Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 Ushers in the Next Generation of Mecha in the Historical Genre

Namco Bandai's release of Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 marks a rather special event in what is perhaps one of the most prolific series of video games ever created. The Gundam games are a classic example of the idiom for not seeing the forest through the trees, because there have been so many good games in the series, over such a long period of time, that it is easy to understand how its position as an iconic series might be overlooked.

Developed by Tecmo Koei Games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 represents the next generation of mecha-action, with graphical and game play additions, bringing authenticity and astounding improvements to the series.

Set in the future, chaotic warfare has engulfed the universe: the world is ripe with strife as gigantic mecha called Mobile Suits march to war on land and in space. Featuring characters and mecha from over 30 years of Gundam anime and manga series, Gundam 3 thrusts players into the galactic melee with over 50 playable and upgradable characters and over 70 playable and upgradeable Mobile Suits combed from the Gundam universe.

New additions include Mobile Suits from Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Mobile Suit Gundam UC and too many more to list!

This newest offering features a number of game play additions to the series, including 3 brand new featured systems: the Partner Strike, and the Emergency Dash and Recovery Gauge Systems, bringing a new level of full-out tactical action to the series.

The Partner Strike System enables the player to summon partner characters to the battlefield to assist at crucial moments, affecting your character's current melee engagement or possibly the overall battlefield conditions for your army.

The Emergency Dash System allows players to execute new cancel and evasion moves negating enemy attacks. This system will bring a new level to game play since powerful combos can be more easily parried.

The new Recovery Gauge System enables players to recover armor during battle -- allowing players more flexibility in their tactics on the battlefield.

If that was not enough to set it appart from the previous games and mark it for its advanced tactics and features, Gundam 3 adds a new strategy facet to game play: Battlefields now incorporate multiple facilities with various functions, so that capturing these locations will change the battlefield conditions and turn the tide of the battle in your favor!

Players will be able to use a new Chain Explosion System to engulf their enemies in a maelstrom of fury by initiating an explosion via certain attacks -- causing further carnage with their own chain of explosions. Skillful players can use this system to finish off entire squads of Mobile Suits in one blow!Furthermore, players can take their favorite Mobile Suits and band together with others in intense online multi-player co-op action, which supports up to 4 players for amazing co-op mecha action!

An Established History

The Gundam sagas began as a televised anime series created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino. It premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network in 1979, including 43 episodes over two years, and that very first Gundam series subsequently spawned numerous sequels and spin-offs across multiple medias that include anime, manga, novels, movies, and video games.

Consider this: Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 is actually the 4th game in the Gundam Series released for the Xbox 360, but the 35th unique Gundam game and 140th version released!

A brief examination of the history of the many series and versions of Gundam games reveals a rich history indeed spanning:

-- Apple Bandai Pippin: 1

-- Coin-Operated Arcade: 19

-- Microsoft Xbox 360: 4

-- Nintendo 3DS: 1

-- Nintendo DS: 4

-- Nintendo Entertainment System: 1

-- Nintendo Game Boy: 5

-- Nintendo Game Boy Advanced: 5

-- Nintendo GameCube: 3

-- Nintendo Wii: 5

-- PC Games: 6

-- Sega Dreamcast: 4

-- Sega Game Gear: 1

-- Sega Saturn: 7

-- Sony PlayStation: 14

-- Sony PlayStation 2: 27

-- Sony PlayStation 3: 6

-- Sony PlayStation Portable: 12

-- Super Nintendo Entertainment System: 10

-- Virtual Boy: 1

-- WonderSwan: 3

-- WonderSwan Color: 5

Of these games only 10 were released worldwide, with an additional 16 released only in Japan, and the rest in a mixture of markets. When the original anime was released, the TV show did not do very well due to a number of reasons, including its scheduling slot and a lack of significant promotion that caused its owners -- Sunrise -- to prematurely give up on it, selling the licenses to Bandai, who shrewdly understood what it represented.

