Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight PS3 Review

If you purchased a PS3, simply to be astounded by the visual quality of its games, you should stay well clear of Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight. You see, visually, it fares worse then the best looking games of the last generation.

The big, beefy robots (or Mobile Suits in Gundam lingo) themselves may look rather impressive, but their environments suffer from ugly textures, whilst the frame rate Consistently jerks, and with that said, you‘d almost think the game was a real endeavour for the PS3‘s inner workings. Suffice to say, Target in Sight is not a good advert for the power of your expensive new toy.

With that rant put to bed, lets talk about more important things, like the game itself.

Upon beginning the game, you must select the side you want to represent, between either the Earth Federation (the good guys) or the Zeon Federation (the nasty guys). Things aren’t hugely different whatever your selection, but if nothing else, the choice is sure to delight fans of the anime series that the game is based on.

Similarly to SEGA’s Chromehounds, Target in Sight has a ponderous pace, and every action you request is met with a brief delay from your Mobile Suit, which can take some getting used to, but once you do, it’s perfectly adequate. Missions can often be completed in less then five minutes and largely consist of blowing things up or protecting things, no real surprises here then.

Your Mobile Suit can use a gun and for the close range combat, you’re able to whip out a melee weapon and slice limbs or even heads off. Temporary flight is also possible with your jetpack and is a moderately quicker way of moving through the stages.

You are rewarded with points at the end of missions, and between levels you are able to use them to repair and upgrade your Mobile suit, as well as procuring new pilots and Mobile Suits to increase your chances of success in any future missions. To do all this, you must use up turns (which are the games version of days) bearing in mind that missions have an expiry date and will vanish after so many turns have passed, not playing these is of little consequence, but the more battles you fight, the stronger you‘ll become. As turns pass, new missions will also become available, your Mobile Suits will be repaired, requested modifications will be carried out, and purchased items will be delivered to you.

Outside of the primary mode of play, there’s a two player versus mode, that‘s serviceable enough, but flimsy in options and somewhat tarnished by the same sluggish framerate that plagues the single player action. So it’s hardly a reason to buy the game then.

Unless the game drastically plummets in price or you‘re an ardent Gundam fan, there are not many reasons to buy it full stop, as what we have here is a game that may be far from terrible, but it’s one that is simply average. For those looking to be wowed by the PS3’s graphical capabilities early on, Target in Sight does not have the visual splendour, nor does it possess the overall playability for those who are simply looking for a great game (of which there are much better options available) to play on their shiny new friend. Perhaps the game is worth a rental, but certainly nothing more at its current retail price.

5/10