SD GUNDAM G GENERATION CROSS RAYS

There is very little to complain about with SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays because what it does, it does very well indeed, with no other game on the system to compare it against, other than its previous non-English entry. What we have here is months of content spread across an accessible, user-friendly package that will reward players who like to tinker with squad micro-management but will also let newcomers to the series enjoy the pyrotechnics display from each engagement. We doubt that we need to tell fans of the franchise why this is such a worthy investment; the amount of fan-service (we're talking the good, wholesome variety here) is staggering and more than worth the admission price. To those who love strategy RPGs and have already exhausted all possibilities provided by Fire Emblem: Three Houses and rabid Pokémon trainers who have filled their Pokédex, we offer this advice: Cross Rays might just be the best game of this type on Switch that you've never heard of, and would probably pass you right by if you’re not a Gundam fan. Take a chance on this and you might just become one. It's a fitting 40th-anniversary celebration of the entire saga.

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SD GUNDAM G GENERATION CROSS RAYS is a tactical RPG featuring massive mecha battles from the Mobile Suit GUNDAM series. Choose your favorite characters and mobile suits from over 30 years of GUNDAM history, and lead them to battle in epic clashes. Build your own team, strategize, and experience the ultimate GUNDAM crossover.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

91%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,844 reviews

story83 positive mentions

grinding81 negative mentions

Runs very well on Steam Deck.
Gameplay is fun with great visuals and a lot of customization options for mobile suits and characters.
The ability to evolve and develop a team around favorite mobile suits and armors adds depth to the game.

The game crashes frequently for many players, especially when reaching the start menu or during battles.
Lacks a proper tutorial, making it difficult for newcomers to understand the mechanics.
The game can feel repetitive and grindy, especially when trying to unlock new units and characters.

