At times, I didn’t know what was more confusing, why they let the children of the future pilot giant robots or just what in the hell I was doing. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Never Ending Tomorrow (whew) is the less ambitious but more cutscene friendly follow-up to the previous PS2 release in the franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam – it is times like this that I wish I could inject myself into the game as another one of the flamboyantly dressed and melancholy-cursed males who love introspective monologues only as much as screaming, just so I could unleash the supremely witty line: “Ha! Ha! Long titles will not save your game now, Bandai!” While Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam presented a massive amount of gameplay and bits of backstory, SEED, goes for quick bursts of confusing and repetitive action and rewards such efforts with unlockable in-game items, art, and cutscenes both rendered and animated. Fans will no doubt get a kick out of the movies – but not much else.
With genetically-modified humans fighting ‘Naturals’ and two friends fighting against each others’ faction (Earth Alliance and ZAFT), there’s quite a bit of story here. Relegated to the various cutscenes, the story unfolds in a manner that will not enlighten the uninitiated; a low-key narrator discusses the events as they unfold with characters screaming and cannons pounding, but details will be confused as characters, names, places, and unit names are thrown around at a relatively fast pace.
The who? The what? The where? Whatever – I just want to blow something up.
SEED is even more sporadic than Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam, and it’s still less entertaining and engaging than Zone of Enders. Before a mission launch, you select your partner (some are unlocked and others are purchased with credits given upon mission completion) and their boosts (abilities, like unlimited ammo or jet boosts, that your partner will use when you ask for their assistance), use a Beginner’s Ticket (can also be purchased in the shop; it lowers the difficulty of a stage) if you wish, and listen to a quick mission briefing (often with inane babble) to get your bearings. The briefing matters far less here than they do in other games, and the game tends to be so easy that your partner and their abilities aren’t really needed. As you begin a mission, you tend to start off multi-locking enemies and firing on them from a distance, then closing in with melee attacks to deal heavy damage. Close combat here is supposed to involve combos, but I was often mashing buttons and wondering what in the world I was doing. A triangle here and a square there, and I’m twirling around the enemy, shooting them in the back, slamming them with my sword – it’s all very elaborate for what amounts to not very much.
Once you’re done with the strife-shoot-punch dance you target the next enemy and repeat. If you’re fighting regular aircraft, that’s even easier since your melee attacks don’t link together and are inferior to your multi-targeting long-range weapons, leaving you with no alternatives other than just pounding away with a laser. The campaign missions are never very long, the combat is confusing (though somewhat impressive visually), and the variety is teetering on nil.
The game also doesn’t seem to want you to lose. The goods that your partners will bestow upon you or powers they unleash are pretty powerful, and the fact that they can level up to hold more boosts means that there will never be a level playing field – unless you practice self-imposed difficulty and continually pick new, lower level partners to fly with. The game also gives out tons of ammunition and that, coupled with the weak AI and High Tension Mode (this is enacted once a meter fills after enough fighting or close calls have been experienced; it also empowers you, through either unlimited boosts or ammo or makes you stronger in close combat), makes me wonder if you’re ever supposed to lose. When the only challenge comes from the spastic combat camera angles and controls, there’s a bit of a problem.
The fact that you can play as both friends from the series, Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala, means that both sides of the war will get to be experienced, which is something I’m always a sucker for. Their missions don’t so much overlap as they are all so similar that they don’t really make a difference, not to mention both campaigns are very short. The longevity is supposed to be increased by the other modes – two-player, mission mode (character-specific missions, complete with decent cutscenes and character info), and survival mode (defeat 100 enemies, timed, or sudden death) – but they really don’t provide much since the core game itself is so thin.
The idea of your partners leveling up; having a stable of pilots to call on to assist; getting to know other characters in the universe through missions outside of the campaigns; and testing your skill against friends should be good fun, but it never really is. Fans will no doubt enjoy playing as their favorite characters, toying with the powers and pilots, as well as the shop’s oodles of unlockables, but even then that’s stretching it since Gundam titles always seem come packed to the gills with such treats. There’s always the cutscenes.
Overall: 3/10
Gundam fans will find something to like here, whether it be the characters, unlockables, or just a chance to play in this particular series’ universe. With a title based off anything, particularly a franchise as popular and beloved as this one, that’s a given. However, fans who’ve bought previous Gundam titles and were let down or those who think the game sounds somewhat interesting will not find a very enjoyable experience here. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Never Ending Tomorrow definitely offers something, but it’s something that just isn’t all that compelling.
