SD Gundam Battle Alliance Review

SD Gundam Battle Alliance is a Gundam series real-time third-person ARPG developed by Artdink and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game follows a group of pilots in a virtual world called “G: Universe” who pilot super-deformed versions of various Mobile Suits in an attempt to correct Historical Breaks in the Gundam timeline. This SD Gundam Battle Alliance review is based on my own thoughts after playing through the entire game. It could be different based on your experience, so don’t overthink it.

Gundam Battle Universe and the other Artdink Gundam games for the PSP are still regarded as some of the franchise’s best entries. When I discovered it was linked to SD Gundam Battle Alliance, it quickly became one of the games I was most excited about this year. However, after playing the game, I am mostly disappointed. This isn’t a bad game in and of itself. But it’s a far cry from what the developer was able to achieve on much, much weaker hardware, and it lacks the satisfying game feel I was hoping for.

Better get used to those combos, kid

In the game, Mobile Suits are classified into three types: melee, ranged, and balanced. There aren’t many Suits in the game, and many of them play similarly. The melee and balanced ones typically have a three-hit combo and a strong attack that must be chained to start a combo. A launcher can also be used to knock enemies into the air. The combat usually feels the same across many suits. Furthermore, you cannot upgrade or change any of your weapons or skills, so the gameplay for each Suit remains constant. If you’ve played any of the Gundam Breaker games and are looking for more of that fast, satisfying, and accurate action, you won’t find it here.

This is exacerbated by the fact that new Mobile Suits in SD Gundam Battle Alliance begin at level one. This means you’ll have to pour a lot of money into them before you can use them in your most recent missions.You also bring two AI companions, both of which must be at the appropriate level. However, they level at the same rate as your pilot level, which means you’ll have to grind them up from scratch as well.

Every two levels, you gain access to new pilot abilities that you can equip. Almost all of these are either unimpressive or borderline useless. The combos and action may appear flashy, but the movement is excruciatingly slow, even when boosted. When you use the standard attack buttons, you do not immediately attack. Instead, it gives your Suit a boost and sends you careening toward the enemy you’ve locked onto.

Additionally, this gives melee attacks stamina, which you will run out of if you attack too frequently. By default, the lock-on is automatic, and I felt like I had little control over it. When it’s off, things get a little better, but I still don’t like how the hacking and slashing feels so much like it’s on rails.

What’s the deal?

That isn’t the only problem I have with the lock-on. It’s unusually slow, swinging around a beat later than you’d expect. It’s also frequently inaccurate. You have a two-minute cooldown on your super attack, which I’ve only used to completely boost off in the opposite direction of the boss I was facing.In addition, I felt it was necessary to almost entirely use melee attacks, which is unusual for a Gundam game. Every Mobile Suit has a gun, but it only has five or six shots before needing to reload. Ranged Suits can instantly replenish your shots and skills, but it costs half a skill bar. During boss fights, you won’t be able to use it frequently.

However, the bosses are even worse. They are extremely dangerous and cannot be avoided. Instead, they have a strange break gauge that depletes as they use skills. You must wait until their break gauge is nearly empty before attacking with your own skill to put them in a vulnerable state. They have a lot of health, though, and don’t stay down for long. It creates a strange start/stop rhythm in the fights that I couldn’t get into.

No need to jump

Of course, there’s online multiplayer, which is the game’s main focus. When I tried it, however, it did not work. Instead, it would time out with an error. Despite being created with Unreal Engine 4, SD Gundam Battle Alliance is limited to 60 frames per second by default. Regardless, the levels are mostly uninteresting. There are invisible walls everywhere, and the Mobile Suits can’t jump high enough to reach higher ground, so movement is restricted and the spaces are almost claustrophobic.The majority of the time, you enter a level, fight some mindless peons, and then face a boss. Some levels require you to defeat three bosses. These fights are difficult to win alone because your AI companions are useless and you can’t give them any orders other than “use your super” — which may or may not hit. The camera is also mostly useless, as it wouldn’t let me see when I got too close to geometry, or it would wig out, making it impossible to get my bearings.

For ardent Gundam fans who simply want another hack and slash, SD Gundam Battle Alliance might be worthwhile to play. This is probably the most disappointing game I’ve played this year, and I’m honestly surprised at how much Artdink missed the mark, given how it created some of the franchise’s best games.

SD Gundam Battle Alliance Review – I Preferred The Ordinary Zaku