IdyotAko 18 years 8 months ago wrote:

Everyone should know what Dynasty Warriors is and what Gundams are, and since Gundams are capable of taking on swarms of enemies by themselves, this game makes a perfect marriage, right? Check it...

Synopsis (Original Mode only):
A mysterious planet suddenly appears in space and seems to be on a collision course to earth. Heroes from all timelines have gathered in order to stop the collision, but there seems to be more to the planet as it seems. Constant battles ensue with the fate of earth in the balance.

Storyline:
DW:G is divided into 2 main modes, Official and Original. The storyline in the Official mode follows each character straight from the actual manga/anime. If this sounds exciting, you might want to hold your horses there for a second. The story unfolds as a series of missions (maximum of 5) and is told through text dialog (there is voice acting, but we'll get to that later). Original mode takes all of the Gundam characters and sees how each will interact with each other in an alternate universe type of setting. Although, the basic premise is the same for each character in this mode, the story does vary depending on who you play. The story for Amuro Ray (for example) is different from Haman Karn which is also different from Heero Yuy, and so on. A couple of characters will have similar paths (and dialog), but the end result is normally different as it was told in the eyes of the character... which in turns makes it interesting. GRADE - B-

Sound:
The music in the game is mediocre at best. There are certain times that the music will sound somewhat epic, but it's not enough to enhance the overall experience. The sounds in the game are taken straight from the anime. Flying around, shooting you lasers and machine guns, explosions, you name it, it was plucked straight from every Gundam anime out there to date. I did mention about voice acting... and this is a stark contrast here. The Japanese dialog were done by the original Japanese voice actors, so you can hear and feel what each character is saying. The English actors on the other hand is a completely mixed bag. Note that unlike their Japanese counterparts, the English actors are NOT the ones in the anime, which may turn off folks familiar to the series. Some of them did a good job, while the others are definitely new to the business, so to speak. Stick with the Japanese voices, though... you'll have a more pleasant experience. GRADE - B-

Graphics:
All the Gundams and their enemies were recreated in good detail. What you would see in the anime is what you would see in the game as well. The problem? IT LOOKS LIKE AN OLDER PS2 GAME! Aside from being able to kinda see what's ahead of you (and not by much, mind you), there is nothing that would indicate this game as being played on a next gen console. The environments are nicely made, but there is only like a total of 6 or 7 of them, so you will see it over and over again. For something on a next gen console, this is certainly not next gen worthy. GRADE - D+

Gameplay:
Everyone knows that there is only one basic gameplay concept in any Dynasty Warriors game... HACK AND SLASH. DW:G however is a little different. You can simply cut your way through waves of enemies with just you normal combos and such, but against the bosses, you have to change your technique to be able to beat them. You actually have to see which combos work for each boss battle and you will use your range attacks frequently during the fight, so there is some variety there. Speaking of variety... there is very little as far as combos go for each character, but every Gundam has a different set of combos in which one might work effectively against a boss for one, but not so much for another. In addition to this, certain boss characters will drop "parts" after you defeat them. This then you can add to your Gundam provided you complete the mission you got the parts from. Also, certain parts combination will grant either a bigger stats boost or special abilities, so mixing and matching parts is key. Better parts can only be obtained in higher difficulty settings as well. This in turn adds replayability as you would be tempted to use another character just to see how differently he or she plays. Just don't expect to see your Gundam perform feats that you see in the anime. Another addition to replayability is once you finish one character, it begins to unlock more characters for you to play with. I must say, I haven't quite finished the game yet, but once every character has been completed, the final unlockable is the Musha Gundam, which is the boss specifically made for the game. With everything that was going against the game, this is why you will play this... it's fun and quite replayable. Also... there is a Versus mode if you are lucky enough to have a friend (who also loves Gundams). GRADE - A-

VERDICT:
Aside from my issues with the graphics, don't write this game off as another Dynasty Warriors game. There is a good amount of fun to be had and the variation of characters and Gundams with the addition of parts and such will keep you playing for a good amount of time. Stick with the Japanese voice actors, though, unless you want to be driven insane by the inert lameness of most of the English voices. I need to finish this thing and play as Musha Gundam... hehehe... FINAL GRADE - B-