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This game is typical of Bandai's franchise titles, such as the Super Robot Wars (SRW) and Dragon Ball Z games. It's better than the original in many ways, similar enough to bring back fans of the original, but mostly different enough to generate more interest than there would be in "just another sequel." SD Gundam G Century is the sequel to a great Super Famicom game, Super Gachopan World SD Gundam X (SGW). It has taken a long time for them to finally bring out a 32-bit successor to the game, but at least they did it in their typical fashion.
The game's appeal comes from the blend of several themes: military strategy, action combat, and of course the Gundam universe. The turn-based strategy involves moving units on a hex map, while fights are resolved in a 2-D combat screen. Fortunately, the Gundam license is not used as an excuse to make a bad game that may sell based on name recognition. The combined strategy and action elements of the game are solid enough to have resulted in a decent game with any kind of anime environment; if there were enough different kinds of Valkryies (Veritechs), then this could have been SD Macross G Century. But similarly, the Gundam license isn't just thrown in; this game balances its components well. G Century probably uses the Gundam universe more heavily than any game before it ever has. It includes 150 units from all time periods of the anime(I can't think of any that are missing), as well as 30 different short scenarios that replicate the classic conflicts of the series. These scenarios can be played from either the "good guy" or the "bad guy" sides: you can use Four and her Psycho Gundam to try to help the Titans defeat Amuro, Quatro(Char), and Kamille in Africa if you like.
Modes of Play: You can play any of the 30 scenarios, single maps, or a longer World mode game (unfortunately, you can't set up a map with more than one planet and moon, as you could in SGW). Also, there is the Century mode, which could be called the "story mode," but it doesn't really involve much story; it's just 8 interesting one-player battles strung together, and all you get to see for finishing it is the credits. You can also make up your own original organization "dream team" with any units you want(up to the limit of 40). A great idea was the action battle option, where you can just jump right into combat(great if you need to practice or want to fool around with all the different units); you can pick any of the units, any location, and set the pilots to any skill level. You can play in Single and World modes with up to 4 players. The multiplayer aspect of this game is perfectly implemented: the game is compatible with the multitap adapter, so you can have up to 4 players in an action battle. You can still play with 4 players even with only two controllers, and you can set up teams however, or if, you like.
On the Strategy Map: If you've played any games that use a hex map, or any SRW games, you should be able to get around the strategy map. Unit info includes the name of the pilot and the name of the unit under that (both in Katakana, which is too bad for us since SGW had unit names in English). Levels and newtype points(displayed in English) influence how much damage your suit can do and how fast it can move in combat, so Amuro isn't just another Gundam on your side; he's powerful, but can still be destroyed just like anyone else. Units also have propellant and ammo for weapons like missiles and vulcans.
Click on a unit to bring up its list of commands; you can move it, attack enemy units, do a long-range/map attack(if available), or self-destruct your unit(don't ever do this; it's practically useless and I don't know why the developers thought this would be useful for more than torturing new non-Japanese speaking players. It's always your last option, and if you click on it *quickly* press X to override).
Click on a blank hex to bring up a different menu. You can do things like change a pilot's name(I don't know why you'd want to do this either, but at least it's there), view the unit's stat sheet(from here you can scroll through the stat sheets of the 150 units in the game, each complete with a great-looking picture), change any player's background music, etc.
On the strategy map you take over factories to produce units, colonies to give you income to buy units, and various support facilities. Be careful when you try to take over an enemy structure since one of the changes in this game is that factories and gun turrets have actual defenses even when no enemy suit is guarding them(you can't just send one weak suit off all by itself to take over all the enemy's structures). Another change is that units can't attack on the turn they come out of a carrier(I think this is one of the better rule changes). Typically, you win by destroying all the enemy units on the map, but sometimes you just need to destroy a specific unit. Balancing a focus on acquiring structures for long-term power and a focus on getting the short-term offensive advantage is where much of the strategy comes into play. And there are more basic decisions like when to send a damaged unit back for repairs to save on expenses and to avoid wasting the pilot's experience. Or even whether to build a few of the expensive units or a lot of the cheap ones. Another thing to remember is where units are when you attack the enemy; any unit next to an attacked unit will be in the battle. Every unit lost in an action battle is money lost on the strategy map; this connection between action and strategy is the best part about this game.
