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Publisher: Working Designs
Developer: Game Arts
Genre: Action
Origin: Japan
Number of Players: 1
Dual Shock: Yes
Peripherals: Analog, Memory Card
ESRB: T

This is giant robot action - if all you want to do is fight, Gun Griffon is the PS2 mech game to get

Gameplay

While the essential character of the series remains intact on PS2, Gun Griffon has changed with the times in some very important ways. Game Arts, bless them, have discovered the existence of the PlayStation's analog control capabilities, and those wonderful little sticks are in full effect. That corrects one of the major knocks against Saturn Gun Griffon's control - it took a fair bit of doing to master a control system that used the D-pad, two shoulders, and all six face buttons of the Saturn controller. Blaze assigns movement and aiming to the analog sticks, just like Unreal Tournament or Timesplitters, so you can shuffle firing, jumping, weapon selection, and other mech functions around the rest of the Dual Shock to suit your preference. The result is some of the slickest control yet on PS2, as your mech skates across the terrain, leaps over the treetops, and rains down destruction at will in every direction.

The six basic missions offer a well-rounded set of tasks to challenge you, and the later ones are very long - you'll blaze through the Cape Canaveral assault in a matter of minutes, but further into the game, you'll have to take a more conservative approach and plan out how you'll approach particular objectives. Escort and defensive missions take much more time and strategy than straight-up search and destroy sorties. Before each mission, you have a chance to customize your mech's equipment to some degree, selecting from an array of weapons and support items, and while this isn't Armored Core by any stretch of the imagination, gearing up to suit the mission conditions and your personal preference can make a big difference in your performance. I found that the default weapons weren't nearly as handy as some of what you could use. The homing missile is powerful, but the lock-on takes forever - I much preferred the direct approach of the shotgun. As you progress through the game, you eventually unlock new mech frames to pilot, which adds another wrinkle to how you plan for a mission.

Graphics

Gun Griffon is a first-person giant-robot simulation - like MechWarrior, except that it's nothing like MechWarrior at all. The Battletech universe is firmly in that other category of mecha concepts that I talked about, where the robots are slow and clunky and prone to overheating. The HIGH-MACS, on the other hand, is fast, nimble, and flight-capable, which guides both the look and feel of the game it stars in.

Gun Griffon Blaze runs at 60 frames per second without a hitch, no matter what's going on. It seems that maintaining the framerate was of paramount importance in its development, because the tradeoff is somewhat sparse texture and model detail, especially in background objects. In between the highlights, there's a lot of fairly open, bland space. Just about every structure in the game will come apart if you pump enough fire into it, but the animations aren't all that impressive - buildings collapse woodenly into the ground, although the explosion effects that accompany the animations are nice.

On the other hand, the mechs and vehicles look very good, especially up close, and particularly important structures like the Space Shuttle have received some special attention from the 3D artists. Altogether, with the scenery whipping past your HUD indicators as quickly as it does, Gun Griffon's world is detailed enough to get the job done, with a few highlights to admire when you have the time to smell the roses (which isn't often). It's also a lesson in what high-res mode and 60fps does for you as far as interlace flicker is concerned - you're not liable to see much of it here.

Sound

The sounds of battle come through to the cockpit loud and clear, and the unobtrusive soundtrack makes for a nice accompaniment. My favorite sound element, though, is the tac net chatter, which was recorded in English for the Japanese version. Working Designs has brought over to the US intact, and it's very nicely done, providing a more realistic atmosphere like the constant voice-overs in Silpheed. It adds a lot to Gun Griffon's realistic military atmosphere to hear your allies and support personnel on the radio, rather than charging along in silence like a lone commando.