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Good: My mood after turning off this game

Bad: This game

Bad: Really doesn't sum up just how bad this game actually is.

I really can't think of much nice to say about Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, a manga-inspired giant-robot fighting trainwreck of a PS3 game. It reminds me of a 500-pound cousin asking how she looks in her five-sizes-too-small prom dress. I want to smile, lie and tell her it's at least tolerable, but I just can't seem to spit anything out, aside from my last meal. That's exactly how my time with Gundam went, straight down to the reunion with yesterday's dinner.

Fans of the series looking for some kind of epic extension to the license's mythos should look elsewhere. The little bit of exposition that exists makes one thing clear: there is a war going on with big robots destroying each other. Outside of that, you get absolutely no character development, plot twists, or even a real sense of context outside of what's already been established in the cartoon, comics, etc.

The actual gameplay is divided into two underwhelming chunks: the single-player campaign and the split-screen multiplayer. The campaign attempts to make things slightly interesting by giving you control over the mission progression. You can choose to engage or skip certain missions, lending a tiny bit of strategy to the game. Also, you can choose which side of the war you'd like to participate on, allowing you to check out many of the same battles from both sides.

The gameplay within these battles is where the game fails in virtually every regard. It's impossible to really elaborate on why without first discussing the game's framerate, which is abysmal to point of being unplayable. With all the hardware muscle behind the PS3, one would expect something remotely passable. Unfortunately, anytime you move, turn, or do anything, the framerate becomes so unbearably low, you probably won't even bother playing through a second mission.

Framerate aside, the game offers a whole slew of other problems. The awkward controls and idiotic AI are just a few of these. Locking onto enemies and using the various weapon systems is a mess of button-pushing that never seems to quite work the way you want. Not that it really matters, considering how stupid the AI can be. Enemies will frequently run away, getting caught on buildings and other assorted terrain bits on their way. Even if the framerate were close to being tolerable, the gameplay itself would still need a ton of work.

Furthermore, the multiplayer is such a joke that it barely warrants mention. You and a friend can fight each other mano e mano. It's cheap, boring, and feels completely tacked on. The complete lack of online multiplayer doesn't exactly help either, considering the number of PS3 titles that do feature some kind of online component.

Even technically, the game fails. The graphics are hounded by that crippling framerate issue, and aside from that, the environments are bland, the special effects are lackluster, and the textures are frequently muddy. The sound is also nothing to write home about. Sound effects are barely noticeable, the music is forgettable, and the voice-acting isn't anything special. Overall, this could very well pass as a PS2 game, and a poor one at that.

There's really not much else to say about Gundam. If this game were my 500-pound cousin, I'd tell it to skip the prom, spend the next 12 months getting in shape, and come back when it looks half-way decent.

Graphics: 3.0

Sound: 4.0

First Play: 3.0

Replay Value: 2.5

Gameplay: 3.0

Overall: 3.1