MS Igloo 2 (no, I don’t know why they called it ‘Igloo’) is the second series of 3D computer animated short stories that take place in the original Gundam continuity. While MS Igloo 1 featured stores of the war from the Zeon perspective, MS Igloo 2 will focus on the Earth Federation’s perspective.
Is MS Igloo 2, Episode 1, we find the Earth Federation forces in an all-out retreat in multiple theaters around the world as the Zeon forces launch their global invasion on multiple fronts.
Anti-Mobile Suit Specialist Commander Lt. Ben Barberry is among the thousands of Federation soldiers in retreat when he’s handed a seemingly impossible mission: Bring down three Zaku Mobile Suits who’re threatening the retreating forces with nothing more than some missiles and the surviving members of his battle-weary infantry squad.
The concept behind MS Igloo is good when you consider that Gundam suffers from “Spin-off-itis” and is heavily fragmented and all over the map storywise.
Although MS Igloo concentrates on individual events in Universal Century 0079, during the One Year War, it to flesh out the original Gundam continuity which hasn’t been touched for a long while since Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team TV series.
The premise behind Episode 1 is certainly interesting. An infantry squad against a single Zaku mobile suit (a 20-meter tall humanoid mecha) seems like suicide. An infantry squad against three of them is just utter lunacy. That alone entices you to stick around to find out just how they’re going to pull it off.
While the computer animation is decent in MS Igloo 2 Episode 1, the script is problematic and there’s too much melodrama, pushed over the top with a healthy dose of over-acting.
The motion capture and facial animation is exaggerated to the point where it almost shifts the episode into comedic territory and the dose of Uncanny Valley doesn’t help things either.
The distorted visage of the characters are sure to become Internet meme. Seriously… Look at these screen shots!
It’s funny that I was criticizing other Japanese CG animated productions, Appleseed and Vexel, for a lack of character facial animation. But MS Igloo 2 has too much of it. 
Honestly, I’m still trying to decide whether this level of camp is actually intentional or not.
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There isn’t much story to critique but what’s there suffers from some glaring problems:
Minovsky Particles: Barberry says that there is a level-6 Minovsky particle field density. If you’re familiar with Gundam lore, Minovsky particles create an I-field which interferes with all radar and radio communitions, yet the squad is communicating with each other using field radios.
Minovsky Particles are long-lived and sufficiently powerful to prevent MS and capital ship-class radar and EM communications systems from working in the deployment area for up to 29 days after they’re deployed. Yet, these field radios can somehow cut through that?
Poor Tactics: Going up against three Zaks is bad enough but to do so in an open field from behind waist-high crumbling stone wall is just plain stupid. It’s made even more foolish when you consider the fact that the squad drove through a deserted town just a short distance away from their ambush point, with plenty of stone buildings they could have used for cover and concealment.
Sexy Grim Reaper: In the beginning, a female Death God appears. Yeah, that’s right. I’m not kidding. Straight out of left field, some sexy chick in armour lands on Earth during the war and it’s apparent, she’s there partly for Barberry. I’m guessing she’s supposed to make an appearance in every episode and be the common thread that ties all of them together because she’s featured prominently in the end credits sequence.
One of the things that made the original Gundam popular was its realistic portrayal of space colonization and mecha weaponry during a time in anime when more improbable God Mecha ruled. And yet they throw in this supernatural, straight-from-Final Fantasy character into it. Utter silliness…
Conclusion
Despite the camp, the melodrama, over-acting and high school drama class script that must have taken about 5 minutes to write, the fact that this is Gundam material from the original continuity (minus the sexy Death God), and it’s realized with some decent CG actually makes this kinda watchable.
If you’re neither a Gundam nor computer animation fan, I doubt you’d get much mileage about of MS Igloo 2— although the facial expressions might be good for a laugh. 
But Bandai really needs to avoid the CG studio that specializes in the creepy, rubber-faced character animation and hire some real writers for a change too!
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