A gundam game for a gundam fan!
The main selling point of this game is the fact that you get to pick sides, and be a member of either the Federation, or Principality of Zeon, a choice that is done very well in the game. Like other games that always give you a choice on which side to pick (games like Fable, and others of the such) Giving the player two choices of teams first off means that the replay value of the game is doubled, in Fable it's being good, and then playing an evil character. Where as in Federation VS. Zeon, it's federation and then Zeon. Adding to this still is the fact that each faction has about 130-150 differant missions, making for a staggering 260-300 differant missions that you can take part in. With that note in mind, Some missions you will see more often than others, as the higher your rank is in the game (which varies depending on the difficulty of the missions you select to take part in) the harder, and more rewarding missions are. Giving this game plenty of Replay value for people like myself that want to try everything at least once.
When it comes down to the mobile suit selection, your choices arn't too shabby either. Each respectable side has their standards of course, such as the Federation having the GM's and RX-7 series of mobile suits. While Zeon still has it's Zaku models and Gouf and mobiles suits of the like. However, it is possible for each side to actualy "capture" a mobile suit from the other side. And while I won't reveal the exact steps as to how you do it, I will tell you that if you work at it long enough, each side can have the others mobile suits, as well as their own to choose from. As for actualy using these mobile suits, each mobile suit has it's own advantages and disadvantages. This of course is something that you would expect, however, each mobile suit is easy to learn, but the real fun comes from learning how to master them.
The single player campain is definitly something that shines in this game. As I said before, each side holds somewhere between 130-150 differant missions, with a minimum of 90 per campain, which can make for some long fun action. Starting out each campain with only the most basic suits, you will retrieve more as your rank grows. However this is differant with the special un-lockable mode within the game, which is give to you as an option after beating the game. The Multiplayer in the game is just as fun in my opinion. Where as there is not the same level of detail as in the single player, as the game is reduced to single map rounds. You get to truly unlock your strategic mind with the use of the battle Strength bar. Each of your mobile suits of course have their health, but what makes your choice of mobile suits very important in this mode, is how much of your battle strength will be taken out when it gets destroied. While it is kind of obvious, the more powerfull suits will remove more of your bar than the weaker ones, leaving another level of strategy to the game. Where as one strategy could be to use the strongest suits and either not die at all, or only die once, another one that works almost as well (and sometimes better) is the choice of using weaker suits, and respawn a good 4-8 times. All of that aside, the feature that me and my friends use the most if the abbility to completly randomise everything in multiplayer. Everything from the mobile suits that you use, to the level that you play, a feature that makes for some very interesting battles to say the least (Ball VS. Zeong comes to mind).
One major downside to the game though, is the lack of strong graphics in it. One such example is that I showed the game to a friend of mine, and he thought it was a playstation game, not a Playstation 2 game. And while the game does have plenty of cutscenes from the original anime, the actual in game graphics are lacking.
All in all, it is an amazing game, that I think all gundam fans should get hteir hands on. And by now I would be willing to bet that you can either find it in your local discount bin, or even second hand store for around $15 or less. I personal baught the game when it came out, and spent $50, and even today I think it's worth every penny that I spent.