Thursday, August 18, 2011

SD Gundam G Generation World Review


Better Gameplay and more playable units

Recently i have finished the last stage stage of this game which took quite a while though it doesn't mean that i had cleared the game completely since i haven't completed the compendium yet. G Gen World is the latest installment of SD Gundam G Generation series which is the Gundam game that featured the greatest amount of MS boasting the number up to hundreds featuring the main series like Zeta Gundam, Seed or 00 Gundam until side materials like Hathaway's flash, Advance of Zeta, Crossbone Gundam and many others. I would say this is not only the best game but the best source to enrich your knowledge about gundam universe.


I get into this series back before i play G Gen World, the first game that make me go into this series is G Generation Portable which was one of my favorite game in the past other than Monster Hunter. While i learn lots of stuffs about gundam especially the sidestory stuffs and actually i learned Japanese by playing this game which i was really grateful for. In this post i will probably compare G Gen World alot with the G Gen Portable.


 
G Generation feature most of the series included in the previous installment which is G Generation Wars and include some news series which UC Gundam debuted. About 36 series included int his game boasting the playable units up to 700! There are also some news series included such as the BB Sangokuden and Gundam Senki 0081 while other series got new additions like Crossbone Gundam and F90. However there are some series that make it into this game which include plenty of MSV materials from Z, ZZ and CCA and plenty of units in Astray series didn't make it into this game as well.


G Generation is one of the few games that feature some of the MS Designs that are rarely seen especially in the west. If you think you have great enough Gundam knowledge you might try this game first to test whether you know all of them as there are some great designs in Gundam universe that are still well hidden among all of the gundam series so far.



 In terms of Graphic, G Generation has changed significantly after G Generation Spirits which came after Portable. Back then the Sprites are more deformed compared to the present and they resemble the older version of SD Gundam kits. In Portable, the characters only have voiceovers for certain attack while in the G Gen World all of the attacks will get character voiceovers and even some of the attack will get character's special quote such as Bakunetsu God Finger which Graham had an epic quote.
 

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There are over 46 Stages with one bonus stage in G Generation World where the stages are separated into 4 main groups and unlocked one by one as you finish the EX Stage for each group and you got to choose a character from main Gundam series as your master character by default. Back in G Gen Portable the stages are clasified by series where each series are isolated with each other unless there is a connection the story. G Generation World mix different gundam series in each stage which make it a real crossover gundam game.




If you have played SRW series you probably find the gameplay of G Generation is similar except it is easier. G Generation World has improved in gameplay and also more beginner friendly. Back in portable there is a system called Haro points which accumulate in each stage starting from black until Platinum level. The Haro points are gathered only by killing your opponents which rely heavily on team attack and tension level in order to get high points and that's the only way you get funds to spend. The Haro point also determine how many Ability points which you use to upgrade you unit's performance where you would never want to have your unit leveled up early in the stage.

In G Generation World, you mainly rely on doing Generation Breaks in order to get more credits and it occur 3 times in each stage which also invite more enemy reinforcements. The unit's AP also now depends on its level as it gain more level, you get more AP to spend for your unit. However the levelling system is toned down in this game to balance things out since the stat increase was not as tremendous as in G Gen Portable where you could make your units hits really hard just after gaining 5-10 level up.




Just like other G Gen series, your primary goal is probably to complete you Gundam Compendium which takes most of your attention. You mainly add the list of compendium by evolving your units through experience from battle as they level up which also make them available to purchase.In G Gen World each evolution resets your unit's level unlike in G Gen Portable where the unit's level pile up as they evolve through. One of the new feature in this game is evolving your unit to a different unit which is really helpful when your unit is stuck in its end of evolution line.


In this game your units are sorted by Group which each group usually consist of battleship that serve as carries of your units or at least Master unit if the battleship is not available. In G Gen World the battleship can carry 1 team consist of 4 members and 1 master unit at least but it varies on each battleship. There are also size restriction for a team where you can only contain 2 XL unit like Psyco Gundam or 1 XXL unit like Devil gundam or 4 L units like Nu Gundam though Master unit is not affected by this restriction while back in G Gen Portable you could have a team consist of 4 psyco gundam or dendrobium without restriction. in this game you can make up to 4 Groups which you can arrange to have your dream team.

In the map each team work as a group where they can assist each other as long as they are within the Leader's group area though master units can have any team member to assist them as long as the target are within their range.



You are able to customize your character stats in this  G Gen World where back in G Gen portable the pilot stats can be only increased through level up. You can also purchase skills to enchance your pilots dependind on their type and some character even have skills exclusive for them. Another interesting new feature of G Gen World is you can create your own custom character which include their gender, fighting style, pilot suit and the soundtrack though don't expect they would be as good as an ace like Amuro. I wished there were more them available for them since some of the series theme like Crossbone is pretty awesome.


Hopefully this post could help you understand the series or make you interested to pick this game up and there are plenty of translation guides if you had troubles with language barries in this game. I would say the experience of this game is really worthy since there are some awesome crossover moments in the game and my favorite one is when Dozle piloted Grand Zam when his Big Zam got wrecked(which i may take a screenshot of it). The Gundam above is Halphas Gundam which is one of the original mecha and supposedly serve as antagonist, somehow it really looks like a counterpart of Phoenix Gundam.

2 comments:

  1. SD Gundam series is one of my favourite game series ever. REally have worth playing in terms of content. XD

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  2. I hope the next G generation installment would include more MSV stuffs just like the past. This series could have its unit exceed 1000 easily if Bandai really want to do it.

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