Gundam is known for its epic battles. Who doesn’t love to see two giant robots shoot and punch each other into scrap? That is what I was expecting going into SD Gundam Battle Alliance, but I wasn’t expecting the cute-looking Chibi style that I was presented with. So let’s power up our suits and take a look.
Gundam: Multiverse of Madness
The main story of SD Gundam Battle Alliance is that you are an unnamed commander who is plucked out of their timeline and brought into somewhere called G-Universe. In this Universe, Gundam timelines are crossing over, and this creates “Break Missions.” You take up the gauntlet to play through these missions and piece the different Gundam timelines back together. You will also need to search through different directories to find the right mobile suits and historical inaccuracies.
I am not a big Gundam fan so it goes without saying I was a little lost at times. I found myself getting information overload several times as you are battered with Gundam history from all sides. You don’t have to be a historian though as the game does do its best to give basic explanations of what’s going on.
The other small issue I found with the story is that it still plays out during missions. At the bottom of the screen, you will get constant dialogue that in the heat of a battle you just can’t read. It’s like, come on guys I just read through Twenty minutes of all this back at base, give my head some peace.
Straight forward and to the point
Where SD Gundam Battle Alliance shines is the combat and gameplay. It just works and has a real RPG feel to it that I took to immediately. You have light attacks, heavy attacks, ranged attacks, and two special abilities all mapped to the triggers. I know, simple and a godsend. Your ranged attacks and special attacks have a cooldown gauge. The special attack gauge also charges as you deal and take damage. There are also the usual dodge, guard, and chain break mechanics just to spice things up.
That’s all I have to say about it really. All this just makes a combat system that feels fast, smooth, and responsive. They have captured perfectly the mobile suit battles of the anime. You would think this was made for fans to enjoy, other companies should take note.
The word of the day is Mecha
If you are a big fan of Gundam then the sheer amount of battle suits will give you an oil leak. With over 60 to choose from and unlock that is enough to keep any fan happy. You get these by completing various missions and in doing so earning blueprints. These suites are separated into three categories; All-Rounder, the long-distance Sharpshooter, and the melee-focused Infighter. The only problem I found was each suit needed to be levelled up individually.
Now for the big downside for SD Gundam Battle Alliance the inevitable grind. There is a lot of level grinding as you make your way through the game’s story. Each new directory has a big bump in suggested difficulty. At the start, missions can be played in Normal and Easy mode. Later on, though, you’ll unlock Hard difficulty. Each suite needs to be levelled up using the resource you collect during missions, called Capital.
This is where the grinding comes in as there is never enough Capital to go around. With so many cool mobile suits you will find it hard to keep one fully levelled never mind any of the new shiny ones. This slows the whole game down unfortunately and makes it very repetitive.
Pretty Robots
The whole look and sound of SD Gundam Battle Alliance is everything you would expect from an anime Bandai title. It’s bright and very cartoonish. The soundtrack as well as all the guitar licks you could shake a stick at. They did an exceptional job in this aspect. The battle suit models themselves, even if they weren’t what I expected had so much detail I couldn’t help but be impressed.
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