What happens when you take the Dynasty Warriors series and add the robotic animation universe of Gundam? Obviously the combination births the video game title Dynasty Warriors: Gundam silly! From publishers Namco Bandai / KOEI and developers Omega Force comes another button mashing game that is sure to please hardcore fans of either series. Years ago when the first Dynasty Warriors game hit the shelves it was one hell of a game, many sequels later it has mostly turned into a Madden-esq series with not much to talk about each time. With Gundam however we get the same old DW game but with an entirely new setting and background. Most gamers either love anything Gundam or hate it like their in-laws, and this is going to be the case with Dynasty Warriors: Gundam; you will either love it or hate it. While the game is nowhere near perfect, it is a fun beat ‘em up that is perfect for a rainy Saturday after watching morning anime cartoons.
As soon as you boot up the game you will be prompted to choose between a number of different, and confusing selections: Official Mode, Original Mode, Versus Mode, Gallery or Options. Now the last three are simple enough but most gamers want to jump into the main single player game, which one is it? After putting a lot of time in with DW: Gundam I am still unsure as to which mode the developers wanted me to play first. It goes something like this, official mode is more of a “greatest hits” kind of thing involving the Gundam universe, if you know a ton of stuff about the background you will recognize many of the battles that you will get to partake in. The tough thing is there is little to no story to go along with the said battles; gamers are pretty much on their own from the get go but it is still fairly easy to figure out what is going on and where the game is going. Next there is the original mode which is easily the least user-friendly of the modes and plays out like an action game on mushrooms, action heroes from all over the Gundam universe are meeting up to save their respective home planets and the gamer is thrown right in the middle of it. One thing Gundam games do well is cause the player to feel like they are part of something massive and important. DW: Gundam, at times, really shines with it’s epic feel so some positive points need to be given there.
Although the modes and storyline may be confusing the core game is not all that hard to figure out. First, DW: Gundam can be played single or multi-player (split-screen) with a buddy that does make it a tad more enjoyable. The other option (besides co-op) when talking about the multiplayer aspects of Dynasty Warriors: Gundam is death match – but just stay away from this one, it feels very lackluster and tacked on so just avoid it. Controls in the game are a bit more complicated than past DW games mainly because instead of a samurai with a sword you are now a fully fledged robot with many a toys to cause pain with. The four main buttons on the 360 controllers are used as follows: A does the boost, X melee attacks (laser sword, hell yeah), B does special attacks, and Y charges up your attacks. Other than that you move with the left joystick, camera with the right, block with the left bumper, and finally jump with the right. It may be more button combinations than previous versions of DW but the gameplay is just as simple. After only a few minutes (and more than a few years without playing a DW game) I was off to the races and racking up kills left and right.
The good aspects of the gameplay are what save Dynasty Warriors: Gundum from being a complete disappointment. All of the classic elements from other DW games are here and even more fun when involving futuristic spaceships. To defeat an enemy just kill enough of their soldiers to take control of their area and you’re on to the next section. You will always have a team of robots with you but they are as good as useless and more times than not you are running back to save their asses from defeat. Luckily the computer AI is not only terrible with your teammates but also with the enemies’ robots. Many people may never notice this as long as you don’t stop swinging your laser sword but if you do the enemies will completely fail mentally. Not only do they not attack you but they actually just stand their, humming to the most recent Elton John song and looking badass (that’s right, they do look cool). That is one of the things I enjoyed most about DW: Gundam, the sci-fi features. A game like Dynasty Warriors was in desperate need of a facelift and I think the Gundum universe was just the ticket.
