Review #785: Mobile Suit Gundam - Journey to Jaburo

 This one might be a Zaku.

 Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo might be as basic as third person action games can get, but it has a very special place in my heart: It was my first proper introduction to Gundam outside Gundam Wing. I LOVED this game, I remember being stuck on mission 3 for the longest time, and then spending countless mornings replaying the Tactics mode. I really liked this game, and while it hasn't aged very well, it still has its charm.

 The game is made up of two modes: Story Mode and Tactics Mode, which is unlocked after finishing the Story Mode. The Story Mode is incredibly brief, being made up of 9 short missions, most of which can be beaten in about 5 minutes or so. It kinda sucks, but the presentation is fantastic, not only are the graphics pretty decent, considering how early in the Playstation 2's life it was released, but it also has a ton of clips and stills from the show. It is a passable adaptation of the story, from beginning up to Zeon's assault on Jaburo. I mean, you'll probably need to be familiar with the original series or compilation movies to get the most out of it, but the anime clips are very neat. Tactics Mode, however, is divided into Federation and Zeon, each mode has 3 6-8 minute long missions(I'm not sure if the difficulty is random or if it's tied to which suit you are using), but, as mentioned inside those cheeky parenthesis, you can pick from various Mobile Suits that you unlock the more you play. By the end you'll have played each mission about 10 times or so, but unlocking new Suits is fun... even if they are all pretty similar.

 What really brings down the game is how unresponsive and awkward are both movement and controls. You have to use the directional pad to move around, which is very clunky and turning takes forever, R1 and L1 can be used to strafe, which also feels odd, and dashing is done by double tapping any direction on the DPad. Trust me, you'll often times find you dashing by mistake. Square is used to slash or shoot, but you have to swap weapons with triangle... which is impossibly slow. Heck, sometimes when slashing you might cancel your first slash with another slash, which is just weird. If it helps, you can think of these poor controls as adding to the realism of piloting a Mobile Suit. It didn't help make them any less unbearable, but hey, maybe it could work for ya. One mild annoyance is that the only way to get a proper Radar is by pausing the game.

 I'll admit liking this game is tough, but listen, as someone that really likes Gundam I think there's a little fun to be had here. I found the story mode very appealing thanks to all the anime clips, and Tactics Mode was shockingly addictive, I didn't think I'd stick so long with it, but I did, and I don't regret any minute spent in there. So, that's my verdict, Gundam fans may want to give it a look, otherwise don't bother.
 5.0 out of 10