An absolute must for Gundam and mecha fans alike!
Game design: All mobile suits from the TV show Gundam SEED is selectable with a few extra units added from the upcoming sequel Gundam SEED Destiny.
There are various modes to choose from.
Arcade mode where you select a unit and a pilot to fight 9 battles, Free play where you can choose units and pilots and can set conditions of battle, Campaign mode where you are a pilot who fights in the story behind the scene, each battle you win you will earn exp points, once you level up you get to upgrade the power of your unit or will be assigned a new one and there is also wireless multiplayer.
Graphics are great and that's saying a lot for a portable device, all machines are well animated and none look the same or animate the same and the battlefield is wide with destructible objects.
Game play:
The controls are pretty basic and simple to grasp but they can also be changed at anytime.
All mobile suits and mobile armors have their own set of long range weapons which can deplete and recharge mid-battle some either laser, bullets or ballistic missiles depending on the unit you choose and some can be charged, most units also have close range weapons for cutting enemies in half, melee attacks and long range attacks can be chained together to make combos, shots and swings can be dodged or blocked (assuming that unit has a shield).
All units can either dash, fly (or transform if available) for extra mobility, but those actions will deplete booster meter (in free play which can be set to infinite at will).
During battle when you get hit or destroy enemies the SEED gauge fills, once full you can enter SEED mode where the pilot goes berserk and increase the units speed, reaction time and power (in free play can be set to infinite at will) very much like in the anime.
Sound: Original Japanese voice casts from the anime are all present and have been placed in the game, sound effects are great and BGM is directly taken from the anime OST.
Gundam SEED Alliance vs ZAFT Portable is an incredible PSP game, so much content was added to that tiny disk and the game play is just at fan service level.
Although it's nice that the game has so much content it would have been a better investment to make most of the mobile suits locked instead of being unlocked in the first place so that way the player can be motivated to play for unlockable content.
None the less fans should be happy to pick this up as the PSP has no region lock which means all you have to do is import all the way from Japan, pop the disk in and enjoy the fun as opposed to the arcade and PS2 version which are harder to get.