

Well, heck, I might as well watch and see if Climax UC doesn't end up on sale like that too. I'd even say maybe $30 is fair, and see if they don't end up in the "Gundam the Best" series or someone doesn't run a buy one get one on Gundam games.

[mikeszekely]

Sounds kinda neat, but as far as I'm concerned, Char's Counterattack is the end of the UC story.... and besides, it's not like it'll be released stateside or on a system I own anyways....

Actually no.......V-Gundam "technically" is the end of the UC timeline.......but like I said Technically cause Turn A took place in the VERY OMFG WE'RE LIKE DINOSAURS BURIED DEEP IN THE EARTH Universal Century........but was like CC or something like that, dammit what was the turn a time line called?

AND if you wanna get really technical, so far MS Saga New Dawn says it takes place in the UC Timeline.

376000[/snapback]

G-Saviour is technically the end of the UC timeline. But I'm with Prometheum. Char's Counterattack ended the storyline that began with First Gundam. F91, Crossbone, Victory, and G-Saviour just don't have the same feeling that the earlier works did. To my mind, if you're going to watch Gundam, you have to watch at least First Gundam through CCA, and if you decided to watch more then you could go for Victory, or you could go for Turn-A.

Oh, and I don't want to spoil too much, but later in MS Saga, they make very definate references to Future Century and G Gundam.

[promethuem5]

I was going to post back exactly what mike did.... the storyline that started with MSGundam ends with Char's Counterattack, and that's pretty much all I'm interested in...

[mikeszekely]

Okay, I got a copy of Climax UC. I've only played one mission so far. And it's... so-so. The models are more detailed than in the vs. games, but they also have a cartoonier look. So far, the Gundam game I've played that'd be the closest to this is Encounters in Space, but I think Climax might have ground missions too.

[JB0]

IDEA!

Bandai should make a Gundam game with MS Girls!

Who's with me?

*silence*

...

Never mind.

[jwinges]

IDEA!

Bandai should make a Gundam game with MS Girls!

Who's with me?

*silence*

...

Never mind.

377275[/snapback]

Hell that sounds better than the battle assault series...wait a tick...why not just turn the battle assault series into that. Maybe a patch.

[yellowlightman]

So how many MS' do you usually fight againts in a given mission? From the screenshots it looked like you only go up against one or two at a time.

[JB0]

IDEA!

Bandai should make a Gundam game with MS Girls!

Who's with me?

*silence*

...

Never mind.

377275[/snapback]

Hell that sounds better than the battle assault series...wait a tick...why not just turn the battle assault series into that. Maybe a patch.

377333[/snapback]

I'd buy it.

Pr'ly won't show up as a patch. The 2D Battle Assault games hade a fairly elaborate sprite engine. Each piece of the mech is a seperate sprite, and they use the PS' rotation hardware to animate them. That's how they get fluid animation with battle damage on large sprites with the PS1's limited RAM. Sexy little hardware trick too, if I say so myself(I love seeing creative hacks to work around system limitations, and they're rarely as visible on the modern platforms).

But! Battle-damaged MS girls!

The 3D one... 3D's just harder to work with and I'd bet their engine is ill-suited to showing flesh.

Edited March 7, 2006 by JB0

[mikeszekely]

So how many MS' do you usually fight againts in a given mission? From the screenshots it looked like you only go up against one or two at a time.

377508[/snapback]

Okay, I'm up for giving a bit more detail now, since I've played through most of Chronicle mode.

The game is actually pretty simple. You have two kinds of enemies: grunts and bosses. Grunts typically pilot your cannon fodder, and can be killed in a few hits. They attack in waves of either three or six at a time, and I've killed as many as 45 in one stage. Bosses are much tougher. They may be piloting stronger MS like Sazabi, but even if it's just a Marasai, it's going to be a tougher fight than normal.

Controls are pretty basic. Left stick for movement. L1 locks a target and cycles through targets. L2 goes to free look. R1 is your sub weapon... in the case of the Nu Gundam, that'd be vulcans. By default, R2 is jump, but in space, it's the same as using your verniers to dash (X). I switch them around, since jumping with X seemed more intuitive. Triangle is your melee attack. Circle is for special moves. Special moves use CP, and range from worthless (Gebera Tetra, shoots gun faster) to indispensible (F91, temporary invincibility). Square is for firing your main weapon. In an interesting twist, holding the button down charges it, and you have three levels. Depending on which MS you pick, you may actually have different weapons. For example, level 1 for Nu Gundam is beam rifle. Level 2 is a hyper bazooka. And Level 3 activates the funnels.

The end result is a game that is still, by my estimation, so-so. The gameplay isn't as frantic as Encounters in Space, but it does feel like you're up against an overwhelming number of enemies at once... more like a war than a fighting game. And on the plus side, Climax simply has more playable Gundams than any other US released Gundam game (so far, I've played as the RX-78, the RX-79(G), the Ez8, Alex, the GP01 Full Vernian, the GP02, the GP03, the Mk. II, Zeta, Double Zeta, the Nu Gundam, and the F91... plus I hear all three Crossbones are in the game somewhere). Also, the Zaku III is playable, and that's a plus for me. On the minus side, the game can get downright frustrating... Amuro's final level has you take on cannon fodder, then a simultaneous boss fight between Gyunei in a Jagd Doga and Quess in the Alpha Azieru, followed by more cannon fodder and then another boss fight with Char in Sazabi. Also, while the game is heavy on Gundams, it's a little light on other suits. A lot of Titans suits, for example, including the Gaplant, Gabthley, Baund Doc, Barzam, Hambrabi, Palas Athene, etc aren't even in the game as enemies, let alone playable. And, even though there's a lot of pilots in a lot of eras in Chronicle mode, it's kind of short for a lot of characters, and you really don't feel like you're playing all of the most important battles. Take Char... for his First Gundam set, he only has two levels... the attack at Luna II in his custom Zaku, and then skip straight to A Baoa Qu and the Zeong. No Jaburo with a Z'Gok. No Solomon or Texas with a Gelgoog.

[Hikuro]

See that was something I rather enjoyed about EiS, it wasn't a fighting game really, it was like fighting a war....espically in the ace pilot features.

For instance when I was playing the White Wolf missions, at the end it was more mobile suits after the next that I had a really hard time keeping up my health and having to keep my distance and barrel roll time and time again till my thrusters went out. Then I'd have to switch my tactics to offensive and just try my best.

Honestly I wanna play Climax UC.......but I can only play it if it hits the states. I have no means of wanting to get a JaPS2.

[vfxraven19]

it would be great if the game didn't chug and slow a lot... and the gameplay is pretty clunky