Review
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 Review (Xbox360)
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is a strange fruit. It’s not the type of game that we get to play very often, and that certainly works in the game’s favour as if the hack’n’slash/kids dressed in mechs/anime genre was already a crowded one, Gundam 2 might not stand out as much as it does. Of course, that’s because the only other hack’n’slash/kids dressed in mechs/anime is Gundam 1, a title that many feel was criminally overlooked by you, the gamer, when it released back in 2007.
If you’re a fan of Naruto, like reading Japanese comics and therefore can understand the somewhat ridiculous plotlines and MTV-like change of direction and you like nothing better than cuddling up on a Friday night watching Ginga Ojôsama Densetsu Yuna or Pink Lady Monogatari then count your lucky stars as KOEI has made the game purely for you. For the rest of us however, it’s going to take a little more than little kids shouting, cheesy music, and brilliant flashes of light to convince us that there’s actually a game worth playing underneath all that rather tired and somewhat hackneyed Japanese youth culture that certain sections of the general gaming public still attribute the word “cool” too. It takes all sorts.
Luckily however, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is actually quite a bit of fun to play. Somewhat confusing at first (it’s about time they sent out manuals with PROMO copies) but nevertheless, once you get under the skin of the game you really learn that button mashing only gets you so far and it’s way more tactical than it first appears.
Back to the confusing part first though, as if you’re like us and never read the manual as 99 percent of titles have on screen prompts in the first few levels then be warned, the opening menu has you placed firmly on original story mode. So, as the first you land on, on a menu screen is invariable the main campaign I clicked start and was literally thrown right in the middle of the action, not having a clue what was going on or what buttons did what. After a couple of hours furiously hitting buttons at random I quit back to the main menu and selected mission mode. Then things started to make sense. It is here you need to be if you want to know what button does what, and what’s the best way of racking up combos in the hundreds. It’s also here that you learn that Gundam 2 is actually a really good laugh and tactically rather engaging.
The graphics are cell shaded which is an old trick but given the Anime-feel of the game (actually, the whole game is based on a series of the same name a la Naruto) it works. Sure, it would have been great to have flown around in a high def shiny mech taking out the hundreds (literally) of other walking robots that fill the screen at once but it really doesn’t have a negative impact on the game. In fact, it only highlights the fact that perhaps our shiny next gen hardware isn’t as powerful as we like to think it is. The frame rate is as smooth and as solid as you’d like it to be in a game that could easily be plagued by slowdown given the amount of movement there is on screen at any one given time. So the cell-shading trade-off really enhances the core gameplay rather than hinders it.
Soundtrack-wise Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is your standard Japanese anime affair, thrashing guitars with tinny solos and that throbbing bass beat trying to keep the suspense and feeling of adrenaline. Whether this enhances your experience or not is purely subjective of course, but we’ve been listening to tracks like this since, well, what feels like the beginning of time and it would be nice if it was taken in another direction at some point in the not too distant future.
As for longevity, there’s so much to do in the game it’s untrue. A vast selection of original story missions, the “fictional” mission mode (i.e. not canon) and a multiplayer mode offer hours of play. Also, for the mech-heads out there, the amount of variation in the suits that you can collect should get your nerd-senses tingling. Put it this way, it is well worth the money you’ll pay for it.
In short, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 has a lot going on the surface that could turn many away. However, if you give the game time to let you in on its secrets, although you might find yourself doing the same thing over and over, the depth combo technique and tactical elements really open themselves up and show that Gundam 2 is well worth checking out.
Top Gaming moment: Pulling off a 100+ combo.
If you’re a fan of Naruto, like reading Japanese comics and therefore can understand the somewhat ridiculous plotlines and MTV-like change of direction and you like nothing better than cuddling up on a Friday night watching Ginga Ojôsama Densetsu Yuna or Pink Lady Monogatari then count your lucky stars as KOEI has made the game purely for you. For the rest of us however, it’s going to take a little more than little kids shouting, cheesy music, and brilliant flashes of light to convince us that there’s actually a game worth playing underneath all that rather tired and somewhat hackneyed Japanese youth culture that certain sections of the general gaming public still attribute the word “cool” too. It takes all sorts.
 |
 |
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| Learn your combos and you’ll have disposed of this lot in no time. | The game’s tactical element makes it stand out from the hack’n’slash crowd. |
Luckily however, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is actually quite a bit of fun to play. Somewhat confusing at first (it’s about time they sent out manuals with PROMO copies) but nevertheless, once you get under the skin of the game you really learn that button mashing only gets you so far and it’s way more tactical than it first appears.
Back to the confusing part first though, as if you’re like us and never read the manual as 99 percent of titles have on screen prompts in the first few levels then be warned, the opening menu has you placed firmly on original story mode. So, as the first you land on, on a menu screen is invariable the main campaign I clicked start and was literally thrown right in the middle of the action, not having a clue what was going on or what buttons did what. After a couple of hours furiously hitting buttons at random I quit back to the main menu and selected mission mode. Then things started to make sense. It is here you need to be if you want to know what button does what, and what’s the best way of racking up combos in the hundreds. It’s also here that you learn that Gundam 2 is actually a really good laugh and tactically rather engaging.
 |
 |
|
| The bigger they come... | Nice! |
The graphics are cell shaded which is an old trick but given the Anime-feel of the game (actually, the whole game is based on a series of the same name a la Naruto) it works. Sure, it would have been great to have flown around in a high def shiny mech taking out the hundreds (literally) of other walking robots that fill the screen at once but it really doesn’t have a negative impact on the game. In fact, it only highlights the fact that perhaps our shiny next gen hardware isn’t as powerful as we like to think it is. The frame rate is as smooth and as solid as you’d like it to be in a game that could easily be plagued by slowdown given the amount of movement there is on screen at any one given time. So the cell-shading trade-off really enhances the core gameplay rather than hinders it.
Soundtrack-wise Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is your standard Japanese anime affair, thrashing guitars with tinny solos and that throbbing bass beat trying to keep the suspense and feeling of adrenaline. Whether this enhances your experience or not is purely subjective of course, but we’ve been listening to tracks like this since, well, what feels like the beginning of time and it would be nice if it was taken in another direction at some point in the not too distant future.
 |
 |
|
| My hero! | The boss battles are intense. |
As for longevity, there’s so much to do in the game it’s untrue. A vast selection of original story missions, the “fictional” mission mode (i.e. not canon) and a multiplayer mode offer hours of play. Also, for the mech-heads out there, the amount of variation in the suits that you can collect should get your nerd-senses tingling. Put it this way, it is well worth the money you’ll pay for it.
In short, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 has a lot going on the surface that could turn many away. However, if you give the game time to let you in on its secrets, although you might find yourself doing the same thing over and over, the depth combo technique and tactical elements really open themselves up and show that Gundam 2 is well worth checking out.
Top Gaming moment: Pulling off a 100+ combo.
Comments
By Inucroft (I just got here) on May 12, 2009
By hunter612 (SI Core) on May 14, 2009
By nobuargaoda (SI Core Veteran) on May 15, 2009
By BoneArc (SI Elite) on May 16, 2009
