TLDR; A lot of good idea executed rather poorly; a very rough first draft that might do better in a sequel if its many shortcomings are addressed.
This will not fill the Hole Dynasty Warriors Gundam has left, so go get an Emulator and your 100%.tm Legal copy of DW:Gundam & play that. I'd recommend DW:G Reborn, as it would seem many never got to play the final entry as a result of its unfortunate PS3 exclusivity.
So. Where do I begin with SD Gundam: Battle Alliance?
The Positive.
- A good number of Series are represented with a decent number of suits from each series present.
- The Premise. As this turns up in the first 10-30mins of playtime - SDG:BA takes place in a simulated video game like world & while it does not always stick the landing, it uses this premise pretty well throughout.
- Haro! It's always fun when Haro gets top billing in the cast & SDG:BA has a Haro Front & Centre & for the most part is a fun addition to the protagonists.
The Negative.
- No Grunt Suits.
Despite including a good number of Series, there are some notable exceptions & poor highlight choices - Esp as a number of "Grunt" suits show up, like the G:Wing Leo, Taurus, that aren't playable despite also turning up in the hands of Ace characters during missions & seemingly having complete animations/move-sets. A real missed opportunity.
- Text walls.
While the basic premise is a fun romp thru Gundam history, it parses that information VERY poorly. "Exposition Dump" might as well be this games subtitle, not "Battle Alliance".
- Level Design.
Forgetting the blatant re-use of levels to pad out game time, most level design is just a series of boxes connected by corridors. The set dressing might be interesting in places, but b/c of this basic approach, some levels are just downright annoying. Not helped by the poor base movement & dash speeds of your MS. Also not helped by the often spawn in of enemies up high on ledges you don't have access to & can't get at or worse, the camera freaks out about when you try to lock onto them.
- Inch deep Mechanics & moment to moment Gameplay.
SDG:BA is a beat'em-up. Call it whatever else you want, but it boils down to that & in that, its not horrible but it is rough. One basic attack button, one Heavy/Launch button, a Jump, a Dash/dodge & two special attacks on bumpers & a ranged attack on your R-trigger. That's the full move set. Now there are Combos & parries and other mechanics, but they're poorly implement & with the visual noise on screen in Ace fights I regularly had problems executing these - Not helped by the fact the Parry is mapped to Jump+Light attack, which often meant then opening myself up to an immediate reprisal when things went wrong.
- Finally got to play an MS you just spent an hour+ (as some are gated behind story progression) trying to unlock for 5 Minutes? Great! You've just experienced all the suit has to offer, because there's no mechanical progression!
This might not have been as bad as it is, but progression for your individual ms = "Number Go Up", rather than unlocking number abilities as a reward for playing with the same MS. Once you've pressed every move-set button at the start of a mission, just to see what each atack does & how it handles, you've seen 100% of what your MS can do. That's it.
- The Upgrade system.
SDG:BA in its marketing says its an "Action Adventure RPG". In some ways, that not a lie. If you think "Number go up" is an RPG mechanic. Which unfortunately, is the most your going to get out of the Upgrade systems for your Mobile suits. Bar a few tweaks with "parts" that can alter the base stats of a suit, somewhat.
- No English Dub.
This is likely not a deal breaker for many & is not for myself, but its a growing trend w/Gundam releases (what few there have been of late). I feel that not having an English dub makes sense, as localising all of SDG:BA + its DLC would have added to Dev costs in a way this arguably Budget title couldn't afford. But is notable by its absence, esp as during missions i'm often too busy fighting to give a damn about whatever the Operators or other characters are jabbering on about.
The Truly Bad.
- The Controller Layout.
I want to find whoever decided the basic controller layout was going to be THIS, and then beat them with a 2x4 for 20+ hrs & see how they like that. The button mapping is so right side heavy I often had to claw my hand over my controller, working the bumper/trigger with my middle finger, so my index could button press while my thumb handled the game obnoxious lock on. All of which could have been ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ FIXED if they'd just added a Camera Centre to the Guard trigger! I just want to see what i'm blindingly flailing at SDG:BA! Same for the Minimap. You have to open the start menu to get a wider view of the ballefield - Just map that to the L3, let me toggle the mini-map in & out!
- Ya like boxed in canyons or bunkers? Because your gonna be seeing variations of those two themes in pretty much every level.
- The Bully pit.
Mobile Armour fights have a little more room to them & seemingly dedicated map spaces in their design, likely a concession to their size, but most Ace (MS or MA) fights take place in a VERY restricted box - even if your in the middle of the damn wide open with all the room in the world to move. Enjoy those invisible walls & the fact the Ace can move in ways & at a speed you can only ever hope for.
- Grind.
Playing a level a few times to unlock a particular MS is ONE thing. But upgrading it to its fullest potential to use in later missions? Good ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ luck. 1st Batch of upgrades to level up a suit costs 20k in game currency or there about. 2nd batch, more like 200k, 3rd batch, more like just south of 1 Million & w/my current playtime yet to unlock the 4th batch! It wouldn't be so bad, but b/c of the way progression works, this is MANDATORY. Optional grind, esp to play on hard mode or go for late/end game content is not a bad addition to a games design, but this? this is just padding for the sake of it & considering it would seem like Bandai wanted to monetise this feature (this is inferred based on observation & discussion, check out the games DLC that isn't actually DLC!) this just feels Greasy as all hell.
- DLC Pricing.
While the DLC adds in some Great suits, Moon Gundam & "Graham Gundam"/Exia R4 being personal Favourites & something I loved to see [Seriously, these were a big part of the reason I ended up picking up SDG:BA! I really wanted to play as these suits, see them in motion & hear the voice cast! I was hype for these.], the price of those 2 Mission + 2 or so MS DLC, is just egregious. Which is all the more galling when you consider these DLC often introduce new enemy ACE MS, which have voiced lines & a full animation/move-set that aren't then unlock-able/playable! [To be clear, I get that adding these in as player character MS would be more Dev time, but still!].
There's more than all this, like how poor melee feedback is or worse lost in all the visual noise, or how the hitboxes on MA vary wildly. SDG:BA is just a deeply flawed game in my opinion. Great ideas, but poor execution & it is a REAL shame. Because I really WANTED to like SDG:BA. The west has been starved of quality Gundam video games or ANY games until the last 3-5 years & this seemed like it might scratch a very old itch; but it wasn't to be.
If you saw the marketing leading up to release & though maybe Bandai were taking a stab a doing a "legally Distinct" Dynasty Warriors beat-em-up, go play DW:G Reborn on your "100% legally acquired" emulator, You'll have a MUCH better time.
To conclude:
Buy it on Sale or not at all & even then, be aware that much of the criticism found in Steam reviews & elsewhere surrounding SDG:BA is pretty valid, so don't pay more than £10-15 for the base game, as if you want the "100% complete" experience the DLC is EGREGIOUSLY priced for what it offers.
