Disappointing...
The core gameplay is still 80% the same as the previous Battle games on the PSP, but sadly you can hardly name one single new feature that doesn't hample gameplay or frustrate players, not to mention the game is shorter and seem rushed (proof: not even a gallery mode and only about 5/6 pictures during loadup wtf?)
- enemy dodges way too often and way too quickly
In this game, enemy will evade and dodge your missile/beam attacks like crazy, especially with ace pilots, anyone who has played the UC games extensively will know what I mean. Gundams are supposed to weigh dozens of tons and yet they (at least your enemies) feel like they are forest fairies in a dancing competition. Seeing an enemy MS jumping up and down in the air for 10 seconds straight without ever overheating is ridiculous, even if it's a boss encounter. This also leads to -
- ranged weapons are simply ineffective
Because of the way enemies dodge most artillery weapons are borderline useless because so rare do you hit anything with them. Beam/lasers are not much better. With the exception of some powerful MS the vast majority of the weaponry do so little damage and has such low hit rate/ firing speed it's just not worth it. On the other hand, in each new campaign, before you finally unlock one MS that's actually decent enough, you're forced to use complete cr8p ones which takes a long time to kill a single enemy if you use the same tactics as in previous games, which leads to you rushing forwards all the time and meleeing everything, which also leads to -
- way too easy to die
Which is probably the side effect of the devs putting in 'lives' for your MS. On paper it might be a way of giving players a second chance, but in reality it''s the exact opposite. In both Chronicles and Universe, I completed all the campaigns without dying once,and it's not too easy either. In Seed: BD however, especially in the CE73 campaign, in more than 60% of the battles i die at least once. Enemy guns does ridiculously high damage (while your guns do so little) and even when you're in a MA with 8000 hp and 80+ defence, an enemy Destiny Gundam or Legend gundam can bring you down with 3 hits or one shot you using their SP. The worst thing of it all is that, not only is your gundam super fragile, so are all the targets that you're supposed to protect in various missions, which leads to -
- hopeless and helpless situations where you wonder how you can possibly do any better
Imagine, after a long and dreadful fight, you destroyed two dozens gundams, a couple of ships and 3-4 enemy aces. There's only the Archangel ship out there, and you go and blast it into pieces. You think the job is done, but then suddenly an enraged Strike Freedom spawns next to your own ship which is on the other side of the map. You immediately rush to the rescue, but your MS moves so slowly (even when dashing), and your friendly ship/MS/building have such low HP that it gets obliterated while youre still half way from running back. Bang, mission failed. Now tell me, how would you feel?
other points：
Urban maps are completely horrible - the camera angle is sh!t, it literally spins around when you're moving next to a wall. Buildings on the terrain cannot be destroyed by gunfire like in previous games (wtf?!), your gundam can't move for sh!t and cant even get to the top of a medium height building, plus you can't lock on targets outside your line of sight, when combined result in utter hediousness. Try one of those missions and see if you agree.
Verdict,
Compare Gundam battle seed destiny with Battle Universe, there's a lot less content, a lot less fun, and a whole lot more frustration. Disappointed.