E3 2016: Why Didn’t ‘Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. Force’ Come Out Sooner!?

The Gundam franchise has existed long before many of us were even born, with more figures, kits and anime series’ than we can imagine. Knowing that, when some very closely inspired video games started releasing throughout the 90’s and 2000’s, namely Sega’s Virtual On and Level-5’s Little Battlers Xperience. These versus style 3D arena fighters seemed like a perfect fit for the decades old mech series, but for some reason, they never came! It turns out Japan was holding out on us, since a series using this gameplay format did exist, but was largely been kept out of the West. But that’s changing with Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. Force, which will bring together heroes that span the entire franchise exclusively to the PlayStation Vita for a handheld battle of supremacy. We played it at E3 and learned how big of a difference some familiar faces can make.

Choosing from over a dozen pilots out of the 30 plus that are featured in the full game, each one comes with their signature Gundam. Having the freedom to move openly in a 3D space, your character comes equipped with their own weapons and abilities that look to tear down the opposition while paying homage to their source at the same time. This time however, your opponents are going to be other Gundams, who are just as eager to boost and position themselves in order to take you out. With so many games featuring the franchise gaining a reputation for being slower and more clunky, playing Extreme Vs. Force felt like a dream.

Knowing this, it makes the battles even more fun to play when multiple opponents are on the field. Featuring 2 on 2 and even 6 on 6 battles that can bring a towering battleship into the fight, there will be plenty of ways to put that huge roster to good use. Missions that span the entire run will keep pilots busy, but when the single player content isn’t enough, you can always take on a friend with the game’s local ad-hoc mode. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as if the game will feature online of any kind, but here’s to hoping we’ll have plenty of content to sift through when the game releases on July 12.

With such a rich history, which characters are you looking forward to playing with? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check back with us as more details surface.