Dynasty Warriors is one of those franchises that just keep plugging along, as they always seem to be popular, people always buy them, and so for at least one more year wave after wave of samurais and ninjas are disposed of and killed. Still, you can only kill the Yellow Turbans so many times before you want something new and fresh. Along comes Dynasty Warriors: GUNDAM, an upcoming game that keeps the hack-and-slash players love, but giving them the new world of GUNDAM to play around in. Let the mech on mech fighting begin!

The controls are pretty much the exact same as past Dynasty Warriors games, though tweaked a bit to suit the GUNDAM world. For most of your attacks you'll be using the square and triangle buttons to mix and match combos, with square/triangle having a different canned combo when compared to square/square/triangle. The game even has the standard musou mode, though of course tied to the new sci-fi franchise (for example, Heero unleashing a devastating gun powered blast). Players can also dash around for short bursts with the X button, not only allowing them to move about the environment quicker, but allowing them some charge moves as well.

The biggest change in regards to control was easily how quick the GUNDAM move in comparison to their Asian counterparts in the regular Dynasty Warriors series. Not only do they move faster in general (and of course with the help of the dash) but the sci-fi environment and the transforming nature of the GUNDAM allows you to jump in the air and with the press of a dash transform temporarily into a jet and fly rather quickly towards where you need to be heading. One problem of past games was how long it took to get around the environment, but with GUNDAM when I get a message about how a comrade is in trouble, I can simply cease fighting, hop up, and go zipping in their direction (only having to ever stop for a few seconds to cool down and let my energy recharge, then continuing on course yet again).

You'll be doing a lot of fighting too, as the screen is filled to the brim with enemy GUNDAM, and when it's just you against an army, it can often be pretty daunting, though the action wasn't too hard. You'll take some hits and pop right back up, but there are dangers around, especially when you get surrounded or fight the rogue enemy pilots and their GUNDAM, who stand out from the rest of the flock thanks in part to the cooler designs, plus they know how to seriously lay a beat down on you if you don't fight them intelligently.

I've followed the GUNDAM franchise off and on throughout its life, but I was glad to be able to play as Heero from Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, as it was the one I watched from beginning to end. If you've followed the show closer than me, however, you should find a lot of fan service in the way that it brings favorites from all the GUNDAM eras to partake in this campaign to rid the galaxy of evil. When it comes to anime, fans usually fall into one of two categories, either being those that enjoy only hearing the original voice recording as it was meant to be and reading the subtitles, or either enjoying the Americanized dubbing. Dynasty Warriors: GUNDAM is making it so both camps will have a product to enjoy here, as the game will have it so that you can play with the original voice actors or the ones made popular in the dubbed version; both sound good based on the preview.

When you get in the field, the level will be split into different quadrants, which will be colored blue or red depending on who has control of that situation. Levels might have you clearing a path to a certain designated spot or officer, with an end game situation involving the death of a certain character or having a position taken over by the enemy. The general way in which the game plays out is that you'll move from quadrant to quadrant, working your way to your win situation, while you fight every enemy that stands in your way. After you clear enough enemies from that quadrant, you take control and it comes under your protection.

Much like the past games, it's still pretty much you against the world, though help did come in the way of the other GUNDAM officers, while the nameless grunts got a few more hits in here and there. One nice change to the fighting was that enemies seemed a lot more eager to attack you, instead of standing around and letting you wipe their friends out till you got to them; not only did this make the game harder, but it made the world that much more real and closer to the original source material. As you fight enemies, occasionally some will drop powerups to restore some life, increase offense, etc.

Besides the regular Dynasty Warriors fans (as long as you didn't come solely for the samurais), not only will they likely enjoy this game, but the GUNDAM franchise fans also have a new game to add to their collection, as the action felt solid, responsive, and fun. Be on the lookout for Dynasty Warriors: GUNDAM as we head closer to its release.