I don’t know a lot in regards to the Gundam franchise past a couple of reminiscences of the older exhibits once they aired on Toonami again within the day. Young Zack appreciated the massive mech battles. And in 2022, I nonetheless like large mechs. I additionally like team-based shooters. So fortunate me, Gundam Evolution mashes collectively the well-known mechs from the Gundam franchise with gameplay similar to Blizzard’s well-liked hero shooter, Overwatch. The finish result’s quite a lot of enjoyable, but in addition a bit unbalanced.
Released final week on Steam, Gundam Evolution is a brand new free-to-play first-person shooter set within the well-liked anime universe that includes a big collection of iconic mechs from the exhibits. Each of those mechs has its personal weapons, skills, and supers. These highly effective tremendous assaults are unlocked in the course of the match as you kill enemies and full aims. If this sounds so much like Overwatch, wait till you see the in-game HUD and visuals. But hey, in the event you’re gonna copy one other sport, Overwatch ain’t a foul alternative. And Gundam Evolution is extra than simply an anime reskin of Blizzard’s crew shooter.
One of the largest variations is that Gundam Evolution encompasses a “Down But Not Out” system ala Gears of War or Battlefield. So whenever you go down, you may request for somebody to revive you, and anyone in your crew can deliver you again to life. However, anybody on the opposite crew can (and certain will) blast you open with a laser rifle and pressure you to respawn. This wrinkle makes giant crew fights really feel totally different than in Overwatch, as a single participant working away and looping again round to revive a couple of individuals actual quick can flip a profitable rush right into a horrible failure.
While the revival system does change issues up a bit, anybody who has performed quite a lot of Overwatch will doubtless really feel snug hopping into this Evolution. Many of the controls and even the in-game UI really feel immediately ripped out of Overwatch. What is lacking, although, is Overwatch’s steadiness and polish.
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Gundam Evolution isn’t damaged or something. In my few hours with the sport, it ran tremendous and I used to be capable of finding matches rapidly with little to no lag. But matchmaking isn’t very balanced. Nearly each match I performed was a whole blowout. Either our crew would stomp the opposite crew in minutes, or the alternative would occur. And this is able to result in gamers getting annoyed and leaving, making issues worse. It’s a disgrace as a result of the few matches I performed with balanced groups had been actually enjoyable. There’s a snappiness to the fight in Evolution that I take pleasure in so much. You each really feel like a giant, highly effective mech but in addition really feel quick and exact. It’s good. But it’s exhausting to take pleasure in that when the sport retains tossing me and others into one-sided slaughter-fests.
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If some of the matchmaking issues can be solved and some of the more powerful mechs nerfed a tad to stop them from controlling matches as much, Gundam Evolution could end up being something special. As someone with basically zero interest in or knowledge of the franchise, I still had a blast playing Evolution. And I imagine megafans of the series will enjoy this new shooter just as much as I did if not more, thanks to their history with Gundam. But until things are a bit more balanced and consistently fun, it’s tough to recommend folks check out this Evolution unless they don’t mind some mild frustration and awful matches.
Gundam Evolution is out now on Steam. It’s deliberate to launch later this yr on consoles.
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