Gundam Versus & Little Witch Academia – Hands-On At Bandai Namco HQ

Gundam Versus

Let’s all just agree right now: there are few, if any, anime franchises with as much history as Gundam. The tonnes of iterations, spin-offs and a brand recognition around the world speaks for itself in that regard. As far games go, however, the franchise finds itself less well-represented. We all try to forget about Dynasty Warriors: Gundam.

Now, Bandai Namco have stepped up to the plate, and if any team are going to be able to deliver a respectable recreation of the action depicted in Gundam, it’d be them. Anime games are currently their bread and butter at the moment, and that passion for the artform bleeds through into Gundam Versus.

The game is extremely faithful to the source material. Whether you love everything Gundam or just one particular series, Versus will cater for your needs. Each series is represented with mechs and pilots from those particular arc, so if your have a favourite mech design or character, they’re bound to be represented here.

The gameplay itself feels similar-ish to games Zone of the Enders, with mechs dashing around large environments trying to destroy one another. The key difference with Gundam Versus is that you’re not switching weapons constantly. Each mech is equipped with 4 or 5 different weapons that serve a variety of uses.

It sounds simple enough, but there’s a steep learning curve; one which we were unable to best during our brief playtest of the game. We spent a lot of time whiffing sword attacks and unable to land ranged shots, only to be butchered from behind by a much more competent computer controlled mech.

Gundam Versus ultimately seems like a game where you need to be committed to putting in work in order to reap the benefits. Your first few hours of the game will likely be spent playtesting different mechs to find one that matches your playstyle. Hardcore fans will no doubt appreciate the attention to detail, but casual players might find that learning barrier to be too much for them.

Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time

Little Witch Academia is, according to fellow writer Ryan Atkinson, something I should watch. Described by one of the Bandai Namco staff as “anime Harry Potter”, I won’t pretend I understand what the whole thing is actually about. “Witches at witches school being witches” is about as far as I’ve gotten, though I’m sure someone in the comments can call me a piece of shit for not knowing about it.

When I saw that Chamber of Time was available to play at the event, having known precisely nothing about the series, I rolled my eyes. I fully expected something that’d find pride of place in the seedy bedroom of some “hentai fiend”. Something akin to Gal-Gun with magic wands. Let’s not explore that train of thought any further. Still, you know what they say about assumption; it’s the mother of all fuck-ups.

Of all things, the meat of the gameplay comes in the form of a side scrolling beat ‘em up. There appears to be a wider narrative at play concerning the school itself, and some wider mystery, but we only got the chance to establish magical dominance over some demons. Who cares about plot when you’re mutilating monsters with magic?

Players can use light, medium and heavy attacks to do some damage to the enemies, whilst holding either L1 or L1+R1 and pressing an attack button to cast spells. These can range from high damage lightning attacks to meteors falling out of the goddamn sky. Nothing cleans up a monster infestation quicker than cosmic retribution from above. Given the amount of casting magic you’ll be doing to clear the screen, gameplay soon becomes a maelstrom of over-the-top destruction. It’s delightful to watch.

Still, I walked away from our short demo feeling like things were a little too easy. Normally, beat ‘em ups offer plenty of challenge, but I breezed through proceedings in quick time. I even defeated the end of demo boss without taking damage. Hopefully, the difficulty will pick up somewhat later on in the game, but I still had plenty of fun with what I got chance to play. Hell, it might have even convinced me to start watching the show, and if that’s not a rousing endorsement, I’m not sure what is.