Action Battles: The first thing to notice is that your "energy" is your HP; when it goes to 0, your unit is destroyed. Some weapons use energy to fire, so they're powerful, but hurt you too. The fights are fast, but not as fast as they were in SGW. They're also a lot more complicated now, so there's more to think about but more time to think. The main 4 buttons use weapons, but all 4 shoulder buttons have functions. Not all units have a weapon for each button, and weapons vary, but the "generic" suit's controls(and combat tips) are as follows(carriers usually have a machine gun instead of a sword, and no shield):
The beam rifle is fired with Square. Fairly slow to bring out for some suits, so don't use it if a suit gets close and starts swinging its sword at you, because it'll end up cutting your laser blast as well as your unit. Good for crowded fights, because units may be too distracted to notice you hitting them from a distance, but it can be hard to aim. Use the sword with Triangle; this is really the best weapon. You can get far just flying around swinging your sword like crazy(well, further than you can by firing) and swords cut projectiles out of the air easily. Of course, you have to be close to your opponent to hit it with the sword, and that means you'll be easy to hit, but a typical fight often degenerates into a sword-swinging contest, while projectiles are good to use before closing in.
Press Circle to fire the Vulcun; it's a weak weapon, but I like it. You don't have to aim it and it shoots faster than the beam rifle(since you don't have to pull it out). If you fire the vulcan while holding up or down, the bullets will be spread out, which can be good for cleaning out projectiles or hitting an almost-destroyed unit. Since they're so weak, they're also good for showing off(if you like that sort of thing, of course). Usually X is a special limited-use projectile, like homing missles or a bazooka, or it's a weapon that takes energy to fire. Don't force yourself to use it up at the beginning of a fight, since you'll probably end up wasting it, as a suit in front of you can just cut or shoot the projectiles. But don't just conserve it even though it won't be replenished after combat, because it won't do any good to have 6 missiles left if your suit is destroyed.
L1 is the most important of the shoulder buttons; I hold it down about 85% of the time during a fight. It locks the direction your unit is facing. You couldn't do this in SGW, and it adds a lot to the game, especially since your units don't snap around instantly when you turn(unless you have an Ace pilot). You can't afford to turn around whenever a unit is attacking you from behind. It's better to hold L1 and pull back so that you'll end up behind it, which works especially well if the unit behind you is still charging at you. It also allows you to back up for some firing room, rather than having to turn around, move back, then turn around again.
L2 raises a suit's shield, if it has one. Defense would be more useful if R1 used the shield instead, since you can't fire when your shield is up anyway(and it's hard to dodge with the control pad while holding both L1 and L2). Still, if you're going to get hit, the shield will significantly reduce the damage, so it may be worth using. Also, if you have a lot of units on your side, you may want to put up the shield and distract the enemy while your allies do the shooting.
If you're fighting in gravity, your suit will drift back to the ground every once in a while, and this makes you fairly vulnerable. The idea is that most suits can't fly in gravity, so they have to keep touching down on ground and jumping back up. Hit R1 to get off or on the ground. R2 activates an I-Field, if you have one(only the really powerful units have it). The I-Field blocks all laser blasts, but can be knocked out with enough hits. But the best tactic is to use non-laser projectiles, or close in and use your sword.
AI: The computer is a good sparring partner; not incompetent, but not aggressive enough. The AI in SGW was a bit better; in that game, I never lost to the AI, but I felt that it was possible, but in G Century, the AI never takes enough opportunities or risks to win. There should be a difficulty setting, but there's not. Fortunately, you can change the starting tech level and capital of any side with the handicaps when you set up a game.
The AI is pretty dumb in the strategy mode. Its main problem is that it likes to build up a base defense and then go expanding, but that's not going to work if you already have all the good strategic positions by the time the AI is ready to start attacking. Besides, if the AI tries to build up its units without taking over colonies or cities, its not going to have enough income to buy the units. The AI's priorities also make little sense. It'll be right next to a very important factory that it wants(you can tell the AI wants something when the cursor briefly moves over its target to let you that it isn't a total idiot, it just plays poorly), but uses units to attack you instead of taking it over. Asides from the way it starts a game, the AI's other big problem is how it ends a game(would it really have been so hard to just improve on the SGW AI?), which may consist of retreating to its base and waiting to be destroyed rather than trying to make a daring last-ditch attack.
