Super Robot Wars Y – Review

Super Robot Wars Y is the latest entry in the SRW series from Bandai Namco. This new title is filled with over a dozen mecha-theme anime, both old and new, and players and anime fans will be hooked by the number of hours spent playing and completing the game to 100%. In this review, I’m going to show how different and unique this entry is to SRW fans, complete with a list of pros and cons.

Super Robot Wars Y‘s gameplay is exactly like its predecessors, where players will be able to select and move their units along the map. Select any attacks available to use against various foes and combine them with unique pilot skills to create an astounding effect. With over 15 various anime mecha titles, grouping up and choosing what units to deploy is a wonderful feature in this series.

I really adored the gameplay as it not only showed how simple the gameplay is, but how challenging the missions as there are some involving map restrictions and turn limits to complete an area mission. I find this to be very worthwhile as it allows me to create new and exciting strategies to level up my pilots and more.

Recently debuted in SRW 30, the mission select feature and side mission menu return, in which players can use this opportunity to not only get new units to recruit but also a chance to level up their pilots, gather a vast amount of resources, and unlock new ship upgrades to further improve the party’s combat capabilities. Though it may feel a bit slow to get the resources, the results bear great fruition as the game awards players with rewards for completing a certain number of quests to earn added skills and new mechs to be fielded.

One of the biggest and newest features of Super Robot Wars Y is the STG Memory. This skill tree system can help players unlock new nodes that can either grant a party MAX HP, Additional SP points, gather 10% more resources, and earn more EXP in battles. Unlocking these is no simple task, as the proper amount of grinding through various missions is a must. It is highly recommended to make a strategic plan to wipe out enemies fully instead of defeating a certain type of enemy.

The battle animations in Super Robot Wars Y are good, but I am quite disappointed in some of the visual elements of the game. One of which is the UI, where players can easily see how big the stage they can cover within the game. At times, there will be instances where I thought that an enemy was within my range, but frankly, it wasn’t. This causes some headaches from time to time, and I’m quite disturbed by it.

Aside from the UI being a total letdown, I am quite happy that the map designs for each stage look brand new and are not reused over and over again, unlike the previous titles. No longer does every area look like a completely flat plain that is merely meant to represent an area. The depth of each stage can actually be seen, and this is probably the biggest visual improvement compared to what came before, truly making SRW Y feel like a step forward for the franchise.

The battle animations of each mech are either reused or reworked from the previous titles. Examples of this are Kallen from Code Geass, Tetsuta from Mazinger, and also the Combattler V team. For this last one, there’s no doubt that the battle scenes were reused. However, some changes were added to make them more appealing to watch on more modern screens.

The game’s story is quite good, as it consists of over 18 mecha anime titles. How the developers manage to mix their stories into one epic game remains a mystery, but it has brought great content that lets me play the game over and over again. The one series added to the SRW roster that really shook me was the addition of the anime series, Godzilla Singular Point. Many players, including myself, did not expect the addition of Godzilla and Jet Jaguar, yet somehow it managed to mix well with the theme of the game. I am quite relieved by that and love the fact that I get to challenge various kaijus in the Godzilla universe, such as Rodan and more.

Super Robot Wars Y is a good game that follows the footsteps of its predecessors. Though little changes were made to the gameplay, especially to its battle system, it is great to see that the series continues to popularity of bring mecha anime fans together once more, and I hope that this game will bring out the best RPG players out there to their brightest.