story
668 mentions
12 % positive mentions
84 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The game's story primarily revolves around the major arcs of four main Gundam series: Wing, Seed, 00, and Iron-Blooded Orphans, presented in a condensed format that captures key plot points while omitting finer details. While fans appreciate the nostalgic retelling and the depth of the storylines, newcomers may find it challenging to follow without prior knowledge of the series, as the narrative is heavily reliant on existing lore. Additionally, the gameplay can become repetitive due to the lengthy missions and the reliance on visual novel-style storytelling, which some players find tedious.
- “I was surprised as to how deep and involved the storylines are; it doesn't feel like a synopsis when you're playing through the stories.”
- “The Gundam elements are very well done, and the storyline closely follows the actual Gundam series.”
- “The story is great, covers a lot of the original anime stories.”
- “The story is near incomprehensible to people who aren't familiar with Gundam.”
- “The game doesn't have its own storyline or complex gameplay; it relies heavily on franchise IP.”
- “The only downside is that the dialog can get long, but if you do not care much for the story, you can skip all the talk and get right into the combat.”
gameplay
235 mentions
24 % positive mentions
69 % neutral mentions
7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays" is a blend of turn-based strategy and RPG elements, appealing primarily to fans of the Gundam franchise. While the mechanics are generally easy to grasp, many players find the lack of comprehensive tutorials and explanations frustrating, leading to a steep learning curve. The game features a variety of mobile suits and customization options, but it can become repetitive and grindy, with some outdated mechanics and slow battle animations detracting from the overall experience.
- “The enjoyable strategy and leveling make it so engaging, and the simple gameplay keeps it from ever getting boring.”
- “Its impressive roster of mobile suits, captivating storytelling, and engaging gameplay make it a must-play for both Gundam fans and strategy game enthusiasts alike.”
- “The gameplay, while tricky to start out with due to not being given much guidance, is easy to get the hang of and is a lot of fun.”
- “The game really doesn't explain its mechanics well, and there's no dedicated tutorial; it just thrusts you in the deep end.”
- “The combat is incredibly repetitive and tedious; the energy system does little to improve gameplay, and the stages are unbearably long.”
- “The gameplay is fine, but the harder difficulties make it so that you have to think more about how you move and use your units.”
graphics
155 mentions
37 % positive mentions
60 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising the high-quality visuals, animations, and overall aesthetic, particularly for fans of the Gundam series. However, some players have noted issues with crashing on certain graphics cards and criticized the tactical graphics as uninteresting. Overall, while the game showcases impressive graphics and improvements over its predecessors, technical issues and design choices have led to a varied reception.
- “The visuals are stunning, with a nice blend of sprites and models.”
- “The graphics are so rich, especially its battle animations which are so entertaining to watch they almost can never bore me.”
- “The graphics are crisp, the game runs well, and there are a ton of mobile suits for you to unlock.”
- “As expected, graphics, voice dubbing, and gameplay have not changed much from its predecessors.”
- “The graphics outside of cutscenes look RPG Maker level bad, and the lack of direction leads to solidified characters coming off as one-sided or boring.”
- “A free-to-play game from 13 years ago had better graphics than this game.”
music
86 mentions
34 % positive mentions
63 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise for its nostalgic value, featuring a mix of original soundtracks and remixed tracks from various Gundam series, which resonate well with fans. Players appreciate the ability to customize their own background music, allowing for a personalized experience, although some noted that the default tracks can become repetitive. Overall, the soundtrack enhances the gameplay experience, with many describing it as epic and fitting for the game's themes and animations.
- “The music is fantastic, as is typical of anime music.”
- “Overall, a very good game with a great soundtrack that constantly keeps you vibing.”
- “Custom BGM allows you to import your own music, and the music absolutely slaps, with a huge roster and many cool new features.”
- “I'm sad they didn't get the licensed music from the series; it would've added a lot, but I guess there's licensing issues.”
- “It doesn't really happen to me that the music of a game irritates me, but I had to mute it here after like 10 minutes.”
- “I open the game and it shows me the Bandai logo, then the screen goes black and plays the background music, but I can't navigate anything because the screen is completely black.”
grinding
83 mentions
4 % positive mentions
-1 % neutral mentions
98 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is a significant point of contention among players, with many noting that it can be tedious and repetitive, especially for those aiming to unlock all mobile suits and characters. While some appreciate the grind as part of the experience, particularly fans of the Gundam franchise, others find it detracts from the overall enjoyment, especially in the early stages and during lengthy missions. However, features like dispatch missions have been praised for alleviating some of the grind, allowing players to farm resources more efficiently.
- “Grinding can be a rewarding experience if you approach it with the right mindset.”
- “Many players find that grinding helps them develop their skills and strategies.”
- “The grind can be challenging, but it often leads to a sense of accomplishment and progression.”
- “The game play is tedious and boring.”
- “The combat is incredibly repetitive and tedious, the energy system does little to improve gameplay and the stages are unbearably long.”
- “The only major downside for me is that this one requires an insane amount of grinding, more than other releases, but only if you want to go into the hardest difficulty at the end of the game.”
optimization
20 mentions
25 % positive mentions
60 % neutral mentions
15 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant performance issues, including crashes and lag during battles, particularly on lower-spec systems. While a few users report smooth gameplay and no crashes, many others highlight the need for further optimization, especially regarding audio loading and menu navigation. Overall, the game is seen as poorly optimized, making it unplayable for some, despite its appeal to fans.
- “Optimization of the game - 10/10”
- “Crossrays is also the first installation that emphasizes pilot's performance over milliseconds, allowing even the weaker grunt units to perform like cutting-edge units as long as the pilot is an ace themselves.”
- “18 hours in and no issues to speak of performance-wise.”
- “This game isn't optimized very well, which is funny considering 90% of what you see is a 2D image, and only very few 3D models are on display. It's hilarious that they'd go through the trouble of actively making the game look worse when they could just use the 3D models everywhere.”
