Gundam Musou (US Version: Dynasty Warriors: Gundam) is a joint project from Bandai-Namco and Koei. In this game, instead of controlling a warrior in the past, you will be controlling a Mobile Suit and encounter numerous enemy Mobile Suits in a futuristic war with the usual hack'n'slash system of the Musou/Warriors series.

Contents & Storyline: 8/10
This game mainly features Mobile Suits from the mainstream Universal Century, especially from three series: Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Z Gundam, and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. There are also guest appearances from alternate universe series, which are Mobile Fighter G Gundam, New Mobile Report Gundam W, and Turn A Gundam. In total there are 16 playable pilots and 18 playable Mobile Suits, though there are some MS that share the same movesets.

The Official Mode follows the actual storyline of the three aforementioned UC series. However, there is a number of flaws with this mode. There are only 6 characters you can play as in this mode: the main protagonists and antagonists of the series (MSG: Amuro Ray & Char Aznable; Z: Kamille Bidan & Paptimus Scirocco; ZZ: Judau Ashta & Haman Karn). Furthermore, the lack of Mobile Armors, though understandable, causes some notable battles in the series to be omitted. Also, unlike in Dynasty/Samurai Warriors, there are not enough what-if events, even if you play as the antagonists; for example if you play as Scirocco, he will still be killed by Kamille in the finale.

The Original Mode, however, is the real beef of this game. In this story mode, characters from the alternate universes make their appearance, where they mingle with some other characters and fight many other characters in a big brawl located on a mysterious red planet (not Mars). There are more characters playable here, and each of them have unique cutscenes not seen in other character's stories.

There is also a versus mode and gallery mode, however there is no free mode, which also means an automatic minus point.

Gameplay: 7/10
The main attack system unfortunately resembles the old Dynasty Warriors 2. You are confined with a 4-attack string and 4 singular charge attacks. When you level up, you will get a loop or two for the normal attack, but it is just exactly the same as the usual string, including the charges.

A very useful addition though, comes from the dash function. Especially considering the stage is so enormous, and you need to go everywhere in a restricted time, the MS' boosters will help you save your time. It is also useful for escaping from enemy's combo attack.

Musou attack is dubbed SP attack here, and its system is a mix of Sengoku Basara and Samurai Warriors 2. Like in SB, the duration of SP attack won't change even if you hold the button all the time like in DW. And like in SW2, there are 3 levels of SP gauge here. The higher your SP level is, the more moves the MS will do. For example, the Turn A Gundam will only do a flying attack in its SP Lv1, but as it levels up, it will then continue with a hammer swinging and finally call its famous Moonlight Butterfly in Lv3. You can also do a double SP attack with an ally pilot nearby, and with a certain pilot, you can unlock a secret Lv4 SP attack.

This game's main feature is the Field System, which at the first sight, is very similar to the Base system normally used in Empires games. In a confined area, you need to beat some enemies to lower the morale gauge until you either take over the field or destroy it. Sometimes there are guards assigned to the field that will appear once you deplete the morale gauge. They could be either powered up MS or even Ace Pilots. Sometimes a field also houses a mothership which will spawn even more MS. By conquering the field the mothership is located at, you can force it to retreat. However the same can happen to you as withdrawal of your force's mothership is often listed in the Defeat Conditions.

And lastly, it's the AI issue. As usual, the AI for enemy grunts does the old same thing: They will surround you but will barely attack; though in harder difficulties you can expect your combos to be disrupted by their beam rifles. Ace Pilots, however, will give you a real challenge. They will block and dash often, then whittle your armor down, and they are more than willing to unleash SP attacks as they are in a pinch.

Graphics: 8/10
The Mobile Suits are well detailed, but the stage layout isn't. Furthermore, most of the stages are plain and flat that you will hardly ever jump unless you're going to transform when using transformable Gundams. The space battles aren't really zero gravity, as you are confined to moving on two axes instead of three.

The draw distance and number of enemies appearing on the screen is a big plus though, considering this game is being released on the PS3 (and the 360 as well). You don't need to worry about enemies disappearing anymore, though slowdowns will still occur rarely if you force the game.

Audio: 7/10
Most of the audio is directly taken from the Gundam series. From SE to the BGM to the voices. You can hear the sounds of beam firings, short-circuits and explosions exactly like they are in the animes.

In the BGM department, though the BGMs in Official Mode are entirely musics from the old-school Gundam titles, there are some BGMs in Original Mode that are made by Koei for this game, which are not bad, but not too astounding either. And guess what? The Musha Gundam, the so-called Lu Bu reincarnate of this game, has its own BGM, just like Lu Bu and Honda Tadakatsu in SW.

For the voices, it is good to hear that a number of the original English casts are reprising their roles here, though there are some that get different VAs. There is also fortunately an option to switch the voice to Japanese, though we don't know if this will return in Gundam Musou 2, since Koei is notorious for leaving out the JP VA option in sequels. Oh, and before we go on to the next section...

LOOK!! THE EAST IS BURNING RED!!!

Replayability: 8/10
Once you have cleared a story mode, you will be able to choose any mobile suit to use with that character. Sometimes using a different MS will result in unique -sometimes hilarious- quotes during sortie or even a different moveset. You can try putting Heero in the Gundam Epyon or Domon in the Master Gundam, or maybe even Heero in the Hyaku Shiki or a non-Newtype pilot in the Qubeley.

Also, MS levels do not carry over to a different character, so that means more time to totally max out a character. Parts do carry over though.

Final Recommendations
Assuming all readers here are fans of the Warriors series, considering this review is made for the KOEI Warriors site... If you also happen to be a fan of Gundam, then this game is a must-get. If you don't know a thing about it yet, you might want to get this game too as a warmup before Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (DW6) comes out. But if you already hate Gundam with a passion, then this game is not for you at all.

Overall Score: 7.6/10