The worst thing is when the AI packs its units into a carrier and moves it towards your units, which easily destroy it on your turn(the AI is actually trying to use the carrier to move its units towards yours, but it always forgets that units that just got on a carrier have to wait a turn to get off). Well, actually, the worst thing is probably how it ignores when you have the ultimate satellite map weapon targeted on its units, who will be wiped out when the weapon fires. Fortunately for the AI, this weapon isn't in many scenarios.
In the action combats, the AI is better but it's still not as good as a human. Don't think it isn't trying, because if you stand right in front of it, it'll just keep shooting and destroy you very quickly. The AI just isn't very bright, and if two AI-controlled units somehow wander into each other(nothing stops the units from overlapping, and this happens often with the larger carriers), it might get confused and keep turning both units around. Also, when a unit gets too damaged, the AI often just tries to run away; it gives up too easily. You often see the AI's flaws when your unit gets destroyed and you have to watch the AI-controlled units fight it out. I enjoy yelling at my suits when they're being particularly dumb(Carnage Heart comes to mind). Certainly there are things the AI does better: it can dodge funnels when they're shot from the strategy map, but that isn't too hard anyway. I enjoy playing the game, but the AI isn't enough challenge once you've become good.
Game-Unbalancing Units: Most of the fun of this game comes in the balanced elements. The poor AI unbalances the game, but some units are also powerful enough that they may ruin a fight. The Shining Gundam and God Gundam are superpowerful since they have a move which powers them up drastically for little energy when it would be more balanced to have it keep draining energy. The Devil Gundam is the most powerful unit, but it takes 8 turns and tech level 5 to build, and only the Devil Gundam faction can build it, who is pretty weak otherwise. But if you combine them with another group, you may have a team that is too powerful. Among lower tech suits, anything with a non-sword close attack(like a scythe or staff) has low refire delay and can hit twice with one swing, so they're very powerful. A jet like the Metas has incredibly fast refire, but it's weak in close combat. The powerful suits are spread out among the factions, so they are fairly balanced as they are; when you combine groups, pay attention to whether the combination is too unbalancing.
Load Time: Bandai games seem to have problems with load time recently(compare the time it takes Neo Robot Wars to load a battle animation with the time it takes SRW4), and G Century's load time will take a little getting used to, but it's not too bad, except with the factories, which you may have to access many times per turn. There should be some kind of caching of the factory load screen, but as it is, if you're going to deploy 5 units, then the game has to load the factory screen 5 times. They could have at least left the music on while it loads. Combat load times are similar, but the pilots trash-talk before battle, and I busy myself with trying to read the text before the fight. Besides, a few seconds to think can be useful when you change from strategy to action.
Saving: this is another area which shoudn't be a concern at all, but unfortunately this game is not going to make managing your memory card any easier. It takes 5 blocks to save a single game! I don't understand why this is, since a Robot Wars game, which has a similar amount of material to save, can do it in 2 blocks. Also, you can't save changes made to the original organizations from the main menu, which couldn't have needed to take more than 1 block to save all 4 of them. Fortunately, you probably don't need to save more than one game at a time, and at least you can save at any time on the strategy map. Also, when you're saving, the game shows you what percent of the game has been saved, so at least you know your game hasn't frozen up while saving.
Bells and Whistles: You can tell the programmers thought of the little details. On the strategy map, there are 3 info boxes at the top of the screen; if you hold X over one, you can move it wherever you want. The graphics are top-notch throughout; they'll look a lot better on the strategy map if you use the L button hotkey to remove the hex outlines. The music and sound is also of high quality; you can change background music in-game, and the CD music is tracked so you can play it on any CD player. The sound effects could have come out of an anime, and there are many other nice touches(even the voice clips to say "G Century" at the title screen and "Phase Change" after each turn).
Recommendation: I'm critical of the AI, but I don't think that should discourage someone who has another person to play with from getting the game, since the multiplayer game is a lot of fun, and you can still certainly use the AI to train. But if you're only going to be playing the AI, you might want to buy an SRW game instead, since that's a lot more fun for one-player. I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys games that mix strategy with action, who like good military strategy(SRW games are great strategy games, but they're not very military), or people who already have every SRW game. And of course, if you love everything Gundam, this could be perfect for you(I've never heard of a game with 150 units and 30 scenarios from any single anime before). This game is really a lot of fun, and aside from the glaring problems of the AI, it's very well done.