Title Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Date 09.19.2007 Genre Action Platform PlayStation 3 Developer KOEI Publisher Namco Bandai Games

PROS
+ Action packed gameplay
+ Easy to get around battlefields
+ Easy controls
+ Neat SP attack effects
+ Can customize your gundams
+ Runs smoothly throughout
+ Tons of replay value

CONS
- Gamplay can get repetitive
- Brain-dead AI
- Ace pilots can range from easy to kill to ultimate cheap-ass
- Not much variety in gundams
- Soundtrack and English voice acting is lame and corny
- Unimpressive and bland graphics

Let me just say before I begin: I know next to nothing about gundam. I couldn't tell you who Heero Yui was before playing this game. What I do know, however, is that I love me some Dynasty Warriors. Some may argue that the series is starting to get stale and repetitive, but I can't help but love it when I take my ancient Chinese/Japanese super warrior into a battlefield and lay waste to thousands of enemy soldiers almost all by myself. So when I heard that Koei's series was finally making it's debut on next-gen consoles in a crossover with gundam, I was generally excited but would I still find it appealing not knowing anything about the source material? Then again, I knew nothing about ancient China, so here we go....


GUNDAM STORY
Well, there are two main modes in Dynasty Warriors:Gundam : official and original. Official takes you through your chosen pilots storyline based on whatever gundam series they are from. Original mode centers on a mysterious planet that appears from out of nowhere, that will grant immense power to whoever conquers it. This is the cue for all the gundam pilots from all over the universe to converge on the planet and beat the snot out of each other to see who gets it's power.

Maybe it's because I know jack about gundam, but none of these stories were very interesting to me. They all seem to be either a "we must defeat *blank* to save the universe" or "I must defeat *blank* to grow stronger!” I'm sure gundam fans would get more of a kick out of these, but they just weren't that interesting to me. Then again, story was never Dynasty Warrior's strong suit, that would be the.......

GUNDAM GAMEPLAY
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam plays just like your typical Warriors game: you take your mobile suit onto a fairly good-sized battlefield and proceed to destroy as many of the enemies as you can and complete your objectives to bring victory to your army and/or yourself. Controls are just like every other warriors game with a few differences. Square is your basic combo attacks, so this will be the button you mash most of the time. Triangle is your shot/charge attack button. Pressed by itself will cause your mobile suit to shoot a single shot from their chest/laser guns at distant targets, or combined with your combo attacks, with unleash charge attacks that knock opponents into the air, clears a crowd, and other fun stuff. The gun/laser attacks are fairly useless unless your attempting to stop an enemies combo in mid-attack, then they are your best friends.

The circle button does your mobile suits special attack, which you charge up by attacking enemies and getting attacked yourself. These are your typical super attacks of ultimate destruction that wipes out platoons of enemies at a time. They are also pretty nifty looking. The X button causes your suit to dash forward for a couple seconds, and when combined with R1 to jump, will allow your suit to fly around until it overheats, causing you to wait a few seconds before using it again. It's a very useful feature to help you get around the fairly big sized maps and environments you'll be slaughtering thousands in. L1 is your block/re-center camera button, which you will be using quite a lot, as the camera can get wonky and out of control, especially in tight areas.

Speaking of maps, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam has the same easy-to-use map system that is one of Dynasty Warrior's trademarks. It should be a piece of cake finding where you need to go and what you have to do in any given level with the mini-map that is at the top right of your screen. Basically, each map is covered in red or blue fields, blue ones belonging to you and red ones belonging to the enemy. Step into a red field and tons of enemies start to appear, with a red bar appearing at the top center of your screen. Take out as many enemies as it takes to get that bar emptied, then take out the guard units that may or may not appear, and that field is yours! Most of the time you have to take over as many fields as you can in order for your final objective to appear so you can beat the level.

