Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Battle Destiny Remastered

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered arrives on international shores for the first time with a fresh coat of paint, so lovingly polished for modern eyes. Its roots are unmistakably Vita-era, with all the clunky lock-ons and sterile arenas that implies, but when you’re soaring through the stars, beam saber in hand, it’s easy to forgive the rough edges. The game trusts its audience to know the lore, feel the weight of its Mobile Suits, and embrace its mission-based grind like slipping into an old pilot suit.

I wouldn’t say Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny is a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination, but it could’ve been so much better. It successfully recreates the hectic mecha battles that the Gundam franchise is known for in an interactive format. I had fun playing it, even if I had to step away after every hour or two of play. I can only hope a future Gundam game can capture the true scope of the franchise in its entirety, but as it stands? Now that I’ve played this game, I have a nostalgic urge to rewatch Mobile Suit Gundam SEED again, so I think Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered made an impression, at the very least.

All in all, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Battle Destiny Remastered is a fun mecha action title with solid visuals, audio, and mechanics. It’s not anything truly special, but it is a treat for Gundam SEED fans. I just wish they’d properly adapted the franchise’s narrative instead of slapping a few plot twists on as an afterthought.

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Battle Destiny Remastered is the prettier version of the PS Vita game, but without significant additions that does the job of attracting more than just fans of the series. In addition, there are very missed opportunities as a local co-op, since the gameplay is very repetitive.

Gundam fans, especially those fond of SEED, will enjoy this nostalgic dive into the Cosmic Era. Everyone else is left with a middling action game packed with names but lacking in substance. The generous framework might appeal to genre enthusiasts and even spark interest in the source material, but as a standalone experience, Battle Destiny Remastered falls short, and struggles even more on Switch.

I think of Gundam SEED: Battle Destiny Remastered as something of a welcome surprise that we likely ended up getting due to Gundam SEED Freedom and the success of other recent games and anime adaptations. It is not the absolute best entry out there. It is clearly made specifically for fans of the Cosmic Era characters, suits, and story. Still, it is fun and offers a different type of Gundam game experience.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered is a fun time, but it doesn’t really get much better than that. I appreciate that these missions can get pretty challenging, and this is probably some of the best game feel I’ve seen from a Gundam game. However, a lackluster story and limited mission variety detract a lot from the package. It’s a fun grind at the very least, if you want to do all the missions from all the different sides. But doing so on Switch might try your patience, with frame drops all over. Even if I’m not SEED’s biggest fan, there’s a lot missing here to be the ultimate fan service game. Getting licensed music, or fully utilizing how fascinating a multi-faction structure could be for these stories would have gone a long way.

How much you get out of this game depends entirely on how invested in Gundam you were to begin with.