SD GUNDAM BATTLE ALLIANCE

I think this is a fun hack and slash game with a little RPG melded in. Story is fun, just dont take it too seriously.

My Gundam fandom extends almost solely to the hero shooter, Gundam Evolution, (rest in peace; you were gone before your time), and by extension, the RG Sazabi kit it inspired me to buy, build, and display. This might be a hot take, but I quickly came to the conclusion that mechs = cool, and when I started looking into more kits, designs, and even some of the shows, it was only a matter of time before I'd seek out video games. SD Gundam Battle Alliance seemed to be the perfect pickup for me simply because of the sheer size of the roster; it contained all of the models that I'd come to know and love from Evolution on top of dozens of others. This game's roster covers the entire series of shows and movies that Gundam has spawned, so if you like a suit, odds are you can play as it. For someone whose interest was narrowly focused on the few models Evolution provided, which were from several different series, it was a boon to see something that encompassed all of them and more. Though the roster is impressive, obtaining your favorite Gundam may be easier said than done. Unlocking Gundams requires finding their blueprints, which are found as drops in missions- typically you will have to replay several missions per blueprint, (some suits requiring 3 or 4 complete sets of prints), and you have to be sure you play the mission in a way that spawns the enemy that drops your print. Sound confusing? Well, it's not... with a guide. Even with a guide though, playing through 3 missions 2 or 3 times apiece to unlock a single Gunpla was tedious and unrewarding. I went through the effort for my top handful of suits, but beyond that, I couldn't be bothered. You are awarded some for just playing the story mode, but the vast majority are not. Replaying a mission was tedious for the simple fact that the gameplay is simple. You have some projectiles to shoot on cooldown, an ultimate ability, and a melee combo, but there's not a ton that goes into the combat beyond reading a boss's moves and figuring out your best rotation of abilities based on the suit you choose. The bosses also come with an industrial-sized health bar a lot of the time, so the rhythm you find may result in a several-minute-long standoff with you dodging, using a cooldown, dodging, using the other one, dodging, take a swing or two, dodging, ult, repeat. It's very similar to the Dynasty Warriors-style games that pop up here and there, but I personally found it a little more mundane and dumbed-down, with my buttons mindlessly mashed just a tad more than I'd like. I'll be blunt; I wasn't a huge fan of the story. It seemed like the same story that everyone and their mom is using these days as an excuse to do crossovers with every version of every character- the multiverse is being breached and you have to fix the timelines! I couldn't be bothered to care about it in the least truthfully, however I will fully concede that as a non-fan of the shows and movies from which these timelines were brought, none of the fan service had an effect on me, and that's a huge draw to these storylines. Obviously the game isn't at fault for this at all, and longtime fans may have loved it for all I know. I just prefer when these games use something like this as an excuse to make an original story that isn't something you'd see from the canon, something like Dissidia Final Fantasy. Honestly though, gripes aside, the characterization and life brought to both the suits and pilots was great to see- the models were brought to life in stunning detail, the pilots had plenty of contextual voice lines to spice up different character interactions, and anyone who's seen a single Gundam clip would be impressed by the sound design and how true it was to its source. Love it or hate it, this game does an excellent job of putting you in the Gundam universe and letting you live your power fantasy in your favorite models. Cards on the table: this game wasn't for me. The gameplay loop didn't engage me, the fan service was lost on me, I'd prefer non-SD models in a similar game, but guess what? It's not a bad game, and I still had fun with it. The fact that I was able to beat the game despite my complaints AND enjoy doing so just tells me that people who are really into the genre are gonna love it. I had just the most glancing interest, so I have to imagine that super-fans were messing their pants over this, and I love that for them. Cinematic playthrough: https://youtu.be/DflHjQPPMp8