Gundam Evolution looks like an Overwatch clone. And that”s what it is, though the test reveals some very cool tricks of its own.
The biggest disappointments of my gaming year are usually shooters: Modern Warfare 2, last year Battlefield 2042, then Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Multiplayer shooters mean more to me than just: Oh, a new baller joint where I”m busting other people”s mutton legs! They are promises between me and my circle of friends that we will get together every evening in the months after the release to make the servers really glow; no matter whether the respective buddy lives in Munich, in Northern Germany or in the USA.
When a shooter release like this falls through, the winter quickly becomes lonely. But all the more pleasing when there are real surprises here and there that none of us had on our radar. Gundam Evolution is one of those! And that despite the fact that the Steam reviews are at a really measly 65 percent.
How does that fit together? I”m glad you asked.
Table of Contents
Gundam what?
Nobody in my circle of acquaintances is a Gundam fan – and in all likelihood, neither are you, because there aren”t that many of us in this country. The good news is that it doesn”t matter, because you don”t have to know Gundam to have fun with Gundam Evolution.
I”ll serve you the short version anyway, so you can get a better idea of it: In 1979, a science fiction series about a boy who fights an evil empire with a giant battle robot was released in Japan. But this simple story has since grown into a gigantic cosmos that has been expanded for over 40 years with new series, films, manga and video game adaptations. Most of them (not all) are set in the same universe. A bit like Star Wars and its Expanded Universe.
But Gundam is more than just giant robots knocking the paint off their bonnets. Gundam stands for heartbreaking anti-war stories, for great drama, great losses, it doesn”t shy away from serious topics like child soldiers, glorification of war, exploitation of the environment, it also takes itself to task. Today”s villains can be tomorrow”s heroes – and vice versa.
Gundam Evolution does not address any of this.
In Gundam Evolution, giant robots shoot their antennae off their heads in multiplayer arenas. The game takes a lot of inspiration from Overwatch: from the menu language to different roles and the flow of the game – anyone who has played Overwatch will experience déjà vu everywhere in Gundam Evolution, only with cool mechs instead of talking monkeys. Nothing against Winston.
What can Gundam Evolution do?
Single player fans can close the tab right now: You won”t find a story campaign or bot matches in the game, there are exclusively 6v6 multiplayer rounds in classic modes (capture points, place bombs and so on). And they have a lot to offer! You can see it in the trailer:
At the beginning of the round you choose one of 18 mechs with different strengths and weaknesses. For example, the mighty Barbatos dismembers enemies with two strikes of his lance, but has to do without ranged combat. Sazabi, as a tank, can withstand quite a lot of fire, but is also very easy to hit because of his enormous size. The GM Sniper controls the distance, Methuss repairs his own colleagues, the Unicorn Gundam buffs you when you are near him and, and, and.
Many units resemble the Overwatch ensemble in terms of gameplay. Pale Rider plays as an all-rounder like Soldier 76, Marasai works like Roadhog, for example – but Gundam Evolution rarely achieves the true teamwork depth of Overwatch because there are significantly fewer synergies between the individual units.
You can think that”s good or bad. Personally, Overwatch was always too little baller and too much team tactics for me, whereas in Gundam Evolution even a healer like Methuss can still maltreat enemies properly. The boundaries between the roles are not as sharp as in the original, but you have to consider in which categories your mech excels, otherwise the round will quickly be lost.
Apropos: Gundam Evolution is intense. Jeez, from the first second both teams are constantly pushing against each other. If just two mechs from my team die at the same time, it can cost us position. I scan the ten maps at full speed for flanking opportunities, using ledges and walkways to exploit any height advantage. Breaking down the enemy”s defences with a buddy by your side feels great! It”s in moments like these that Gundam Evolution is at its best.
Gundam Evolution”s stumbling blocks
The fact that Gundam Evolution unfolds less tactical depth than Overwatch becomes a problem depending on your point of view. The biggest stumbling block of the game is the long-term motivation – and here several construction sites intertwine:
- Because the maps are quite small and visually very similar (factory halls), the scenario quickly loses its appeal.
- Besides the healing mech Methuss, team synergies and tactics don”t play quite as big a role as in Overwatch. So even in well-rehearsed teams, there”s little new to try out at some point.
- All three game modes (Domination, Hardpoint, detonate bombs) are too similar. There is no payload mode, no team deathmatch.
- The progression system is really bad.
And it is on the last point that the Gundam dog lies buried: Numerous fans rightly chastise the game on Steam for monetisation. Yes, Gundam Evolution is basically free and gives you a large pool of playable mechs, but you still get old-school Free2Play here: The entire progression beyond the matches wants to loosen your wallet.
Cosmetic upgrades come from lootboxes and if you don”t buy the seasonal Battle Pass, you level up much slower because you get fewer weekly challenges. But you have to level up the Battle Pass in order to buy new Gundams: six of the 18 mechs cost money. You get enough currency in the Battle Pass for two of these six Gundams. All the others cost a measly ten euros per robo. Whew!
Apart from the Battle Pass and a few beginner challenges, there”s also no way to get currency through active play. So you”ll end up banging your head against the wall – the entire shooter competition is much, much further ahead here.
A great shooter with a tricky future
And that”s a shame! There”s a really cool multiplayer shooter in Gundam Evolution that could thrill my after-work gang for many hours – but the game already lost all chances of a prosperous future in Season 1 (by now we”re in Season 2). In the meantime it has been fixed, but: In addition to the high payment barriers, the DLC gundams were far too powerful for a long time.
Meanwhile, most people have turned their backs on the game. From the original 55,000 simultaneously active players on Steam, an average of 1,000 are now left. You can still find matches, because in the meantime the consoleros are also getting involved, but nevertheless: I would be very surprised if Gundam Evolution lives on for a long time.
All the more reason for me to recommend it: Give it a try. Keep your wallet closed, throw yourself into a few multiplayer matches, experiment with the fascinating Gundams and maybe you”ll feel like me.
Editor”s Verdict
I”m scratching my head right now. Actually, my review of Gundam Evolution begins with the fact that this cool little shooter surprise was finally not a disappointment … and then the review ends with the fact that monetisation ultimately drove the thing into the grave after all. Hmm. But you get my point: there are those games that come completely out of nowhere, sweep you away every night for a few weeks – and in that case, even if you”re not a Gundam fan. My dear former GlobalESportNews colleague Kevin Smith also said at the beginning, “These stupid robots all look the same,” and by the end he was having so much fun that he egged us on to heal better with methuss. Wonderful.
The fact that Gundam Evolution will ultimately go down in gaming history as a sparkler rather than a beacon may again be disappointing, but hey: not every game has to be as immortal as Rainbow Six or Call of Duty.
