[Review] Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Maxiboost ON (PS4)

Unfortunately this wasn't the game I expected. I knew this wasn't a musou game, although part of me wanted it to be. Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Maxiboost ON is a port of an arcade game. We've seen Bandai Namco do this in the past with other games like "Super Dragon Ball Z" on the PlayStation 2. It makes me wonder, who is this game made for ?

I assume fans of the this series. The arcade scene in the west isn't the best, so I'm glad that fans can get to enjoy this game in their homes.

My main issue with this game is the controls and tutorials. The game assumes you already know how to play. There is no tutorial or training modes. Instead the tutorials are hidden behind myriad of menu's. I must say at least these tutorials are quite detailed with screens shots showing the action.

The controls of the game are quite complex for me, however the melee attacks feel quite repetitive and bland. The game supports legacy fight sticks (fight sticks designed for the ps3). I found it difficult at first because my fight stick doesn't have all the buttons to properly play this game. So it was great to see to that the controls are fully re-mappable.

What I love about this game is that you have a lot of choice when it comes to Mobile Suits. With 183 units from the whole Gundam universe each with unique and varying abilities to suit your personal play style. The ps4 port also contains 2 suits not available in the arcade.

With fast paced 2 on 2 battles, I often find myself not knowing what to do. The battles often end very quickly without me getting many hits in. On some occasions I'm struggling to get to my enemies and the team mate swoops in and suddenly we've won. It's all very anticlimactic.

When booting the game for the first time, I was amazed by awesome visual design and the bad ass track list. Speaking of tracks. The game allows you to import your own music from a USB drive. It was surprising to see this feature on a ps4 game, considering that its incredibly easy to play music in the background using spotify. Possibly it was a feature left in from previous ports of the game.

Majority of the game is hidden behind a lot of menus and it's less than enjoyable to say the least. Visually the menus are fantastic, but it's frustrating accessing written tutorials using 4 different menus. Why does everything seemingly need a menu ?

On top of that I feel as though there are some unnecessary features implemented into the game. For example, in-game you are awarded with small trophies known as figures for the suits as well as in game currency for completing a mission. The figures can be viewed in yet another menu and you can't even zoom in and look at the figures in 3D. They are 2D Sprites. GP, the in game currency, is no better. GP in the game is pretty useless, you can use it to purchase collectables and customisation. Up for purchase is gauge design, where you use GP to unlock different HUD's for your pilots. Why do we need this and why do we need 239 different HUD designs ?

All in all, I feel as though this game is pretty much for a hardcore Gundam Otaku, and fans of the previous Gundam Arcade titles. It's not very welcoming to newcomers to this style of Gundam game. So only pick it up if you are really into this sort of Arcade gameplay.

overall Rating : 5.5/10

Pros:

+ Fantastic UI

+ Beautiful Visuals & Graphic Novels

+ Awesome Track List

Cons:

- No Story Mode

- Lack of a real tutorial

- Everything seems to be hidden in a myriad of menus - Can feel barebones at times

- Gratuitous Collectables System

This review covers Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Maxiboost ON for Playstation 4. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Bandai Namco for providing me with the opportunity to play this game and write this review.