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Once under the control of Bandai, the TV show was re-released for TV syndication and as theatrical compilations -- both of which skyrocketed its popularity, introducing what is now considered a new age of Anime. Bandai began the re-imagination of the mecha concept with the release of their line of Gundam models, following which the popularity of the show began to soar, allowing Bandai to present the mecha drama or the 'real robot' genre as a new and higher-quality generation of Anime.

The momentum began to build outside of Japan with the release of the series in Italy in 1981, and then elsewhere as the show was re-dubbed in more languages, eventually landing on American satellite networks and gaining ground there.

The Damage from 9/11

The terrorist attacks of September 11th very nearly killed the show and the concept as networks began to remove war-based content as a reaction to the attacks, but was saved when the Cartoon Network included it as a regular part of its late night Adult Swim programming. It was largely due to this increased exposure that the video games began to pick up traction, and the series was finally established as a genre of its own, and secured its place in the gaming world.

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Beginning with the Gundam: Battle Assault series the mecha genre picked up steam, but it was the Mobile Suit Gundam series that finally established it in the hearts and minds of America's gamers, paving the way for the success of the Dynasty Warriors series that we now enjoy.

Dynasty Warriors

Derived from Koei's popular Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series, the game is based upon the Universal Century timeline -- with mecha from many of the previous games appearing either as playable character kit or as NPC support roles.

The biggest difference between the traditional Dynasty Warriors story and Gundam 3 is that the characters and story from the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms are largely replaced by content and characters drawn from the Mobile Suit Gundam anime series.

Although melee combat is still a primary focus of the game and the story, a significant increase in ranged combat options has been built into the game, setting it apart from previous titles and offering players a much more robust combat system.

Gundam 3 is visually stunning thanks to the new cel-shaded graphical style with which it was created, bringing the series visually closer to its animated roots, including the focus upon relationships as part of the sub-plot that was so crucial to the original stories. A new and streamlined HUD minimizes the screen clutter that often complicated previous games in the series, and the Original Mode has been restored in this title, resulting in a beefier enemy AI and tactics and some familiar elements for long-time series fans.

Among the features for Gundam 3 that should have established fans thrilled and will knock the socks off of new gamers to the series are:

-- Challenge Missions: scaled to up the challenge and put gamer skills to the test;

-- Collection Missions: allowing players to seek designs for different categories of MS;

-- Friendship Missions: allowing gamers to select the type of teammates they fight beside;

-- History Missions: integral to the Universal Century based story arcs;

-- Memorial Missions: allow gamers to obtain rare plans for their MS or rare pilot skills;

-- Relation Missions: allow gamers to service and improve their relationships with specific teammates;

-- Special Missions: allow gamers to increase their wealth in order to facilitate the building and upgrading process for MS.

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Online Co-Op Mode

As previously mentioned the Online Mode allows up to four player to gather and play cooperatively in fifteen unique missions designed to be totally impossible to complete solo, thus encouraging teamwork with other gamers in a more meaningful and rewarding way.

In Co-Op mode gamers will take the place of Partner Strikes for one another, initiating them as an integral element of Partner Support. To promote this side of the game gamers will find that gold and XP acquisition rates are significantly higher than in single-player mode, and to keep it real the game is set up to deny the use of the same character within a team, meaning that you will not see two of the same unique MS on a team, which is intended to help with immersion and entertainment.

Co-Op Mode features drop-in / drop-out support -- something that has become an industry standard these days -- so gamers have the option of joining existing sessions or creating their own session for other gamers to join -- an obvious necessity when only three other gamers can participate in a session. To help players to get into more popular groups there is a ticket system in the game that allows players to offer their participation for specific missions, including the ability to specify the character they want to play, making it easier for the host to structure and plan their play sessions.

According to our hosts at E3 the Co-Op Mode will be receiving significant DLC Love in coming months, with the challenges and story-lines being expanded through value-added DLC packs.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system was released yesterday, June 28th, and is rated "T" for teen by the ESRB. It has an MSRP of $59.99.

For more information about the game check out the official website over at www.namcobandaigames.com .