To their credit, Natsume filled the game with the one thing that the original Gundam Battle Assault lacked: lots of robots. The selection of 34 mobile suits samples from G-Gundam, Gundam Wing, the original Gundam, and nearly every other animated work with "Gundam" in its title. Curious absences include most of the mecha from the 08th MS Team or any of the obscure G-Gundam warriors (this means no Tequila Gundam, folks), but it’s unlikely that many fans will bemoan their snubbing in light of the staggering array of popular and lesser-known Gundams on display here. Want Maxter Gundam? It’s electable from the start. Want Gundam Wing Zero? Sure. Want Acguy, Hygogg, or the massive Big Zam? It’s just a matter of beating the game’s modes and unlocking them. Confused by all of the names bandied about in this paragraph? Then forget about picking up Gundam Battle Assault 2, because it’ll do nothing but bore you insensate.

For you see, the game is little more than a playable gallery of robot schematics, albeit a fairly complicated one. Each Gundam has a decent selection of moves, a single special attack, and the ability to boost into the air, fire a limited supply of ammo, or dodge oncoming assaults by tilting into the background, ala The King of Fighters. However, the robots don’t really move with much fluidity, lumbering around with all the grace that one would expect from a thirty-story metal pseudo-android carrying forty tons of ordnance. This isn’t a flaw so much as it’s a design choice, but it’s hard to adjust to the chunky interface, especially when every other fighting title on the market controls with far greater ease.

Yet if the robots maneuver sluggishly, they at least look good in the process. Everything’s drawn and animated with a fine degree of detail, from the smoke that arises when dashing to the dented hulls and exposed circuitry that show when a mecha nears the end of its life bar. Even though the characters have a muddy look when the camera pans away from the action, such a view allows a look at the decent 3-D backgrounds, which portray a number of scenes from Wing, the first MS Gundam series, and goofy ol’ G-Gundam. There are also a number of different modes to enjoy, and mastering them allows you to unlock more and more characters from the game’s massive roster of mobile suits.

Unfortunately, that’s almost the extent of the game’s tribute to the gritty space-operatics that characterize Gundam in all of its forms. A convincing sense of the anime series’ atmosphere was one of the few things that past Gundam games accomplished, usually through animated cinemas and lengthy, plot-detailing scenes. Perhaps due to the quick-and-dirty aesthetic that fighting games often stick too, Gundam Battle Assault 2 does little homage to its source storylines, offering only infrequent conversations and brief endings that play out like ridiculously abridged versions of the TV and video series they’re supposed to represent. Only dedicated Gundam fans will know what’s going on, and they’re likely to be irked by the game’s failure to give a clearer portrait. Those unfamiliar with the series will be utterly lost, and may even wonder if the bizarre pace and near-nonsensical dialogue of Domon’s story mode, for example, are all that there is to this whole Gundam thing.

Gundam Battle Assault 2 deserves some credit for exhibiting better craftsmanship than the usual slapdash anime-spawned title, but the slow gameplay and chunky feel restrict its audience to fans who already own a few Gundam model kits or DVDs. Those interested in mecha-oriented fighting games would be better served by Capcom's Tech Romancer on the Dreamcast or the import-only Saturn brawler Cyberbots, while PSX owners in need of a good 2-D fighter are best off with Street Fighter Alpha 3, Guilty Gear, or The King of Fighters ’99. Gundam Battle Assault 2 is fair, but it’s little more than two big robots slugging it out, with all of the clumsy play and fleeting satisfaction that such a description implies.

C+