‘Gundam Evolution’ is Basically ‘Overwatch’ With Mechs (and That’s What Makes It Great)
Gundam Evolution is basically Overwatch with mechs. But that just may be exactly what the robo-doctor ordered.
Gundam Evolution came out late last month with a sort of slow rollout. So far the game is available on STEAM with service for console versions expected to go live on December 1st. But even still, this game is off to a good start for any fans of the Gundam series and online team-based first-person shooters alike.
This brings us to the question:
Is Gundam Evolution Just Overwatch With Mechs?
Sort of. Yes. Overwatch itself is an admittedly great take on an unoriginal idea. Team games aren’t a new concept, but Overwatch managed to make something really huge. They took the genre and ran with it. And it’s a fun, successful genre that people love playing over and over again.
Two teams of six try to accomplish various objectives depending on the map while stopping the other team from meeting their own objectives. Gundam Evolution‘s take on the genre adds the aspects of, you guessed it, Gundams. So if you’ve ever thought, “This game is fun but would be better if I were piloting a gigantic robot in space instead of a tiny person on the ground,” have we got the game for you!
Seventeen mechs and ten maps let you step into one of the world’s most popular and long-running animes. And for many fans, that’s more than enough to get excited about. Objective-driven team games are fun, and Gundams are fun, so it stands to reason that they will be very fun together.
But is It Better?
That’s a bit objective, but I think that Gundam Evolution has the potential to be. For starters, Overwatch has just switched over to a “pay to do just about anything,” model which many fans are less than enthused with. In sharp contrast, Gundam Evolution is free to play for the moment. But the “Free Basic Play” button on the website leads me to believe that there will be a paid version later. But for the moment this game is free to play, which means you can spend all of that money on skins, charms, emotes, profile pictures, and lootboxes.
There are also a few growing pains, which isn’t surprising for a game this new. There’s no indication of how balanced teams are, communication can be a bit difficult, and your standard new game glitches. These are all simple enough issues that can be fixed up on the back end and sent out to players. But if left unchecked I can see these being the sort of small annoyances that turn players off of Gundam Evolution and back to one of their other team games.
Overall, this is a fun game. Is it a whole lot like Overwatch? Yes. But it’s got giant robots and doesn’t have Blizzard and its ever-growing list of reasons not to support them. Which for some of us, maybe more than enough reason to make the career switch to Gundam piloting.
Are you playing Gundam Evolution? Will you play it when it’s out for console play? Which Gundam is your favorite and are they included in the game’s lineup? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