Enemies come in a variety of flavors. There's the, uh, brown colored mobile suit, and there's the green colored mobile suit---well, you can see where I'm going with this. Dynasty Warriors never had a huge enemy variety, and this one is no different. Another thing that's no different from the other Warriors games is another trademark: Brain-dead AI. Most of the time, your enemies just stand around waiting for you to slice them with your huge robot light saber. Even at higher difficulties, the fodder won't put up much of a fight, leaving your challenges up to the generals, or as they are called here, the ace pilots. The aces can range from not so hard to defeat, to "kill you in just two combos and a special attack-- be very cautions when fighting them......." to defeat. Here's a tip: if you see an ace and they're burning red, be prepared for a challenge.

So, as you defeat the hundreds of enemies just waiting to be killed, you earn experience points, which go to both your chosen pilot and your chosen mobile suit. Beefing up your pilot enables you to increase his melee attack power and the number of attacks in his combo, his shot attack, and his overall defense. Beefing up the mobile suit will increase it's speed, extend it's health bar, and level up it's SP attack for even more awesome-looking destruction. Leveling up will also unlock special abilities you can equip to the gundam, such as having pick ups last longer or causing a shockwave to appear when you do a charge attack. Defeating ace pilots can nab you parts that you can also equip to a gundam, giving it boosts in its respective categories. There is a ton of room for customizing your gundams to what you see fit, so experiment to see what is right for you.

Gundams themselves don't have much variety to them. There are a few with unique weapons (Milliardo's gundam with the whip-like weapon, Master Asia's fisticuffs-only gundam) but most gundams attack with one/two beam-swords and a laser gun. One of the things I liked about Dynasty Warriors is the sheer variety of weapons that the warriors use, unfortunately you won't get that here. Also, there isn't much to the gameplay other than hacking-and-slashing, so those who can't take repetitive gameplay should probably stay away.

I should also point out you can do any level with a friend in co-op mode, unfortunately offline only. There is also a Vs. mode, but I haven't even bothered with that, as Vs. modes in the other Warriors games were usually a complete waste of time.

GUNDAM GRAPHICS
For a next-gen game, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam's graphics don't impress at all. It runs in 720p, so everything does look sharp, but that's about it. The main gundam models look pretty good in cut-scenes, not so much during gameplay. Enemies and allied mobile suits also fail to impress. Environments fare just as well. You've got a fire level, an ice level, a desert level, a mountain level, and while colorful, are pretty bland and unexciting. There are even some space levels, but these are just regular levels with floating instead of running, and are equally as bland as the others.

The gundam charge attacks and SP attacks do have some pretty cool looking effects (Heero Yui's gundam's big-ass laser destruction special was awesome), and to it's credit, the game maintains a smooth framerate with no slowdown, even with a ton of enemies on the screen.


GUNDAM SOUND
There really hasn't been any decent music in a Warrior's game since Dynasty Warriors 3, and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam is no exception. But hey, if you like generic butt-rock, you'll find it in spades here. Voice acting is just as laughable, I mean who can't help but smile at such overly corny lines as:

"My hand is burning red!!"

"We fought... but I won!!"

"You'd still be alive if you stayed home!!"

"So who's gonna celebrate, huh? AAAAAA!!"

There is the option to change to a Japanese voice track, which I'm sure will thrill the hardcore gundam elite, but the overall corniness of the lines still remain. Sound effects fare better, with explosions, beam sabers, lasers, and the like getting the job done. Supports Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Really though, I see a Warriors game as the perfect thing to play while listening to your own tunes.


GUNDAM GREATNESS?
There are about sixteen different characters and suits to unlock, and it will take about 2-3 hours to beat each of their stories. But for the hardcore who want to max out everyone and unlock all the special abilities, multiple playthroughs are required, so there is definitely a ton of replay value here. There is also multiple difficulties and a gallery mode, where by beating levels and unlocking characters you can view a pilot and gundam gallery, a soundtrack gallery, and a voice gallery.

So basically, just like all the other Warrior games, it boils down to how much of the same thing you can take for hours on end. Some people will like it, others will hate it. However, fans of both Dynasty Warriors and/or gundam will buy the game regardless. Those with a passing interest should at least rent it. Those who hate Dynasty Warriors and gundam, well, this game isn't going to change your mind.

Game Score

C-

Reviewed By: Contributed