SD Gundam Battle Alliance is an action-RPG title from developer ARTDINK and publisher Bandai Namco. Based on the popular mecha series, SD Gundam Battle Alliance takes shrunken-down, cutesy versions of iconic Gundams and other mobile suits and pits them against each other in large battlefields. It's a solid excursion into the many different worlds and wars of the long-running property, but it's almost entirely for Gundam fans, who will definitely enjoy the callbacks and variety present but will be left unimpressed by the average qualities of the gameplay, graphics, and story.
SD Gundam Battle Alliance follows the story of the Commander as he gets swept up in a wild sci-fi plot, repairing "Breaks" in different key moments in Gundam history, all house within the same G-Universe. It's a meta-narrative that never really gets off the ground, instead relying on the sub-plots that revisit key moments in popular variations of the series to do the heavy lifting, albeit with some tweaks to their outcomes because of the fracturing history of the G-Universe. The result is kind of a museum of some of Gundam's best moments, but the larger narrative never really feels like it adds anything of substance.
That's a shame, because while variety in which mechs you can pilot is obviously a selling point to fans of the franchise, so too is its rich history and complicated war-time plots. Those feel absent because of how jarring the transition between worlds is. That's not to say this is the wrong way to build a Gundam game, but it does feel like it would've been stronger if it instead focused on one property or wove its own plot full of the political intrigue and flashy mechs that characterize the most popular iterations of the series.
That said, the mech variety is impressive, with plenty of different mobile suits to try over the course of the game's many missions. Most of the obvious ones are here - RX-78-2, Wing Gundam, Barbatos, and more - as well as some less popular but cool additions, like Epyon. Customization options broaden the possibilities of each Gundam, which have strengths and weaknesses like their fuel consumption, melee/range attack power, and HP. Further customization is possible through building up those stats using Capital, which is both an easy way to make missions faster to complete but also a way to rebuild a Gundam's initial strengths and shape them in a way that makes it more fun for the player to pilot. That's important, since many fans have strong emotional ties to specific mobile suits from the series, and it's a nice touch.
Gameplay is a little less interesting than the suits themselves. It's an easy game, one that essentially boils down to simple dodges and special attack management. SD Gundam Battle Alliance basically boils down to a bunch of filler mechs being beaten up on as a player progresses through the map, then boss fights with more iconic mobile suits. The areas visited are interesting at times, but many of them feel generic because the graphics just don't allow for the kind of detail that would bring these different universes to life.
One potentially annoying element of the game for those who don't speak fluent Japanese is the lack of localized audio. That's not an issue during cutscenes, but a lot of dialogue plays out over the course of a mission, and characters will plow through conversation mid-fighting. Trying to manage winning the battle with seeing the plot progression can be annoying at times, and can result in some missed information if players aren't careful. Replaying missions is, luckily, an element of the game that's not pointless - there's different strategies to employ against bosses based on the Gundams you bring with you (teams are capped at 3), and parts to collect that either customize a Gundam's stats or help unlock a new mobile suit for future use. Other audio includes catchy remixes of some of the series' best in terms of soundtracks, another feature that will be exciting for long-time fans.
Ultimately, SD Gundam Battle Alliance feels like the sort of game that will appeal to those who haven't picked up a Gundam game in a few years, but it's not going to move the needle for anyone else. Standard and unexciting combat is combined with some strange meta-narrative decisions that make this feel like a cute spin on some of the series' most iconic moments. The RPG elements of the game are also very limited, which means arcade-style fighters like Gundam Extreme Versus Maxiboost ON offers more exciting action. SD Gundam Battle Alliance is solid and will definitely be a hit with dedicated Gundam fans, but it's definitely not a reason to dive into the property for those who haven't done so before.
SD Gundam Battle Alliance releases on August 25, 2022 for PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Screen Rant was provided with a Nintendo Switch code for the purpose of this review.