Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3

The Dynasty Warriors franchise has been labelled as a button mashing extravaganza by gamers at large for years. After roughly half a dozen iterations, pseudo-rereleases with new content, two Gundam spinoffs, and a version involving Fist of the North Star, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 conceptually has a difficult task ahead of itself- convincing you that it's not a simple button masher.

The Dynasty Warriors formula has always gone something like this- you're a powerful dude. Kill tons of small dudes to take over a field that spawns the small dudes. Take control over all of the fields, while killing every named dude you come across. For many of you that read this review, you already know if you want to play this or not. For those of you on the fence or want to know why you should get the new one instead of the old one on the cheap, let this serve as your guide.

Putting the games side by side, there's a definite upgrade. The game moves at a faster clip than Gundam 2, and the frame rate manages to remain steady.  The angle the graphics go for is a marked change than the previous Gundam games. While Gundam 1 and 2 both went for technical prowess, Gundam 3 goes for more of a pseudo- cel shading aesthetic to make it fit in more with its source material. It actually works for the game, and watching giant robots fight each other is almost always entertaining. 
 
The gameplay has also seen a major, major overhaul that changes up combat in the form of a new button. Gundam 2 had combos that could be ended with the 'Y' button to change up your attacks, but most of the time you'd end up mashing the 'X' button. Gundam 3 allows for the 'Y' button combo to continue to your character's maximum attack chain, creating attacks that can be used in contextual situations to stop yourself from getting swarmed. Additionally, there is now an 'emergency dodge' that can be triggered as long as you still have some boost in your gauge, letting you avoid damage. While this definitely makes the game easier than previous iterations, it does make for a more exciting play.
 
The flow of a stage also differs remarkedly. Being destroyed isn't necessarily the end of the match anymore, thanks to the Battle Gauge. The Battle Gauge allows for you and allied aces to return to the fight after being shot down. It's almost impossible to regain Battle Gauge, and it can be lost when the enemy takes fields. Additionally, there's a new incentive to gun for certain fields in the form of special fields. Some fields confer bonuses upon your forces, such as stronger mooks, a quicker health regeneration (health now acts similar to the MvC series, it can regenerate to an extent), or teleporting across the field. This adds a sort of pseudo-tactical layer on top of the gameplay, especially when missile fields come into play that can take a field without any fighting if allowed to remain in enemy hands.  
 
Finally, a mission takes a much shorter amount of time than Gundam 2- which should be a welcome change of pace for most people who actually did play the game. The missions in Gundam 2 could take an agonizing amount of time, and trying to kill an enemy ace gave one enough time to read a book- even with an upgraded mecha. Gundam 3 compensates by letting you do more damage, by making the stages *much* smaller, and by throwing less giant mobile armors into your path. In addition, missions can be ended by taking every field as always, or by depleting the enemy Battle Gauge and then taking their fortress field.
 
But what of the giant robots themselves, you may ask? Gundam 3 actually has a original story mode this time similar to Gundam 1, whereas the previous game merely replayed iconic scenes from the 'Universal Century' timeline of Gundam shows (Gundam, Z, ZZ, Char's Counterattack). Gundam 3 takes out some of the lesser known characters from early Gundam shows such as Sleggar and Johnny, and replaces them with characters from Gundam series that actually made it to the states (Duo Maxwell and Trowa Barton from Wing and Schwartz Bruder from G are big examples) and characters from recent Gundam shows (Unicorn). This helps the game feel more balanced and might elicit some nostalgia from younger fans instead of a love letter to the early shows.
 
Let's not mince words here. If you don't want to play Dynasty Warriors ever or you hate the Gundam franchise, then you're well served by staying away from this game. But if you want to play a Dynasty Warriors game for the first time, or you want to play a decent game involving giant robots, then you can definitely do a lot worse.