- “As of now, the game is literally unplayable and is poorly optimized.”
- “I can't even finish the first stage because after the cutscenes you get your results, and on the very next load, it crashes 100% of the time for me. Moving through menus too fast also causes a crash, and performance is horrible.”
stability
19 mentions
5 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
95 % negative mentions
The game's stability on PC has been widely criticized, with users reporting frequent crashes, freezes, and various technical glitches, particularly at launch. While some players noted that the developers have been quick to address these issues with patches, many still experience significant bugs that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game is considered too unstable at this time, despite improvements made post-launch.
- “The PC port is decent, with some caveats (a little bit of 'consolitis' in the menu design, I haven't been able to get a resolution higher than 1920x1080 yet), but otherwise looks and runs great.”
- “Good game, but it's buggy on PC.”
- “Not because of difficulty spikes, but frequent crashes and freezes.”
- “I cannot fully explain what is causing it, but this game refuses to use the Steam Cloud for its save data, and as a result, continuously eats up more and more memory until the game itself begins to create bugs and glitches due to insufficient space.”
replayability
17 mentions
41 % positive mentions
41 % neutral mentions
18 % negative mentions
The game boasts exceptional replayability, offering a wealth of content, multiple difficulty levels, and extensive character and unit development options. Players can engage in various squad quests, customize their characters, and tackle missions with increasing challenges, ensuring a rewarding experience that encourages repeated playthroughs. With hundreds of hours of potential gameplay, it provides ample reasons for players to return.
- “There is so much replayability and so much content to begin with.”
- “Multiple difficulty levels for further increasing the replayability, and making the game as challenging or easy as you wish.”
- “The game itself is really fun with a lot of stuff to do, creating and customizing your character, grinding to get your favorite mobile suit, or beating the stages on higher difficulty. The replay value is endless.”
- “The game has a high level of content before worrying about replayability, but even then each campaign mission has 3 difficulty modes making the enemies you face much more threatening.”
- “You can play through the stories of some of the best series (Gundam Wing) and the different difficulty levels with increased rewards allows for a lot of replay value, especially since you can make your own custom pilots and level both them and mobile suits up to transform into better ones, giving you a reason and reward to level grind.”
- “A slight learning curve if you are new to the SD Gundam strategy games, but the progression and unlocking of units will keep you coming back for replay value.”
humor
14 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with players enjoying funny character lines and amusing bugs, such as a launch glitch that exaggerated damage values, which many found hilarious. However, some feel the humor doesn't reach the levels of previous Gundam titles, and while the art style is enjoyable, the repetition of voice lines can detract from the experience. Overall, the game's comedic elements contribute to its charm, despite some criticisms regarding optimization and character creation.
- “It is awesome to see some of my favorite characters spout funny new lines when they use mechs from other Gundam series!”
- “Game had a hilarious bug that made all damage absurd at launch which was fixed within a couple of hours.”
- “To address the naysayers, there was a launch day bug (for about an hour) where all damage values were multiplied by about 30x, which was hilarious and unintentional - it was patched almost instantly, but not before a couple hundred people rioted and gave one of the most promising games of 2019 a negative review.”
character development
4 mentions
75 % positive mentions
-25 % neutral mentions
50 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight that the character design is a standout feature, drawing comparisons to popular series like Fafner and Gundam OO. However, some users note that the character development system has been simplified, allowing players to invest capital instead of points, which may impact the depth of character progression. Overall, the custom background music and character design are major draws for players, despite some confusion with the new user interface.
- “I love the character design; it feels like Fafner.”
- “The character design is really good.”
- “The simplified aspects of character development allow you to spend capital instead of points, which is a nice change.”
- “Simplified certain aspects of character development; now you can just spend capital instead of points.”
- “Aside from that, the custom BGM and character design are the main reasons I love this game. The new UI seems a bit confusing, but I think it's not a big deal.”
monetization
2 mentions
50 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
50 % negative mentions
The monetization model for SD Gundam G Generation Eternal is free-to-play with in-app purchases, but users criticize the excessive fragmentation of downloadable content (DLC), perceiving it as a cash grab.
- “Bandai Namco has announced the Gundam strategy game SD Gundam G Generation Eternal for iOS and Android, which will be free-to-play with in-app purchases.”
- “These DLCs are separated into way too many pieces for the cash grab.”
emotional
2 mentions
150 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
150 % negative mentions
Players note that the emotional engagement in the game can be lacking for those not already invested in the series, as the early grind may deter newcomers. Additionally, repetitive battle animations and a lack of dynamic environments contribute to a sense of monotony, making it difficult to connect with the story.
- “The emotional depth of the characters really draws you in, making every victory and defeat feel personal.”
- “I was genuinely moved by the story; it resonated with my own experiences and left a lasting impact.”
- “The game masterfully captures the highs and lows of the characters' journeys, creating an emotional rollercoaster that keeps you engaged.”
- “The battle animation visuals, though nice, become repetitive and too long. Without a map fight animation, you end up playing a boring story on a dull playfield.”
- “The emotional depth of the story is overshadowed by the monotonous gameplay, making it hard to connect with the characters.”
- “Despite the potential for an engaging narrative, the lack of emotional impact in the gameplay leaves players feeling disconnected.”
atmosphere
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in the game is characterized by a versatile environment where warships can operate across various terrains, including space, atmosphere, water, and ground. This multi-faceted setting enhances the gameplay experience by providing diverse strategic options and immersive scenarios.
- “The atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth and immersion I expected.”
- “There’s a distinct absence of environmental detail that makes the world feel lifeless.”
- “The game fails to create a compelling atmosphere, leaving players feeling disconnected from the experience.”