Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 Review for Xbox 360

System: Xbox 360, PS3
Dev: Koei, Omega Force
Pub: Namco Bandai
Release: June 28, 2011
Players: 1-4
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p	Fantasy Violence, Mild Language

The control scheme is classic Dynasty Warriors as well. You have a weak attack, a strong attack, a ranged attack, and a special attack you can use when your special bar is filled. That's about it. This would get boring if it weren't for the fact that every Gundam—and, to a lesser extent, every pilot—plays differently. Some Gundams are slow bruisers, while others are quick and aggressive. Some fight with powerful beam sabers while others fight with ludicrous giant robot martial arts.

DWG3 adds a few more options by letting you stock multiple special attacks in order to make them more powerful, and by adding a "partner" bar that fills as you capture territories and generally go off being awesome. You see, you fight alongside a "partner" in every level of the game, and if you fill your partner gauge, you can call them directly to your field to do an awesome anime-style signature move. You can even do your special attack at the same time, teaming up to rain down hell on your opponents.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 Screenshot

Add to this a dash and accompanying stamina bar, attacks that change based on how much life you have left, quick time events that occur when weapons clash, and cinematic events that change the state of the battle, and the game starts feeling like an epic battle in a Gundam anime, rather than just any old Dynasty Warriors game. Case and point, you can actually destroy an enemy with so much force that they explode in a burst of flame. Then that explosion can kill another troop, causing them to explode, which destroys another troop and so on. Eventually you will be clearing out entire fields in one stroke. I don't think you can possibly get more anime than that.

For a Dynasty Warriors game, DWG3 has a lot of replay value. Putting aside the unlocks and loot hunting, there are over 300 missions to play. The story can be played from the point-of-view of multiple factions, and there are special "history" missions which have you playing out classic epic encounters from the many Gundam series. There are co-op missions (though unfortunately not nearly as many as the single-player missions) which can be played with one to four players that can drop in and out at any time. There's even online play, and while the netcode during actual gameplay is decent enough, it's kind of hard to find a game. The fanbase just isn't big enough.

In the end, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 explains itself entirely with its title. It's a Dynasty Warriors game, it had Gundams in it, and it has had three chances to improve on itself. It's done a good job. DWG3 is a fantastic way to blow a few hours and let off some steam, and, heck, you don't even have to be a Gundam fan. The gameplay stands for itself. But for fans, seeing Domon Kasshu beat the ever loving piss out of those pansies from Gundam Seed is just plain awesome.

By Angelo M. D'Argenio
CCC Contributing Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

3.7

Graphics
Dynasty Warriors was never known for its graphic excellence, but the Gundam models are quite nice to look at.

4.0

Control
In a game where hoards of troops are always trying to kill you at once, it definitely helps that the controls are responsive.

3.2

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Frankly, the repetitive anime quips tend to get annoying, but the voice acting was competent enough.

4.3

Play Value
I'm already getting more mileage out of this Dynasty Warriors than many other similar games. 300 missions worth of mileage, that is.

3.9

Overall Rating - Good
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 - 1.9 = Avoid	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	3.5 - 3.9 = Good	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair	4.0 - 4.4 = Great	5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

Mecha overload - Over 50 playable and upgradable characters and over 70 playable and upgradeable Mobile Suits combed from the Gundam universe, including new Mobile Suits from Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Mobile Suit Gundam UC, and many more.

Anime in motion - Experience the Gundam anime and manga series come to life with an entirely new cel-shaded graphical treatment.

Deeper gameplay systems - Enhanced and aggressive enemy AI adds to the challenge while new gameplay systems, including Partner Strike (summon partner characters to the battlefield at crucial moments), Emergency Dash (negate enemy attacks with new cancel and evasion moves), and Recovery Gauge (recover health during battle) expand the level of strategy and depth to the gameplay.

Story mode returns - The popular mode originally introduced in the first Dynasty Warriors: Gundam is back with an entirely new campaign.

The biggest game yet - Tremendously deep with over hundreds of hours of gameplay, plus the limitless replay value of online multiplayer with up to 4 players.