Developed By: Tom Create
Published By: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
Platforms: Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC
Reviewed On: PlayStation 4
SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays is a turn-based strategy game and introduces four timelines, After Colony (A.C.), Cosmic Era (C.E.), Anno Domini (A.D.), and Post Disaster (P.D.)
Ore Wa Gundam Da!
The story of each Gundam is properly categorized by series and is followed by the anime, manga or movie dialogue that is similar to the movie. Each mission has its own objectives and secret conditions to tackle. Fulfil the secret condition and historical moments will occur which leads to spawning more enemies and special ones too. These special enemies might hold some abilities for the player to get from by killing them, some extra capital to earn, and if players manage to overkill an enemy they will gain bits of capital as well.
Apart from killing enemies to earn capital, the game features a “Group Dispatch” which is where players will be basically sending your extra teams to a mission to earn both capital and experience points with chances to obtain mecha and each mission has its own timeframe required to complete the quest. The mission has its own recommended formation as well, forming stronger units and characters will increase the Operation Achievement rate, which means the higher the percentage, you will gain more capital/experience points for your team.
There are special daily missions as well and earning from these special missions can be very rewarding.
Warship Groups are able to do a combination attack together with the units but it requires the units to be near the warship. The maximum target of the attack combination depends on the number of units that you have in the warship. (Maximum of nine units)
The benefits of Warship Groups is that the units are able to dock back into the ship and heal HP and EN.
Raid Units are another way to deploy units onto the battlefield without a warship.
Raid Units are able to heal HP and EN at the beginning of the player’s turn if the units are placed near to each other. Each unit heals HP and EN every turn, but how much is regained depends on their formation. When positioned next to each other, HP will be regained.
Raid Units have a Raid Link as their group attack which can be initiated by any unit in the group but only once per turn. (Maximum of eight targets depending on the unit deployed on the battlefield)
Produce/Develop/Exchange Mobile Suit (MS)/Mobile Armor (MA)
Using a Guest Unit in the mission to destroy enemy units will fill up the “GET gauge”, once the bar is full, that unit will be added into the Production list and players can produce the unit to sortie in the battlefield.
By levelling up your MS/MA, players may either choose to Develop the MS/MA to a different type or exchange it to different series MS/MA.
Produce: MS/MA which been developed will be available to produce and capital is required to purchase the mecha and some good mecha are expensive.
Develop: Level up your MS/MA to a required level and unlock desired Gundams in the same series.
Exchange: Swap for equivalent MS/MA, depending on how high the level of your MS/MA.
Alaya-Vijnana System limiter off!!!
Players can unlock some of the characters by fulfilling the quest conditions and each stage has different quest conditions for example as per the picture shown below;
“Register Raphael Gundam to the production ist” will unlock Tieria Erde for players to “scout”.
Also by levelling up the character, they will acquire skills to help on the battlefield. Capitals can also be used to increase the character stats to the max point of 999.
There are lots of hidden characters or Gundam mecha to unlock in the game which requires lots of exploring. Different difficulty modes will let players obtain some rare skills to enhance battle effectiveness in the form of +damage, +reflect, +movements, etc, and also unlock some mecha from Gundam Build Fighter/Divers series.
The animation of each attack has been improved, the effect details can be seen much clearer compared to previous SD Gundam G Generation Genesis and each BGM taken from the original Gundam series is a plus.
What I Liked
- Original BGM from the Gundam series.
- Raid Link feature added in the game which manages to target multiple enemies at once, after using the unit that initiated still able to attack (of course require to destroy the target).
- Attack animation same as in the anime/movie series, and some added special final details/effects.
- High replayability.
What I Wished Can Be Improved
- The game still needs lots of grinding especially capitals, even there is Group Dispatch to earn extra while away yet, still require some grinding IF plan to produce the best warship example “Ptolemaios 2 Kai”.
- Each Gundam Mecha attack only has few to choose from and some do have lots of variety attack forms.
- The animation is static when it comes to defend or evade, It is like waiting for the attack to come at, perhaps future the series will improve the attack animation which involves both mecha fighting instead of waiting for turn by turn to attack each other.
- the camera settings can be set only accordingly in the game setting hence its not that variable enough to be adjusted to suit according to players wanted immersive view in the mission.
Verdict
The game is simplistic and yet requires players to grind but it gets better once players familiarize themselves with the features in the game allowing them to grind in a more effective way. An adaptation from the manga series that helps to bring to life the Gundam mecha is a plus as well as bringing the original songs from the Gundam series which has the impulsive effects of each character during on the battlefield. (for example “Quantum Burst” from Gundam 00 A Wakening of the Trailblazer at least for me haha) There are also some “hidden” Gundams to unlock after beating the game in the hardest difficulty. Overall the game is good but for those who prioritize gameplay mechanics over the story, they will feel bored and lost interest in the game fast.
