Gundam ‘Overwatch’ Is Better Than It Has Any Right To Be

Gundam Evolution, the free-to-play Gundam shooter which was released on Tuesday for PC, Xbox, and Playstation is, somehow, one of the better hero shooters I’ve played in a long time. I say this knowing that my devout love of Mobile Suit Gundam may be clouding my judgment, but believe it wholeheartedly. Let me give you a snapshot:

You are piloting the Gundam Barbatos. Around the corner is the classic, but still deadly RX-78-2. With one headshot and a swing from its flail, you’re dead or close enough to it that the distinction doesn’t really matter. You ready your mace, which dwarfs the thin violence of your torso. The RX-78 pushes in unaware. You bring your hammer down hard, crushing the air and then the ground in front of your target. The RX-78’s pilot panics, and dashes backwards to fire a surprisingly clean headshot. No mistakes now. 

You dash forward and to the right, coming all the way around the corner. Then left, braking halfway through to save the fuel and dodge the second shot hurtling towards your head. The RX-78 has managed to boost away, but it’s still in range of your leap. You throw your body into the air faster than your opponent can react, and dive towards the ground with your sword. It grazes the RX-78, stunning them for a moment. You begin a violent dance. You dash circles around the mech, your mace singing all the way.

Things are getting bad for both of you. The RX-78 pulls out the flail you’ve been afraid of this whole time. It winds up, and then throws. Muscle memory takes over and the body moves for you, lurching into the air. Then, there is a moment of quiet as you hang above the RX-78. Then screaming metal as your sword pins its broken body to the ground. Breathe. Then go, there’s more to do.

Gundam Evolution is a fast game. Your mobile suit can fall in less than a second against a good opponent, or over the course of 15 in a good, one-on-one duel. The GM Sniper II, the game’s designated headshot machine, can one-tap basically anything that moves in exchange for being the most fragile, high-priority target on the battlefield. Other mobile suits aren’t much weaker. The RX-78 kills most targets with two headshots and a body shot, and if you land your stuns with Barbatos, it can kill any other mech in the game in under half a second.

However, unlike a game like Overwatch, which grew into a fast-paced, twitch shooter, Gundam Evolution seems to be built with lower time-to-kill in mind. In Evolution, your mech is downed before it actually explodes, giving your teammates an opportunity to revive you on the battlefield. This means that if you become the victim of the game’s quick time-to-kill, and you’re near your teammates, you can jump back in the fight without waiting to respawn. Spaces your opponents control aren’t just places where you can be killed, they become the source of potentially endless targets. This encourages organized offense, where you have a set strategy to push into your opponents space, take out enemies, and prevent revives—while still allowing for flanking characters the opportunity to shine in 1v1, 1v2, and 1v3 situations.

In addition to this difference in pacing, Gundam Evolution takes a more open-ended approach to team composition. There are no designated roles in the game, just abilities which encourage certain styles of play. In Overwatch, the Barbatos’ high burst damage, high risk kit would be reserved for the DPS role. Instead, characters become defined by the specific tools they have access to. You could call the Gundam Unicorn a Tank, and that wouldn’t be totally incorrect, but it also provides high damage output and a passive heal to all of its allies. The Marassi has solid damage output and health, but using them as a tank is extremely dangerous on account of their dependence on a high cooldown combo, and lack of defensive tools. Instead, they become the perfect mid-range flanker to accompany a more aggressive melee character.

Does Gundam Evolution feel a bit derivative? Yes, without a doubt. Does it successfully balance that derivativeness with solid execution, and a very clear, ground-up design. Also yes. And that is more than you can say for the current state of Overwatch, which feels like watching a gymnast flip around in the air for three years only to then land sternum first onto the bar and collapse on the ground.

Bandai Namco may mess it up, there are already worries of power creep with the Mobile Suits that have been added since the game’s beta and the game’s broken leaver’s penalty system, but I’m hopeful (also they need to buff the Turn A, please let my son the Turn-A Gundam thrive).