Gundam Battle Tactics – Review

First, let's get this straight: Gundam Battle Tactics is not really a tactics game, and there aren't any RPG elements, and very little squad action. What there is, however, is a very easy to learn, mech combat system that's a lot of fun to play.

Here are my comments on each aspect of the game:

Graphics - 10/10: I can't emphasize enough just how good this game looks. Backgrounds are a bit on the simple side, but never blocky and never pixellated or edgy. And the mechs and units you pilot and fight just look beautiful. I don't think any Gundam game, even on PS2, has ever looked this consistently good. Admittedly, the camera is a teeny bit farther away from the action than on most iterations of the Gundam action line of games, which probably allows for a smaller-rez model to still look great. But whether in melee or ranged combat, every unit in the game flows smoothly with a lot of animation effects, and attacks and explosions are all very satisfying.

Sound - 8/10: The music in this game is typical, martial Gundam tracks, with a few more quiet songs for sneak attacks, and some faster music for different levels of action. Satisfying, and worth listening to, but you won't remember a single song after you turn the game off.

Control - 8/10: This is a hard rank to put in. The game's controls work well, and it is very easy to move and fight in, but a few of the mechs you use feel slow. Also, you have to use the d-pad to move, so until you get used to it, moving diagonally can be a pain. But all that is trivial and you get past it after a few hours of play. But as for attacks, blocking, and specials this game plays as well as any mech combat game I've ever tried.

You can also switch to a 1st person perspective by pressing select, and this mode plays just as easily as the standard 3rd person perspective.

My real complaint is with collision detection between your unit and inanimate objects. I must emphasize that it doesn't happen often, but you can get stuck in wierd places, usually resulting in death.

Gameplay - 10/10: Once you get used to the d-pad for movement, this game really shines. Loading between levels is negligible and there are very few slowdowns even with 6 mechs on the field.

Targets have also never been easier to pick out before, and the camera work in this game is exactly what every 3rd or 1st person shooter on the PSP should be like. It's simple: When you lock on to a new enemy the camera auto-centers above and behind you, with your mech turning to face them. If there's no target to lock on, the camera just centers.

There are also a wide variety of levels, from cities to marine bases. No space levels, which may disappoint some fans of the series, but the other areas all look almost identical to how they did on the PS2.

Lasting Appeal - 8/10: Admittedly, the story mode isn't long. You can play through twice, once as Federation units, and again as Zeon, with each campaign lasting about 5-10 hours. Getting an S-rank on every level will add some time.

You have a ton of mechs and pilots to unlock, which can all be used in multi-play, but my main reasons for giving this an 8, when some might argue for a 6 based on the campaign's length, is that this is a game where you could easily play through each campaign several times, using different pilots, or just to enjoy it again. This game is just that fun.

Multiplayer is also very comprehensive. You can do 2-4 mech deathmatches, team battles, or survivor games, and can add bots to fill in empty player slots. Matches can also be set to be until the death, or based on points - similar to the vs. Gundam games on PS2. You can also do co-op missions different from the main campaign.

Overall - This game is a must-buy, in my opinion, for people who like action games, mech games, or Gundam. For the record, also, most menus are in English, and while the mission objectives are always in Japanese, many levels give a brief description of main targets at the beginning of the level in English anyway, and it's usually easy to figure out.

Anyone who played the previous Bandai release on the PSP - Sokyuu no Fafner, - will see how far the designers have progressed from beyond that game in making this mech game play so well.

People seeking a long, Soul-Calibur-esque single player campaign might be a bit disappointed, and my rating of 9 mainly comes from this, and the learning-curve of the controls. But otherwise, this is a solid mech fighting game, quite easily the best action game on the PSP so far, and possibly the best action game on any system to come out in a while.