Was SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays Worth It?

We recently covered some of the modern Super Robot Wars games, but now we’re moving into the Gundam realm. Today we’re asking “was SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays worth it?”

Background

The Gundam franchise is no stranger to strategy RPGs, as we already know from its inclusion in the Super Robot Wars series. The games use the super-deformed (SD) or chibi proportions to avoid the heavy licensing fee that Sunrise charges for its IP. This niche series has been going since 1996, and today’s article covers the most recent entry.

In these games, you play with and against the characters in various Gundam series. Part of the fun is unlocking all the suits and pilots – the other part is getting overpowered and giving characters you don’t like a beatdown.

What’s different?

While Genesis, the previous game, only focused on the Universal Century, this title only focuses on a few alternate universes within the franchise: Gundam 00, Iron-Blooded Orphans, SEED, and Wing. This does include side stories and sequels, so yes, works like Endless Waltz, SEED Destiny, or Awakening of the Trailblazer are included.

A few other series do get some representation in the DLC, and these include G, X, AGE, Turn A, and G-Reco.

Warships are incredibly useful, and you can actually get through most of the game simply with warship attacks. The best warship is the Ptolemaios (Ptolemy) 2 Kai, no contest. Once you get that ship it’s pretty much smooth sailing.

There have been a lot of quality of life changes, such as being able to deploy a unit on an SFS instead of needing to mount it. The top tier suits and pilots from each timeline are generally comparable. This is a stark contrast to the previous game, Genesis, where there was a huge power disparity between earlier units and later ones. Pilot customization is also more open than ever, and allows you to tailor specific pilots to suits very handily. To be fair, I didn’t personally use the create-a-character feature, but it does allow for players to self insert or create ersatz versions of characters – I saw someone have a CAC version of Kamille Bidan.

Which suits are worth using?

I’ve covered this in this article here

What does it do well?

If you’ve played SRW or any of the previous SD G Generation games then this will feel like a straight upgrade. One feature that I can’t praise enough is the autosave. Since suits are destroyed for good when they get shot down (unlike SRW), it’s very easy for things to go poorly very quickly. The huge buffs to warships have also made the experience a lot more smooth. There isn’t such an annoying loop of “deploy, attack 3-4 times, return, rinse, repeat” like there is in Genesis. This is probably due to the native energy regen of some units, as well as relatively balanced costs for weapons.

The addition of auras that are actually useful is so huge. I can’t overstate it. You’re going to want to stack all the auras on your ship captain. They blow away the crappy “+10 attack auras” that were in previous titles.

Just for reference, here are some of the aura effects you can have:

• passive energy regen
• passive health regen
• accuracy buff
• evasion buff
• passive morale increases for allies
• passive morale decreases for enemies
• movement buff

What could it do better?

Some stages will have a mission section in which you exclusively use guest units. This isn’t bad in hteory, but in practice some of these missions are very reliant on RNG. If you’re anything like me, you’ll only play the game on the Extra difficulty, because it makes it easier to get through some of these stages when the guest units have commensurately higher stats.

It also tends to chug on the Switch, specifically when preparing to execute Raid Attacks. This happened in both handheld and docked mode, but didn’t negatively impact my experience.

Is it fun?

If you’re into strategy RPGs like Super Robot Wars and don’t mind the SD art style, then you should check this game out. If you enjoy grinding, then you’ll have a field day. In a way, it felt like the perfect version of an SRW game, as I didn’t have to deal with storylines or characters from shows I didn’t watch or don’t care about.

Value?

This isn’t a game that you pick up and finish in an afternoon, or even a week. It’s easy to come back to it if you get burnt out, but the stages are designed to where you’re going to be on the battlefield for a while. In some cases, there will be upwards of a hundred enemy units, and it can take a while to navigate the battle, much less finish it. It gets downright tense sometimes.

The DLC, which comes bundled with the game if you pick up the Platinum Edition, adds a lot to the game in the form of additional pilots, mobile suits, and difficulty.

Was SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays Worth It?

Much like other games I review, there are some caveats. First off, you have to be a fan of strategy rpgs. You also have to either be a fan of Gundam or have a high tolerance for it. Now, you don’t have to know all of the series that are showcased in this game, but it helps.

The game does a good job of explaining the plot and character relationships, but it’s not necessarily a substitute for watching the actual shows. I’m more of a fan of the Universal Century timeline, so I had initially passed on most of the shows that were featured in this game. However, playing their storylines drove me to eventually revisit or watch some of the shows for the first time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game, and actually completed it on three separate accounts on my Switch. I love the gameplay loop of fighting, upgrading, developing new suits, and going back into battle. If you’re a Gundam fan or an SRPG fan, then SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays is definitely worth it.

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