TGS: Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 hands on

Yesterday, I happened upon Namco Bandai’s enormous booth, which apparently had more games on display than I could count with two hands. That said, only a few of them really caught my attention, and of those, only a couple had an entire section of the booth dedicated to them, one of which just happened to be the latest installment of Gundam Musou — or Dynasty Warriors Gundam, as we know it.

Suffice to say, I wasn’t expecting many changes in terms of game play, and in terms of the actual controls and basic combat, that held true. So what did they change? Hit the break to find out.

Like I mentioned, the gameplay hasn’t really changed very much over the course of the previous two entries and this sequel is no exception. The visuals, on the other hand, have had a bit of a face lift. Instead of using the shiny 3d models we’ve seen in previous iterations of the series, the models now feature cell-shading which, in my honest opinion, looks a million times better.

I’m not sure why, but I always felt the models looked kind of cheap in prior games — in fact a bit plastic at times. At least now it feels a bit more like you’re playing a part in the anime itself. The cell-shading is actually quite smooth and the frame rate seemed to work well with it.

One other feature was really highlighted during the demo, and that’s the ability to select a secondary pilot, or partner — I had selected Hero from Gundam Wing — that will join you during the battle. I actually didn’t notice him doing much of anything until I’d pull off the occasional “musou” attack, at which point he joined in on the fun. Short of that, the demo was pretty straight forward, with you clearing each area of the map until proceeding to a boss for a showdown.

If you’re a fan of the series, this might be something to look out for, but I siure a lot of you will just see it as more of the same. Hopefully we’ll see more as it nears release later this year.