Giant robots and mech suits are cool. That’s the main thing to take away from the enduring popularity of Gundam, but for any story and setting that has existed for coming up on half a century, you need to keep reinventing and finding new tales to tell. Gundam Rogue Orbit is exactly that, an original story told in video game form, but still with all the spectacle and fun of battling with Mobile Suits that you would expect.
You play as RE-X, the pilot of the Gundam Helix who has just been found and revived after floating in space for the last few years. With the threat of an alien robot army known as Apocalypse threatening to bring and end to humanity, RE-X is thrown right back into the action to defend and fight back. It’s a good thing, then, that he’s actually an engineered person, created specifically to pilot the Gundam Helix.
But the Gundam Helix isn’t a fixed Mobile Suit, and is instead capable of being upgraded and adapted to various weapons, combat styles and using Apocalypse Unites (AP-U) to upgrade.
We went hands on with a couple of short missions and a handful of different Gundam weapons at Gamescom, getting just a hint of the full scale spectacle that awaits.
Dropping down to Tresor Spaceport, there’s a mystery as to how the Apocalypse bots (APCs) have managed to invade, but it quickly becomes clear that they’ve been using the station’s rail network, already overwhelming the defences in the time it takes for you and your ally Elaine to fight through to relieve them.
Combat is nice and immediate. There’s the traditional rocket propelled boost to skate across the ground to close distance, and then start to batter enemies with your chosen melee weapon. We had builds featuring the Assault Sword for close range attacks, Whip Sword which brought enhanced crowd control through its mode changing attack combos, and the Sword Lance, which was part sword and part lance to thrust at and through enemies with a built up Beam Phalanx attack for a mid-range burst. On top of that each had a range of tactical skills to lean on and enhance their particular play styles. These share an energy bar, forcing you to be a little considerate with how and when you use the various abilities you have on offer.
These are then complimented by the Apocalypse Units, with two equipped to the Mobile Suit that you can toggle between and independent cooldowns for their use. I certainly leant more towards the Sylhid AP-U to spawn a swarm of attack drone for a bit of assistance, shooting them through the enemy, while the Guardian AP-U provides a beam shield to protect you from damage.
The regular enemies proved little obstacle for RE-X, and a couple of smug-sounding voice lines do little to endear him, given the wider situation as tragedy strikes and the Knightly Order Deputy Commander falls in the face of a bigger and tougher APC. It’s a giant ape-like APC, with some kind of sinuous inner body covered in plate armour. Gradually chipping away at this armour, dodging its brutish attacks, we’re eventually able to completely chop off its arm, triggering a more desperate set of attacks from it, and use the Over-Rise to dish out even more damage.
The Over-Rise is effectively an ultimate, clicking in both sticks once it’s charged, giving a temporary dose of invincibility and AP-U Burst for added damage output.
It was probably the wrong idea to take the Whip Sword into the second of the two missions, a straight up boss battle against a dragon-like APC, designated as Drake. The Whip is best for crowd control, though I was still able to build up the Drake’s stagger meter over time, dodge incoming attacks, and get my hits in with cartwheeling whip attacks. Eventually I was able to lop off one of the Drake’s wings, while dodging fire-breathing attacks, tail whips and laser drones that it summoned to surround itself. Except, then it just regenerated a wing out of some weird magma-like gloop? The Apocalypse are a strange enemy to be dealing with.
In the regular flow of the game, these missions will be part of a virtuous cycle through the game. Take on a mission with its opening briefing, battle your way through the level and boss, get a fresh dose of story, and then customise your Gundam Helix ahead of the next battle. From what Bandai Namco Studios have shown of this side of the game, customisation is going to be a huge part of this game, swapping out plenty of armour parts and gear to improve your suit and abilities, but then also having a lot of freedom in how the suit is painted and looks. There’s even a few throwbacks, such as having the classic RX-78-2 as a model to play as.
Through it all, though, the big Gundam mechs are still just very cool, and with its original story and action-filled battling, Gundam Rogue Orbit is one for fans to keep an eye on for early next year.
