Gundam Versus

First off, aside from the fact that this is a fighting game, there is nothing inappropriate here for young players as with many Japanese games that push that border with their anime suggestive themes. The game is fast and fluid done in a third person perspective where all of the combat revolves around a 'lock on' system that has your Gundam suit always honed in on an enemy which you can switch between with a simple button press. Naruto Ultimate Ninja fans will feel very familiar with this fighting layout. The one major drawback is learning some of the attacks as much of the learning is done through lackluster tutorials which allow you to skip entire sections without ever pulling off the correct inputs. For some attacks it really is a matter of playing with button loadouts and experimenting as things like jet' transformations' and certain dodges are never explained in the game directions. If you can get past it's initial fall backs and the total lack of English dialogue, there's alot of fun to be had with a huge roster of 'mech' Gundam charecters to choose from that is almost overwhelming with 60+ suits to choose from. Even if you ARE familiar with the series, you won't be hearing the English actors appear here as it is ALL in mandarin with subtitles where necessary and for those looking for G Gundam suits, that, unfortunately is locked behind DLC for a large part as well as other very popular suits from other series. The core gameplay is thrusts, flight for those that transform, blocks, 2 melee attacks buttons which vary in use from one suit to the next, and essentially 3 ranged weapons, 2 of which are limited by ammo reserves. Like I said the buttons can be confusing , many of the suits that transform use the second special melee to be held down to transform and fly. The free battle mode can be used as practice to even make an enemy stationary or make a custom layout where you can engage enemies from 1 to 2 with the choice of a CPU partner, all of which you can set to your skill level and preferences. Other modes include a Boss mode, wave mode with various settings, and several online modes that pit you against other players over the internet. Although this English translation of the game seems like a complete afterthought, once the controls are figured out and a few hours invested into filling in the gaps where the game leaves you guessing, there is a deeply rewarding fighting game inside that offers more than the average Brawler. If you can get past the initial learning gap, or have a younger player with some patience, you can dig up a unique experience that is worth the time to play. But for those who are looking for a purely Arcade, pick up and play experience you may be disuaded from going very far beyond the very Japanese music, asthetics and flimsy tutorials. Also being a 1 local player only game, although you can play up to 6 people online, it is one of the only brawler games that does not include couch co-op/ local multiplayer which is unusual for a game of this type.