- 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 23/Jun 02:38

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered – Review

Gundam Seed Battle Destiny was released on the PS Vita back in 2012 and is now back with its remastered version on Nintendo Switch and PC. If you’ve ever wanted to fight as a Transformer-like mecha-robot, then this is your chance. Gundam Seed takes you to different biomes to fight against your enemy, and all of this while piloting a Mobile Suit of your choice. Choose your mecha suit, tweak it to your liking, and engage in a wide range of missions against the enemy. Battle Destiny Remastered is a fun mecha action game, but it has a couple of shortcomings that should be addressed. Story The story is both simple and complex at the same time. First of all, if you’re not acquainted with the franchise, you’ll have no clue what’s going on. You get thrown into it without any explanation about the context and about why you’re fighting and who you’re fighting. The game itself, too, doesn’t put effort into explaining any of this. However, after a bit of research, you might at least get a gist.  At the beginning of the game, you get the opportunity to customize your character (name them, choose an appearance, choose their skills, etc.), and you get to choose which faction you fight for, which is either the Earth Alliance forces or the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty (ZAFT). The missions that follow depend on which faction you choose. Battle Destiny is set in the era of CE71 – CE73. You won’t know what that means unless you’re acquainted with the story or you look it up. If you pick the Earth Alliance, you’ll fight ZAFT. If you choose to fight for ZAFT, your enemy is the Earth Alliance. For someone unfamiliar with the franchise, the story may seem both complex and simple, as both factions are essentially just fighting each other. As a newcomer, the storyline might be intriguing, too, because you’ll probably want to learn more about what’s going on between both factions. Graphics The visuals in Battle Destiny have a bit of a dated feel. However, some aspects look astonishing. You’ll fight in different biomes, ranging from the desert to outer space. The backgrounds while on Earth are rather bland, but once you go to outer space, the background is stunning and highly detailed. The anime style of the characters looks good and has a bit of a retro vibe. The Mobile Suits themselves, their animations, and the effects of their saber and boosters look amazing, with great attention to detail. The contrast between the details of the mecha suits and the baldness of the backgrounds on Earth is quite big, though. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t offer any animated cutscenes either (which could’ve been used to explain the story better).  Sound The game was originally released in Japan, and as it stays true to its roots in this remaster, the voice acting is in Japanese, which totally fits the anime vibe the visuals also radiate. The sound effects of the mecha suits are quite detailed and not overwhelming at all. The background music, on the other hand, is good, but it doesn’t stand out much. It’s easy to forget about it when you’re focusing on gameplay and combat, which requires all of your attention at all times.  Gameplay Battle Destiny Remastered is a mech action game in which you’ll fight for the faction you choose. Unlock different Mobile Suits and tweak them to your liking. Engage in different missions piloting your favorite suit. Gameplay-wise, this game is all about piloting and customizing Mobile Suits. Before you engage in a mission, you’ll be able to choose from the Mobile Suits you’ve unlocked so far, and you can upgrade them to your liking. A thorough tutorial at the start of the game will explain everything in detail. Kudos to this game’s tutorial because it does a really good job.  The missions’ course is always the same: pick your Mobile Suit, upgrade it if you want, engage in combat, survive, and claim your rewards. It sounds simple, but a lot is going on. First of all, every time you complete a mission, you’ll unlock new suits, new pilots, and new abilities. You can also upgrade your Mobile Suits in a lot of ways (number of ammo, strength of shield, etc.), and before battle, you must also choose a pilot to accompany you. You can make your decisions based on your preferred playstyle and the strategy you want to use to defeat the enemy. Each suit has its strengths and defines the way you approach battle. It’s important to think these choices through, and honestly, this is one of the better parts of the game. Also, during combat, you’ll have to be attentive at all times because enemies are coming from everywhere.  The controls might feel a bit heavy (which fits the clunky mecha suits, though). The mecha suits move slowly, and switching from your saber to your rifle, for example, takes a couple of seconds, and that’s when you get hit easily. The camera can also be rather frustrating because it doesn’t always work like you want it to. The lock-on system that’s been added to this remastered version isn’t that good either. It pretty much leads its own life, like the camera does. It’s important to mention the game offers two lock-on settings: Standard and Classic. Classic is the original one, whereas Standard is the new one designed for the remastered version. However, the issue is present in both.  Lastly, the game offers a high replayability rate since there are so many options to choose from. First of all, each different faction offers different missions. There are many suits to unlock, many upgrades to do, and thus a lot of different playstyles to uncover. This kind of freedom might be one of the game’s biggest strengths.  Conclusion Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered is a fun game. It has quite a few cons, like the lack of explanation about the storyline, the shallow-looking backgrounds on Earth, and the soundtrack that doesn’t stand out. However, the game offers a lot of fun elements. The combat is great, and there are many choices in Mobile Suits, pilots, and abilities to choose from. Because of this, you can come back to the game whenever you like. The mecha suits also look detailed, and the anime vibe adds a little extra to it. In short, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered is a fairly good game with engaging combat, but it’s mainly directed towards gamers who are already familiar with the franchise.