Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
Licensed By: Koei
Genre: Mecha
Platform: Playstation 3, XBox 360
Big robots smashing up other big robots? Amazing! Or so it may seem…
Although the principle of the Dynasty Warriors: Gundam seems pretty damn cool, repeating it over and over can become rather tedious. Imagine fighting your way through a disorganised car park with a chainsaw, but replace the car park with lots of moderately threatening robots and the chainsaw with a laser sword. This pretty much defines Dynasty Warriors: Gundam.
You take control of an MS (mobile suit) and walk (or jet) around the landscape attacking anything that you see. The enemies are large in number (picture the car park) but can be destroyed with a couple of swings of your laser sword. Each level consists of different zones that must be captured by entering into them and destroying the endless enemies until a message tells you that you have captured the zone.
Essentially, it’s just another instalment the Dynasty Warriors franchise but with a twist of Gundam.
This game will obviously have appeal for the die hard Gundam fan; there is an ‘official’ mode which remains true to several of the Gundam anime series by following the storylines. There is also an ‘original’ game mode which introduces new storylines created specifically for this game and mixes characters together from different Gundam series.
Unfortunately, this is not enough, even for the die-hard Gundam fan as the gameplay becomes incredibly repetitive and offers no real challenge (car park). There are a number of different button combinations that can be pressed in order to deliver attack patterns but considering you will battle well over 500 enemies in a single level, the combos will very rapidly become overused and dull. Thankfully, cut scenes will appear occasionally in an effort to keep the game lively, and does offer a welcome respite from the otherwise never-ending hack n’ slash.
One of the worse features in the game is the way the camera moves, usually failing to point in the direction you’d expect it to. This is particularly frustrating during boss fights as the baddies tend to dash around a fair bit, making it hard to keep track of them. Failing the mission will mean starting the entire level again which is not so much fun considering what I’ve said about the game already.
Multiplayer mode is where the game improves owing to the fact that one doesn’t have to traipse all over a huge level. Each player can take one side of the level cleaning up the never ending troops in half the time. With the competitive game mode, both players compete to see who can rack up the most points and kills.
What keeps this game playable is the large number of unlockable goodies such as new characters / new mobile suits, new storylines, upgrades and armour parts. There is so much that can be added to the robots to customise them and improve their fighting abilities, however I would recommend only upgrading the melee attacks as guns just don’t quite cut it in the Gundam world.
If you like Gundam and the other Dynasty Warriors games, this game was made for you. If, on the other hand, you detest fighting through disorganised multi-story car parks, trying to find your car, then I’d advise you leave this well alone.
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